The town is surrounded by mountains and the sky is streaked with vivid pink. I am ready for another day of adventure, another excursion today to visit the waterfalls, lakes and mountains in the area, National Parks of Yoho amd Kootenay. They really all are so beautiful but this is not my favourite way to visit although the only option, and yesterday I was transported from Jasper and dropped off in Banff as part of the trip. . The group was quite large and many with limited mobility, rather large and when we make limited time stops they take nearly all the time getting off the coach! Yesterday afternoon we had a quick comfort stop, and by the time I'd queued for the loo I just had time to grab a bag of crisps and some water. When I got back on the coach the two very largest people, who had got off first were munching their way through the most enormous ice creams I'd ever seen! Mind you my patience probably wasn't at its best yesterday as I spent most of the day with a really bad headache. It was only later in the day when the driver had mentioned walking back up the hill slowly that I realised it was the altitude, and I had been incredibly thirsty. But it settled by late afternoon and now I am fine.
On our way to our first stop yesterday, we saw elk, and a particularly large bull elk. We heard he took aversion to vehicles and had been responsible for a lot of vehicle damage, could do with him to sort out some of our drivers! Apparently when its the mating season, as now, he will charge anything thats not a female elk. If he did think you were a female elk, I'm not sure that would be good either! We first visited the Athabasca Falls, a real raging waterfall. Athabasca is a Cree word for where the reeds grow and it is apparently a reference to the source of the water.
We stopped briefly at Mushroom Peak and Glacier, seeing the Sonwac valley and river which we were to follow for much of the day. We passed through various terrains from the montane, to sub alpine timeline. The highest levels had no trees, the lower levels the trees and bushes had already changed colour and were losing their leaves. The trees here are short owing to a short growing season.
We continued along this valley til we reached the Athabasca Glacier, passing many glaciers en route. This was the day's main highlight. This phenomenon had been organised for tourists and was highly regimented. We arrived for brunch at 11.30, a bit early and then it was a buffet arrangement with the usual ' lets see how much I can fit on my plate' brigade! In fact one person said, ' oh we paid $70 to have our breakfast this morning but as I've paid I'm going to eat it! No comment...... I had eaten breakfast at 6.30 so was ready for a little. But by this time my headache had begun. After brunch we went to the ice trucks to go to the glacier. Apparently all the staff are in their early twenties and are from around the world, and it's very remote. Our guide, who was from New Zealand jokingly said, ' you can imagine what goes on here... knitting clubs and suchlike! Ha ha!
We were regaled with the usual stories about accidents and survivals. One involved a person surviving a fall into a glacial hole and being saved by the skis he was carrying. Apparently when the glacier had melted all his equipment was discovered at the edge of the glacier, several decades later!
At Mount Snowdome to the side of the glacier there is a triple hydrological divide, where the water goes to three oceans which is unique, I believe. Quite amazing. Next we went to the Skywalk, a floor suspended on the side of the mountain through which you could look down to the valley floor. This was fascinating and I read about the wildlife at the various levels and would have liked to spend more time just peering through the binoculars trying to spot things, but had to be fairly quick to meet the timetable. On our return journey we stopped at Peto Lake, an amazing turquoise glacial lake. It was here that the altitude was mentioned.
And I've seen several more of these today. We went onto Lake Louise for a short stop, and as I'm staying there on Sunday I just has a tea break, but also spotted a hotel bookshop I might visit. I won't be staying at this particular hotel. I adjusted Railbookers offer which tended to use the very large hotels belonging to Canadian Pacific. I wanted something more homely. But I saw my hotel and it's still close to the lake. We in fact had our first stop there this morning, so I had coffee and a look at the lake. I might try to walk when I'm there although at one of our stops today there were warnings. It is illegal in some places to walk alone, they suggest close groups of four at least.
Apparently the key issue with bears is to make a noise and not surprise them. Although some do become predatory. I don't think I'll walk off into the forest like Bill Bryson in A walk in the Woods! I've seen people sporting bells and with bells on their dogs, not a risk I want to take.
There seems to be a huge emphasis on protecting the animals and the environment here. Today we saw road bridges made for the animals at great expense, and the sides of the roads fenced. Apparently the first animal that crossed was a marmot, and the headlines were, several million dollars for a marmot! Apparently the bears took a little while to brave it but now they are recording a huge amount of information about the wildlife now. The sides of the roads are fenced, thus forcing the animals to use the bridges and avoiding all the road kill and potential accidents. There are conflicts and the law has changed from time to time to reach accord between environmental groups and walkers.
