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Published: July 15th 2008
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Father's Day Run
Jayne crossing the finish line It has been more than a month consisting of lots of activity and I have included a lot of photos, hope y'all don't get bored.
I pulled into Medicine Hat on Saturday June 14th as schedule and enjoyed four days catching up with Jayne, Kevin and the girls, relaxing, and getting myself and motor home ready for my trip through the Rockies with my friends Carole and Brian from England. On Sunday morning we participated in a Father’s Day walk/run event at the local YMCA. Sarah and I walked, Kevin and Erin ran 5 kilometers and Jayne ran 10 kilometers and came in third in her age group.
Carole and Brian arrived safe ‘n sound on Friday, June 20th, I was very happy and excited to see them. On Saturday morning we headed out to explore Calgary a bit. We were staying in a campground just west of Olympic Park, which is where the 1988 Winter Olympics were held, and that was our first stop. The facility is utilized all year around as you can see from the pictures.
I had been to Heritage Park back in 1978 so was very interested to see how it had changed over the
Arrival in Calgary
Carole and Brian arrived safe 'n sound last thirty years. I am very glad to say that we all enjoyed it. The park is full of more than 150 historic homes and buildings that have been moved to the site. There was also a reconstructed sod-house, rodeo arena and stables. It was a lovely warm day and we spent several hours in the park; rode the old steam train, and toured most of the homes and businesses. All of the volunteer characters are in period dress which adds to the atmosphere, some of them were actually Canadian immigrants from Scotland; which of course some of the original immigrants had been, so we had interesting conversations with several of them.
On Sunday we were up bright and early and headed for the mountains. I had reserved parking space in the Banff National Park, where we got set up and then headed into Banff. It is obvious to any eye that Banff is very pleasantly Alpine influenced; either by design or coincidence. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in and we experienced periods of low misty cloudiness which although weren’t a part of my itinerary didn’t really put a damper on our visit. We spent a very pleasant evening playing Scrabble—which
Grain Elevator
This type of grain elevator dotted the landscape of a lot of northern states and prairie provinces years ago. They started to dismantle them and replace them with metal structures some time ago. No romance in those! Brian won hands down.
Monday morning was beautiful so we put Brian in charge of deciding which of the many walks we should undertake. He decided to take one of the walks along the Bow River. We first headed to the Hoodoos which are quite remarkable. Apparently there is a route which goes down to the river bank but we never found it. Instead we walked the trail parallel to the river toward Banff. The path wound down, down, down, until we were walking along the river bank. We certainly enjoyed beautiful views of the mountains and the winding path of the river—then it was time to make our ascent! I think we had walked about 4 miles at this point; all of it down. Needless to say by the time we got back to Tunnel Mountain Campground we were pretty tired! We had covered a little more than seven miles and none of it on level ground!
When we awoke on Tuesday, the weather wasn’t brilliant, so we decided to have a leisurely morning and then take a drive to Yoho National Park, which is in British Columbia. The skies started to clear around lunch time so our trip
Village Green
There has been a lot of buildings added since I visited Heritage Park last over there (50 miles) through the Kicking Horse Pass was very pleasant. The pass was named for James Hector who was a surveyor for Canadian Pacific Railway. He didn't think this location was right for the west-east railway line---especially after he was kicked by his horse! We stopped at Spiral Mountain and viewed a train transverse the spiral tunnel. What an amazing piece of engineering. The tunnel goes through Mount Ogden and Cathedral Crags, more than 700 tons of dynamite was used to remove more than 700000 cubicyards of rock. The front of the train enters the tunnel and then reappears + 100’ above while its remaining carriages are still entering the original tunnel opening. The train does this loop twice in order to climb over the Continental Divide from British Columbia and continue its journey into Alberta and the Prairie Provinces. Unfortunately none of my pictures are clear enough to see the event.
Our next stop was Tikkakaw Falls, which are very impressive. Tikkakaw means “It is magnificent” in Cree. Emerald Lake is just down the road and is a must see for all tourists. The lake lives up to its name and my pictures certainly do not do
Rector's Wife
This lady is a Scottish transplant and still carries quite a strong accent. it justice. We stopped in at Natural Bridge, really to complete our trip and were so glad we did. This natural phenomenon is truly awe inspiring to see the force of the Kicking Horse River carving itself into the rock. We had just finished supper when Carole spotted some deer just walking past our motor home so naturally we were out with cameras in hand and were able to take some good close up photos. We had enjoyed a full day despite the cool cloudy weather.
Wednesday was a better day weather-wise so we decided to take the trip to world famous Lake Louise. It had been almost exactly 30 years since I had been here, the scenery is as beautiful as ever of course but there have certainly been a few changes! During the morning the weather continued to improve so we (actually Brian) decided to take the walk to Agnes Lake Tearoom (coming from England anything that has tea-room in its title has to be worth the visit.) This trail wound up-up-up; I guess Carole and I are suckers for punishment. The climb took us about 2 hours and climbed to about 7000’ above sea level. The views
Customery Photo
Have to have a least one photo taken with a "man in red." Actually this guy is dressed in the uniform of the North West Mounted Police which eventually became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were spectacular on the way up and awesome when we reached the top. The tea did leave a bit to be desired but the sandwiches and apple crumble were a hit, so Brian was off the hook again! The trip down was a breeze and we returned to the car a little weary but happy that we had enjoyed another productive day. For our trip back we decided to take a back road from Lake Louise to Banff, we had gone about a ½ mile when we saw our first black bear! He was meandering along the tree line just off the highway. We managed a few pictures before one of the park rangers came along to move us and the bear along! We were elated. Then low and behold almost at the end of the road we rounded a corner and there were four mountain goats just grazing on the side of the road. All in all a very good day.
The weather continued to improve daily and Thursday morning was lovely brisk but sunny. My son-in-law Kevin had suggested a trip to Johnston Canyon so off we set. The canyon access was on the same road we had
Station
There is a restored steam train running around the perimeter of the park, and several old stations have been moved in and restored. been on the previous night, so we were all eyes-peeled looking for wildlife when we rounded a corner and there were a group of about eight Elk bulls; what magnificent creatures they are, their antlers were still velvety but they really are quite regal. The walk through the canyon; which to us now was going to be just a gentle stroll; hugs the canyon walls in places so the view down into the rushing river is quite nerve wracking. We got there early; the Bow River rushes through the canyon with tremendous force. I had never been to there so more than happy that we had chosen to make the visit. The trip back was more surprising; just about two miles from the canyon parking lot were three grizzly bears, a mother and two cubs. Unfortunately, the park rangers arrived just ahead of us and shot off their flare gun (which they call a bear gun) before Brian had the chance to grab a camera and take a shot. The rangers came along to each car and explained that they are trying to stop the bears becoming “habitualized.” The group we had seen was an 18 year old sow, who
Saloon
Brian found us a good place to get a little refreshment on a hot day they think is a first time mother, and her cubs that are in their third year.
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