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Published: April 26th 2006
Can't See the Woods for the Trees
Trees along the road to Lake Louise.It was a shame we had to leave Canmore, Banff and our nice hotel, but must press on in order to fit everything in we wished to see. Gail made use of the kitchen and made sandwiches for lunch with leftovers so that was hamburger buns filled with lettuce, ketchup, onions, tomatoes, and wait for it - stuffed jalapeno peppers! A rather odd sandwich, but there you go! Checked out at 11am after another breakfast of Lucky Charms.
We took Bow Valley Parkway (Route 1A) up to Lake Louise, stopping off at Johnson Canyon 30k north of Banff to view the iced waterfalls. The lower falls were just over a kilometre away from the car park up through Johnson Canyon. The walk was pretty amazing, following the river along its route. Part of the walk was along a catwalk, drilled into the rock, suspended high above the canyon floor. As the walk was through woods, we did as advised and talked loudly to warn any bears in the area of our presence. Didn’t fancy running into any of those, particularly as someone had recently been mauled to death by a bear in the States! Areas along the path were covered
Johnson Canyon
A walk in the woods. still with thick layers of ice making it necessary to watch ones step. I sure was glad I had bought my new hiking shoes with a great tread! The intrepid hiker not to be thwarted by a small bit of ice!
In the distance we could hear the sound of the lower falls, and in the shady area, the sloping downhill path was covered in ice for 10 metres. Gail led the way holding onto the hand rail, as her Timberland boots were proving to be rather inept where ice was concerned. She was skating about and sliding like a ice dancer (shame she wasn’t in the Olympics - she could have won a medal for England!!) and as I was watching after her, my feet suddenly disappeared from below me and flew up in the air! Down I came with a huge thud - right onto my elbow which took the full force of the fall! There were two loud cracks, the first being my camera banging itself on the ice followed by my elbow. I sat there stunned momentarily that I had somehow ended up on the ice when I had my special tread boots on, and
Johnson Canyon
Catwalk snaking around the rock high above the canyon floor and river. also from the pain in my elbow. The impact from the ground on the camera had opened the battery covering and the battery had flown out. Luckily it didn’t fly down into the canyon, but just next to me. Feeling my pants were wet from the ice, I decided I had better get up before I had a sodden bottom!
Rather shaken from my sudden impact with ice and a wet bottom, we decided to turn around and head back to the car so I could sort myself out and get changed. My elbow was throbbing, and taking off my fleece, Gail noticed blood on my t-shirt. Pulling up the sleeve revealed a bloody puncture wound and the beginnings of an ugly bruise. Nothing felt broken or shattered though. Pulled the sleeve back down to disguise the smell of blood so that we wouldn’t get any bears chasing after us for dinner!
At the car, minus being chased by bears, I changed in the not-so-porta-potty. This was a hole in the ground toilet with a toilet seat, and previous occupants had left it and the floor in a rather nasty condition, so I had to balance myself on
Johnson Canyon
Soggy bottom girl - post fall. top of my shoes while doing a complete change as everything below the waist was sodden! It was a relief to be in dry clothes. Once back in the car, I realised driving would be somewhat difficult as I couldn’t rest my left arm on anything as it would result in pain, so no more resting my arm on the door!
The route up to Lake Louise was slow, as we stopped at a little shop so I could buy some ointment for my elbow and use the toilet to wash and clean it up. Then we drove slowly to try and spot any wildlife. This was very unsuccessful as we didn’t see anything apart from a ground squirrel who stood up on hind legs for a picture.
Lake Louise was also frozen, but still managed to look spectacular surrounded by snow capped mountains and the château on the banks of the lake. We walked along the boardwalk enjoying the quietness afforded by the mountains and few tourists. The sun was bright and blazing taking the chill out of the air, but the whiteness of the lake and snow were blindingly bright. Definitely needed sunglasses on! It hurt
Take a Picture of Me!!!
Posing Ground Squirrel. the eyes just to take them off for pictures. After strolling around the grounds, we popped into the château to use their toilets before starting our drive up the Icefields Parkway.
The 230k Icefields Parkway is undoubtedly one of the most scenic drives in the world, surrounded by towering mountains either side of the road. Every turn around a corner reveals yet another WOW moment! As we were travelling out of season and also in the afternoon, we practically had the road to ourselves, which was great as I didn’t have to worry about having to stop quickly should we see any wildlife on the side of the road. We passed several beautiful frozen lakes, Crowfoot Glacier, and turned off to view Peyto Lake, which is shaped like a bears head. In the parking lot all we could see around us were huge banks of snow and plenty of footprints heading over these banks. As there were no signs pointing the way to the lake, we were rather reluctant to venture out into the white wilderness inhabited by grizzlies, particularly as we were the only humans around!
We left that car park and moved a bit further away
to an area which looked like it could have been a road covered with snow leading to the lake. As soon as we left the car a pretty grey bird landed on the passengers side wing mirror and stood there looking at us. Gail was only standing two foot away and it didn’t seem timid at all. It then hopped onto the roof of the car and proceeded to do a little tap dance for us complete with sound effects! We left the bird sitting watching us, and ambled up through the deep snow for about 100 metres before heading back to the car as it seemed to dangerous to try and search around in the middle of nowhere on our own for this lake. Back at the car, the bird came again and sat on the mirror, this time clinging on as we slowly drove off. It only flew off once the G force had become too much for it to bear at 10 mph!
Our hotel for the night was called The Crossings, set in a beautiful location completely surrounded by snow capped mountains. The rooms were rather dull and covered in wood panelling, but it was
fine for a night. Turned in for an early night to catch up on lost sleep at 8:30pm.
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Gabi
non-member comment
i'm back
Hi Gail and Liisa, boy, oh boy, when do you find the energy to keep us entertained with your good writing, move over Bill Bryson! Alaska next? Leeds was good, i.e. work, work, horrible BB, wet and humid, but it still felt like a well deserved short break. Miss you (hmmm, just being nice:-) stay safe and on your feet please love Gabix ( Ayrun says Hello too xxx)