Day 15 - We're off to the Rockies!

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After a lovely dinner, a good sleep and a delicious breakfast, we said cheerio and a massive thank you to Marg and Warren, loaded up Megan and headed south along the road the road back towards Calgary. There was a very faint smell of smoke, in the air, with a slight haze on the distant horizon. Along the road there are a few RV (caravan & camper van) ‘shops’ – one was called RV There Yet– very clever!

As we reached the north of Calgary we turned right onto the Trans Canada highway, and soon had the view of the eastern Rockies visible in the distance, shadowy silhouettes behind the grey of the smoke. As we got nearer they mountains became clearer, their craggy peaks towering over the road, some with dots of snow still apparent. The weather was warm today, around 25 degrees, and the blue sky outlined the tops of the huge mountains.

We arrived in Canmore and found a parking spot near some shops. As notices told us we had to ‘register’ the car to park we thought we’d stock up on essentials, so popped into the nearby liquor store. Having bought some Mikes Hard orange and blackberry – basically flavoured pop with added vodka - we asked about registering the car, did the deed, and headed off on foot for the 90 minutes of free parking we had just acquired.

Downtown Canmore is a lovely little area, with low level shops, restaurants and various touristy things. We wandered about a bit, then had lunch at the Rocky Mountain Bagel Company which had come up in conversation the previous evening as a good place to eat. We both had smoked salmon and cream cheese, and very yummy it was too!

Across the road was a kiosk selling raft rides down the river. Not white water rafting, which Susan isn’t keen on, but a gentle float which she is happy with. The 90 minute evening Nature Float isn’t running until the end of the month due to low water levels, so we opted for the one hour Townie float at 4pm. This gave us a bit of time to buy a few bits and pieces for breakfast and move the car to a parking spot where we weren’t going to get fined for not registering the car. We found a spot where Susan could drive into the space – she’s not keen on reverse parking - and were battling with the local payment technology when a local told us where we could park for free. So of course we did. She even reverse-parked into the space!

On our way towards the river we spotted the local quilting shop. After a brief sojourn around the ground floor of the shop I waited for Susan on a bench outside. It had clouded over, and now started to rain. They were big raindrops but not too many of them, and I enjoyed the petrichor. I put my rain jacket on for the first time on this trip, but thankfully I was soon able to take it off.

Finally Susan appeared from the shop and we headed towards the meeting point for our float experience. I may have made a very brief detour to look for a cache, but didn’t have much time to look and was sadly unsuccessful.

Kevin and Greg, the guide and his wingman, were lovely young men, very personable, helpful and professional. We were fitted with floatation aids, Susan had a pre-float paddle, we had a safety briefing and off we went. There were eight of in the boat, sitting on the sides of a 6m(ish) orange raft. Kevin steered us as we floated down the River Bow between the mountains, including the Three Sisters. It was a lovely float along a beautiful river, with Kevin providing some information about the areas we were passing. He also told us quite a lot about himself, responding to questions from the other punters. We saw various birds – magpies are quite prolific here – and two groups of Elk. Unfortunately the flow of the river was quite fast and we didn’t manage to get any photos as we sped past them. The water was really clear and we could see the rocks and pebbles on the bottom of the river flash as we passed over them.

The rain had moved east quite quickly, so our float was dry and the sun was shining on us. The black clouds to the east looked ominous though, and we saw lightning with thunder rumbling in the distance.

We stopped at a small area of shingle called Skipping Stones Island, and some did in fact skip some stones across the water. I tried a couple of times, but not very successfully, so took my trainers and socks off and stood shin-deep in the refreshing clear water for a while. Susan was taking some photos from the far side of the island and having a few minutes of reflection time. It was a calming and relaxing experience. Susan says to tell you all, that it was a very different experience from floating down the Grand River in Cambridge!

Once the float had finished and we were delivered back to where we started from, we wandered back into town, grabbing a healthy smoothie on the way. We found Megan and drove the 12 minutes or so to our motel for the next 3 nights. It could certainly do with a bit of updating a decorating, but the young woman in the office was friendly and helpful and the bedding and towels were clean. The view from our window of the parking area is much improved by the one of Grotto Mountain just behind it. We noted that the family in the room next door has at least one small child.

Once settled in our room we walked to the nearby one98eight restaurant. Looking at the outside, it’s probably not a restaurant you’d jump at visiting, but I what a great place it is! We were greeted by a friendly and adorable Betty, who was really helpful and provided excellent service. The menu was limited, and they had sold out of lasagne and anything with chicken in, so we had the choice of four main courses. I chose the seafood linguine and Susan ordered mussels. The beer and gin we drank were both made locally and were very tasty, so we did of course have a second drink. The food was absolutely delicious and we both cleaned our plates. Betty lived next door to the restaurant and told us about a walk to a ravine in the woods behind the village and at the base of Grotto Mountain. She also brought out a list of things to do while in the area, but we already had most of them on our list.

We grabbed a couple of Mikes and headed out for wander. We found a babbling brook, walked over the bridge into the woods, and after a short walk came to a shore of a wide, fast-flowing river that we weren’t able to cross. Other humans were nearby; we could tell by the strong odor of cannabis. It was a young couple hidden in the bushes, so we left them to their smoking and skinny-dipping, used some mossie deterrent wipes and headed back to the brook. Unfortunately, we’ve both got a few bug-bites that we didn’t have before our wander into the woods. We found a bench and sat for a while with our cans of pop.

It was still light when we arrived back in our room, and Susan took photos of the sunset from our window. We had a chat about our plans in the Banff area for the next couple of days and settled to sleep.

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