Day 37 – Saturday June 24/17  

Happy St Jean Baptiste Day – Bon Fête Nationale – to our friends in Québec.

Somehow knowing that we only had 83 km to travel today from Golden BC to Lake Louise AB (see map) encouraged us to have a leisurely morning. We started with a protein shake and toast with peanut butter and then settled in to making some reservations for activities in the Banff and Jasper areas. Asking questions, sorting out days and times and making payment arrangements over the phone took well over half an hour. (The online format was unclear and unhelpful so we had to resort to phone conversation with a live agent.) 

We left the campground at 11:15 but due to a need for yogurt at the grocery store and a check for a BC flag in a souvenir shop we didn’t hit the TransCanada until noon. But it seems that delay was a good thing because within a few moments we were forced to stop on the four-lane road to allow about 20 mountain goats to cross the road. (photos) 

We had been told in Waterton that the goats rarely left the heights of the mountains near the tree line and so were hardly ever seen by tourists without binoculars. So we were indeed fortunate to have a parade of such a large herd (or tribe or trip) of goats pass directly in front of us. An unexpected benefit of a late departure!?

The drive up the Kicking Horse River Valley to the Kicking Horse Pass presented MANY MORE SPECTACULAR VIEWS with sheer drop-offs and amazingly engineered bridges. Unfortunately for Michael he had to keep his eyes on the road and missed some of the best sights.

At a rest stop we walked beside the river at Kicking Horse Canyon (the same river that flowed by our campsite in Golden) and got to see some whitewater rafts pulling into shore. That inspired us to add whitewater rafting to our agenda for the coming week. We also got a clear look at a bridge that seemed to be an engineering and construction feat in 2007, replacing a prior bridge. (photos)

We learned that the name ‘Kicking Horse” came from a geologist named Sir James Hector hired in the 1850’s by the Imperial Government. Hector was given the task of finding a route for settlers to move west through the Rockies. At a site near the canyon his horse kicked him and so he named the river for that incident. Hector was accompanied by his native guide Nimrod but he alone is credited with “discovering” the pass. Of course First Nations peoples had most certainly known of the route for hundreds if not thousands of years. (photos)

A stop at the Information Centre of Yoho National Park provided us with good information about the Kicking Horse Pass rail tunnels and other hiking opportunities in that park which abuts Banff National Park. We are staying for the next 6 nights in the Banff/lake Louise Campground (in the trailer section - the tent section is separate, and has an electric fence around it - protection from bears!).

We arrived at the Lake Louise Trailer Campgrounds around 3:30. The campground is completely booked so we were lucky to have made our reservations in March. Interestingly we were never informed that trains will be heard at all hours of the day and night until we checked in. Fortunately the sound of trains doesn’t bother either of us – yet.

A nap, a phone call from Michael’s daughter Meaghan and some housekeeping preceded dinner of barbequed steak, baked potato and broccoli. Another wonderful day ended.

Day 36 - Friday June 23/17

A day of touring from our base at Golden Municipal Campground to Rogers Pass. (see map)

How can we describe the scenery we experienced today? Fabulous, marvellous, awesome, awe-inspiring!! One runs out of words. In so many ways, we felt both diminished and puny, and yet uplifted and glorious, all at the same time! Through the trickery of distance, scale and perspective, the mountains feel on the one hand so close that you could almost reach out and touch them, and yet on the other hand, when you stop to mentally position yourself on a mountain-side, they are absolutely immense - almost ponderous in their gigantic splendour. WOW was a word that often escaped our lips.

We started the day with breakfast ‘al fresco’ at our campsite with a fabulous view of the Kicking Horse River (photos)

Having prepared a picnic lunch of tuna wraps, girded up our loins, and donned our hiking boots, we headed off to the Rogers Pass, about 90km from Golden,BC. On the way north, the Rockies were on our right, and the Purcell range on our left. Little did we know the wonders that would unfold for us as we travelled along the Columbia River wetlands, transversed the Columbia River, and travelled into the Selkirk Range. (photo)

In part, our route north, before we turned west toward the Rogers Pass, followed the course of the Columbia River, also flowing north until it turns a ‘Big Bend’ and heads south through BC and Washington State into the Pacific in Oregon. We discovered that the original road from Golden to Revelstoke followed the course of the river around its ‘big bend’, a 5 hour drive on a gravel highway that has since disappeared under lakes created through river damming. (photo)

Glacier National park in the Selkirk Range was fabulous! We toured the National Parks’ Welcome Centre, watched a movie about avalanche control, and then went for a couple of short hikes. The drive through the Park was replete with many, many, many, many mountain vistas!!! (photos of a few)

Our first hike was the Loop Creek Trail, which follows a part of the old railway line that transversed the valleys in a figure-8 loop to decrease the gradient, originally on wooden trestles which were replace by steel spans on rock-block pillars. (photos)

An avalanche path

Avalanche path

Snow from the avalanche!!!!

Loop Creek

The intrepid voyageur/hiker wonders,
"Can I do it????"

Our second hike was on a boardwalk through an old-growth hemlock and cedar forest - the only inland old-growth forest of its kind in the world. (photos)

As we travelled west, we changed time-zones from Mountain Time to Pacific Time, and gained an hour - only to lose that hour again on the way back to Golden!

The drive back to Golden in the afternoon provided many mare fabulous vistas! (a few photos)

Arriving back at our campsite, we prepared and enjoyed a feast of curried chicken stir-fry with rice.