Pacific NW 12 - Banff

     So we were now nearing the end of our marvellous trip.  Banff was a short drive from Lake Louise, and after all the wild open spaces it seemed a complete metropolis, with the tourist throngs filling all the streets.  We stayed well up the hill from the town, in the busy but comfortable Rimrock Resort.  Gail and I ventured up the cable car to the top of the peak above, where there is a network of boardwalks over a kilometre long, giving amazing views of the valleys and mountains all around.
     By the time we were ready to go down, the clouds were closing in until there was nothing to see at all, and the weather continued to deteriorate.
     We arranged a late dinner and were put into a private room, just the four of us, and worked our way through a tasting menu with wines for each course, served by a slightly eccentric crew of waiters, who seemed eager to talk and crack jokes.  A really fantastic way to end this trip, as we gazed out into the valley below, siwrling with clouds and now sleet flurries.
    Next day, we struggled through a near blizzard, back to Calgary and finally split up, Gail direct to London, Kathleen to California for more travel, and Ian and I to Seattle for our return flight.  We had an overnight there in what must be the best airport hotel anywhere, Cedarbook Lodge, with extensive gardens and even a little wood in the grounds, and a very decent restaurant.

    So what will we remember from this trip?  The wildest, remotest places: the rainforest and the deserted beaches of Oregon; bear country in the Rockies; snow drifts above the clouds and vast mountain ranges; swollen rivers and waterfalls.  Also, surprisingly good food, with an emphasis on local produce, from the grandest set dinners to the home-baked goods in coffee shops in remote towns; and great beer and wine from the local craft breweries and wineries.  Our favourite spots were Yachats and Revelstoke, and the remote wilderness of Alpine Meadows.  All in all, it seemed as if the best places were the least visited, and these are the places we would likely return to. 

Pacific NW 11 - Jasper and Lake Louise

    

     Now we started to turn east on our loop, over the mountains and back into Alberta, to Jasper National Park.  We were leaving behind the remoter corners of BC and getting more into mainstream tourism.  Jasper, the town, though small and picturesque, with a boulder strewn mountain stream, is a tourist haunt.
    We stayed in a very comfortable park lodge established in the 1920s.  Oddly, it has an excellent upscale restaurant, with some of the best food we had on the trip (and a vast wine list), but also a pub where the food was absolutely dire.
    Next day, with the weather turning distinctly moody, we travelled to Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake, nearby.  The first was surrounded with the blackened remains of pines - a forest fire had swept through here the year before - but even this did little to diminish the beauty of the mountains and lake.  Nearby we were able to see a bald eagle nesting, its white head peeking out above the massive nest at the extreme high pint of one of the less damaged trees.
     We walked around part of Maligne Lake, soon well away from other people, and sat to contemplate the mountains and the silence.
     We next followed the Icefields Parkway south, calling in at the Athabasca Falls, deeply incised canyons filled with massive torrents; then to the Columbia ice field, a rather heavily exploited tourist spot that was largely clouded (and crowded) out, spotting more eagles along the way, as well as a moose on a leisurely stroll across the road.
     Lake Louise itself has a few impressive buildings from the early 20th century, notably the station. 
We stayed in a rather odd Best Western with split level rooms that smelled strongly of bacon.  The famous old Fairmont hotel, well out of town on the shore of the lake, is a bit of a disappointment, full of Asian tour groups and expensive handbag outlets so that it feels like an airport departure lounge.  If you walk along the edge of the lake you can quickley get away from the crowds and enjoy the deep aquamarines of the lake and the encompassing mountains beyond.

