Glacier & Revelstoke National Parks

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Well, we left Golden today, going further west. We had a relatively easy day today, driving less than 200 km. We stopped at the Glacier National Park center for a parks pass, and on the way we noticed a sign saying we just gained an hour to the day! We passed a time zone by car. That's a first for me!

The Glacier Park center was very nice, with good exhibits about the railway and highway 1, and the wildlife of the area. We also got some advice on how to continue the day, which was very helpful. We took the advice of the parks guide there and stopped at the Hemlock Grove Boardwalk in Glacier NP, a short yet beautiful walk in the only cedar & hemlock rain forest in the world. We strolled among giant trees and huge leafed plants.

Then we continued a little further down the road to the Giant Cedars boardwalk, another easy boardwalk among the giants. We admired the huge trees, enjoyed the lush undergrowth and learned to tell hemlock from cedar. We learned a bit about the forest from the interpretive signs along the path. For instance, we ead that some of the trees still living here were seedlings when Columbus made his first journey to the New World, and saplings when Shakespeare's Rome & Juliet premiered!

Our next stop was without a doubt the highlight of our day. We got to Revelstoke and drove slowly up Mt. Revelstoke along a twisty, windy road with lots of hairpin turns. We kept our eyes peeled for wildlife, but alas, our luck hadn't changed. Still, we enjoyed the scenery, the forest and wild flowers along the way. At the parking lot at the end of the road we took a shuttle bus for another few minutes ride to the top of the mountain, where the hiking trails start. We were given a map of the park and a flower guide (very useful). And the wildlife got us; there were literally tons of horseflies and mosquitoes that relished on the quality Israeli blood we supplied! Mosquito repellent didn't seem to bother them at all!

We sat by a small pond and had our lunch, took pictures of the view and the gorgeous flowers; bright red painter's brush, purple lupine, violet alpine daisy, white heather, and many many more.

We decided to take one of the shorter trails around the pond and the surrounding forest, but somehow took a wrong turn and embarked on a journey up one of the longest trails there - an estimated 4 hour walk in each direction! Still, we could turn around whenever we wanted so we kept going, and a good thing we did! Because besides the awesome views and flowers we actually did see an animal. And I'm not talking about a squirrel or chipmunk (though we did see a couple of those too). Tamar's sharp eyes picked up soething and she pointed it out to us. Apparently the wolverine (yes, you read right) crossed the path ahead of her and up into the forest. It was all too quick to get the camera ready so I don't have proof, but we saw it zigging and zagging between the trees for enough time to identify it. The kids even forgot about the horseflies and mosquitoes for a bit.

A little further down the trail we stopped for a drink and to feed the bugs, and then headed back. All in all about an hour's walk in each direction.

We caught the shuttle back to the car and made our way down the mountain, and that's when it happened. The camera was in its case, of course, because what are our chances of seeing anything bigger than a squirrel? Then, way up ahead, I saw a black bear strolling across the road!!! A real, live bear! They actually do exist! The excitement in the car was pretty wild, I sped ahead to where it sauntered into the brush, Gilat tore at the camera case and the kids screamed in delight. Luckily the bear was not afraid of us and stayed near the road, allowing us all to get a look and take some not-so-good pictures through the thick undergrowth.

So, wolverine? Check

Black bear? Check

What's left? Elk, moose, raccoon, grizzly, bald eagle...

We got to the hotel early. The Hillcrest Coast hotel is a fancy one. Very nice, not cheap, but missing some of the amenities we really need; no microwave, no washing machine, breakfast isn't included.

Anyway, we got to the room and I crashed for a couple hours. The kids, meanwhile, checked out the Jacuzzi and Gilat made the day's video, which you can watch here:

Later we went out to eat at an Indian-German restaurant called Paramjil's kitchen (I know - sauerkraut with curry?!) but it was actually delicious. We figured a mixed couple opened the place but no, the owner is an Indian woman who grew up in Austria. Anyway, Ethan had chicken schnitzel done to perfection, Tamar had prawns with spatzl, Gilat had dahl and I had a curry chicken. We all enjoyed our meal and after a short walk around town we headed back to bed.

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