Today we visited both Moraine Lake and Emerald Lake, both beautiful turquoise glacial lakes. It is overwhelming to travel from place to place and at each be faced with similar beauty.
At the second lake we had lunch at the lodge. There were cabins there and I couldn't help thinking how lovely it would be to stay there, good painting matter, but quite remote. But I can't quite imagine coming back here to the Rockies; I think it's a question of once seen, never forgotten but it would perhaps spoil it to return, because there would no longer be that element of surprise.
We had a lucky moment watching a very long freight train in the spiral tunnels! These are tunnels in the mountain that loop round to reduce the gradient. We saw a train go past in front of us, enter a tunnel come out again and then swing round in front of us, all parts of this long train were visible on all these parts of the track! Apparently it is still a dangerous job and there are fatalities, when the engines go out of control. 2 people manage all six engines on trains that can be 4k long. It is reckoned to be cheaper and more efficient to using the Panama canal.
Another transport excitement was our journey to the Takakkaw Falls. There was such a tight turn on the switch back roads that longer vehicles are required to back up. So the first slope is forwards, the second backwards, the final forwards. Needless to say our coach driver was an expert, but the people in the hired mobile homes were really struggling. Another reason not to drive yourself.
There are some films on utube, if you put in road to Takakkaw Falls. I have tried to insert a link above. On our return an RV, recreational vehicle ie rented, was having a major issue and our coach host got out to direct traffic and reesrablidh traffic flow.
We saw cars stopped from entering some roads, i gather if car parks are full, another reason for being on an organised trip or a bus. Some roads are only open mid June to mid September because of snow and avalanches. There was fresh snow today on the summits.
When we eventually arrived at the falls it was spectacular, but I am continually amazed at the dangerous and irresponsible behaviour of tourists who head off the pathway, clamber onto remote rocks and on this occasion clambered across rocks, very close to the waterfall just for a photograph to post somewhere.
Tomorrow I have a welcome day to myself and am thinking of going to the hot springs by bus.
This I did although the hotel told me to catch the no. 1 for $1. However there was a long wait so I enquired in the information centre about walking. They advised against it but told me there was a free shuttle from outside my hotel! Now why didn't the hotel give me that information? So I hotfooted back and was delivered to near the baths in about 10 minutes. I spent about half an hour turning myself into a lobster at water temperature of 39°, then headed to the gondola next door, where I was transported to the top of Sulphur Mountain ( where the hot springs water comes from), and visited the exhibition, the movie theatre, walked along the boardwalk and took in the view of Banff and the mountains.
I learnt that you need to be a bear whispered to go for a walk!
Apparently with bears the recommended distance to keep is 10 bus lengths! You have to make a noise, not look it in the face, and have your pepper spray to the ready which has to be sprayed right in their face! All sounds a bit too close for comfort to me!
I came down in a gondola with one of the staff. He said normally they see animals in the morning but they hadn't seen bears for a couple of weeks. He surmised they had eaten the berries in that area and had moved on.
I returned to the hotel and had a quick shower then a leisurely lunch in the hotel restaurant., followed by a little snooze, then a hasty walk to the museum so I could see it before it closed. It was really interesting, containing a collection of historical items, lots of information about the Canadian Pacific railway and art works from the founders' collection and
I walked back along the main street which is full of shops, lots selling outdoor and adventure clothing or tourist junk. I had found some nice cards in the museum So had no need of these. In fact galleries and museums are usually best for shopping. I always avoid anything that says, made in China. And it is shocking how much there is. Banff is a very touristy town and has grown up from tourism. The railway was promoted to bring tourists for income. There are huge numbers of oriental visitors and they seem to shop for England or in this case Canada. Other than being the gateway to the natural wonders it has little to offer, shops, hotels, tour operators, restaurants. It was a lovely day and later I went to my favourite little cafe for hot chocolate and a slice of banana loaf. Tomorrow I'm hoping to visit Lake Miniwannka, before moving on to Lake Louise. Rich says I must get a photo next to the sign. It probably means something quite beautiful in the indigenous languages.
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