Pacific NW 10 - Alpine meadows

     So with some reluctance we left behind the charms of Revelstoke, continuing along the Trans Canada Highway through deep forested valleys and beside deeper, darker lakes, the road always playing footsie with the railway. We made a few stops en route, enjoying ice creams under blistering mid day sun at the end of a lake jetty at Salmon Arm,  coming by late afternoon to Little Shuswap Lake. This is First Nations land and the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band or Secwepemc have built a succesful business here - hotel, golf course and well regarded restaurant, with all benefits being polughed back for the benefit of the whole nation.  We walked along the shore of the lake and then enjoyed an excellent meal here, before travelling on next morning.
     A long drive, avoiding Kamloops, a large industrial town, and then we were up on quiet back roads, mostly just dirt, into Alpine country: high valleys, with forests coming down to hidden lakes, and the odd farm with a German name and a herd of dairy cattle.
     We stayed in a big three bedroomed lodge in a little resort called Alpine Meadows, just a cluster of swiss style log houses with steep roofs and stone fireplaces, by a perfectly still lake.  Lots of wild life to be seen, with fish leaping to ripple the surface, families of ducks and geese, woodpeckers and many others.  Later we found out a bear had tried to get into our lodge while we were away, and we saw several black bears in the vicinity.   
     The nearest town, at the entrance to Wells Gray Provincial Park, had a surprisingly well stocked supermarket and the obligatory liquor store, so we were well supplied for a couple of days of home cooking, making the most of this little idyll.  We rowed out on to the lake, rather gingerly, and enjoyed the sense of calm.  The blue hole was still with us.

Pacific NW 9: Revelstoke

 

Our favourite town on this leg turned out to be Revelstoke. The weather miraculously improved and we arrived there in brilliant afternoon sunshine. The Coast Hillcrest hotel was delightful – very welcoming with comfortable, spacious rooms. Their balconies had a magnificent view across to the jagged profile of the Monashee Mountains at sunset. The staff were very friendly, especially a waitress who had moved there a few years ago from suburban Toronto and loved it – even when the bears got into town and rooted up her vegetable garden. 

We went on several good walks in the area – along the river banks where the Illecillewaet meets our old friend the Columbia, with lots of wildlife to see on the way. It was here that we saw a group of crows in a state of agitation and then in a sudden explosion of motion and feathers, a golden eagle burst out of the tree just yards ahead, to be mobbed by the crows. It flew out over the river then around the trees on the opposite bank for several minutes, perhaps looking for a nest site. On another occasion Kathleen and I heard what sounded very like the howling of wolves from the distant shore. It's possible: wolves are nearby, in very low numbers, and through most of the province. 

We also walked into the Mount Revelstoke NP, which features the Meadows in the Sky parkway – also closed! But we were able to do a good circuit of woodland near the entrance, through moss laden trees and by fast moving mountain streams - a little remnant of rainforest away from the coast - managing to get a bit lost but somehow ending back where we started. 

Revelstoke seems like a real town, not dominated by tourism, and we found yet another fantastic and extremely popular coffee shop/bakery. The staff were efficient and there was a vast and scrmptious range of baked goods and dishes and coffees. We also saw the weekly farmers and craft market, a lively meeting place for locals, and bought a few things there (homemade jams and candles).

Pacific NW 8 - emerald lake

Next, to Golden, where I had booked a rather spooky ski resort hotel, way up on the mountain miles from the town. When we arrived, there were no staff there, just written instructions on how to find the rooms. Still, we were able to make some good meals as one of the units we were in had a full kitchen. Poor Gail was exiled to the other block which seemed to be completely empty otherwise, except for an occasionally seen odd jobs man (who seemed frindly enough). Golden doesn't have a lot to recommend it: a very small historic area beside the railway, and a rather wonderful, but modern, covered bridge. But we did at least find (another) very good cafe, with good coffee and cakes, which we visited several times. Long live these independent cafes – there always seems to be one in each town – and let's hope the dead hand of Starbucks never makes it to places like this. 
From Golden we entered Yoho National Park, where the jewel is Emerald Lake. A glorious place, with tree lined shores and completely surrounded by mountains. We walked all around the lake and after a short distance you get away from the tourist buzz at the lodge into complete tranquillity, the views from every angle magnificent. We also visited the pretty little town of Field, in the centre of the park. It seemed almost deserted, as we waited for the freight train to pass at a level crossing, several kilometres of double stacked containers, passing slowly by. 
You never seem to wait long before you hear the evocative sounds of an American train whistle or the clanging crossing bells. This is a feature it seems of every Rockies valley, parlt because in many cases the railways came before the settlements. Field seems to have been a watering stop for Rockies trains crossing between Calgary and the west, and some of the original houses were built out of box cars. One still survives there. (We later met the rather handsome Fire Chief for Field, at Calgary airport. The permanent population is about 200 and you have to have a reason to go and live there as it's heavily protected by the national park management. He seemed very content with his life there.)

