11th July 2008

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11th July 2008
We tried to make an early start today but it was 9-30am before we got on the road.
We had a big drive to do today to get to Banff but we deicided to break the journey by making a detour to Mount Revelstoke. We drove 26 km uphill to get to the summit car park and then continued on foot through the snow. The wild flowers at the side of the road were stunning at the midway point up the mountain but at the summit they were only just breaking through the snow. From the summit there was a very good view of the Columbia River and the Illecillewaet River.
We stopped to take a short trail through the giant cedars trees and then stopped again at the Skunk cabbage trail through the reed beds. We keep hoping to see a bear as everyone we speak to has seen some but perhaps not right up close and personnel just through the car window!
We drove on to Golden were we stopped for our evening meal. As we stopped we realised that we had also lost an hour in crossing into Alberta. We dined in the Kicking Horse Grill ,which had been recommended by the Lonely Planet our bible on this journey,and had an excellent meal there.
We still had a couple of hours driving to do after this to get to Banff and driving in the dark is tiring through the twisty mountain roads especially as there are deer and lk about which could jump out at you.
We eventually found our way to a hostel in Banff around midnight and had to find and make our beds in a dormitory in the dark without waking the other residents. This was a novel experience for Bob and I as we had never stayed in a back packers hostel before.

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