From Golden we visited Glacier National Park, but the blue hole had deserted us, the mists coming in and hiding the mountains almost completely and trails were all closed. In fact, the visitor centre was still stacked up with big snowdrifts.

Pacific NW 7 - bear country

 

Next stop Invermere, travelling north up the wide valley between the Rockies and the Purcell range. We passed Columbia Lake, the source of the great river that starts flowing north here, then abruptly turns south through the next break between mountain ranges, into the US then west to the gorge we encountered before and then to the ocean at Astoria. The Copper Point Resort, where we stayed, was new, with spacious rooms and a view to the mountains. The town itself is rather spread out and more geared to winter sports. We drove high above the lake that it overlooks, Windermere Lake, on the Westside Road. Next day, we drove up ito the Rockies range, through a spa town, Radium Hot Springs, into Kootenay National Park, a less well known adjunct to Banff NP, which we would visit later. Passing up through the narrow gorge of the Sinclair Pass we saw several vehicles stopped on the road. Suddenly, Kathleen piped up: “It's a bear! It's a bear!” There, right by the highway, was a black bear, ambling along and stopping here and there to nibble the vegetation. It seemed to be completely uninterested in the vehicles. The dandelions had its attention entirely. We found out later that these are an important part of the bears' diet at this time of year, when they flower in huge numbers in cleared areas like these verges. We thought we were extremely lucky to see this, so close up, but on the way back we not only saw another black bear, but also a mother grizzly and her cub, both within metres of the road. The cub reared up, curious at the vehicles, but the mother seemed more into chewing the flowers. A real privilege for us to see this so close up and I got some wonderful photos. Also at the park entrance we saw a herd of mountain goats, grazing or just lolling about on impossible narrow ledges of the gorge. Earlier, in the park, we fond that almost all the trails were closed. We found out why when we did walk up one of them for several miles into the woods, at Kootenay Crossing. Every few metres there was a fallen tree, which we had to go variously over, under, or round, the result of winter storms, and we thought in the end that this was probably meant to be closed too, but they had not put up a sign. Later, we read about the bears and what to do if you meet one. It seems they like to use the man made trails and so that was a very real possibility: but we probably made so much noise blundering along 'the obstacle course' as we came to know it, that they probably kept well clear. But still, it made us a little more wary about future walks in the woods.

Pacific NW 6 - into Canada

 

 

Calgary. This must have been boom city after the railway arrived in the 1890s. The centre is full of substantial turn of the century banks and stores, many of fine design. It was strange to be in a city after all the quiet and small towns and empty countryside. The blue hole seemed to have caught up with us, with scorching hot weather for our stay. Just a few hundred miles north there were major forest fires, as the spring rains had failed to arrive and temperatures soared way above normal. It's a prosperous city but with many green spaces. We walked along the river through a series of linear parks, and to a 'historic' district of mostly 1910s/20s houses, then past the stadium of the Calgary stampede.

Gail joined us for this second leg of the trip. We stayed at the Fairmont, one of the original Canadian Pacific hotels built along the line to encourage tourism in the 1890s. It has grand public spaces and the rooms are recently refurbished but retaining an old school grand hotel feel. Some good restaurants too, including a modern Indian restaurant on the main drag, complete with cocktails.

But we were glad to get off into the wild again, on a great loop through the Canadian Rockies (we travelled around 2900km in all). Setting out through Calgary's sprawling modern gated suburbs and then south through an old mining area Crowsnest Pass. This valley is on such a huge scale that the ravages of the old mine workings don't make much of an impact. The towns are dying, although we managed to find an excellent ice cream shop. So to Fernie for one night.

This is a nice little town with pleasant tree-lined walks on levees beside the river – a fast mountain river with churning clear waters. After walking a while we found a very pleasant pub with a terrace to enjoy the late afternoon sun – so pleasant we ended up staying to eat there.