Woke up really early this morning for some reason, and was
completely packed up and showered by 7.30 am.
It was dry but overcast, and I decided to head south to see Lake Louise
and then on down to Banff as, although we had been there 35 years ago, the weather
was so bad that we essentially saw nothing. If I remember correctly Damien was 1, so that dates it !!! Anyway, got going with the roof off and
fingers crossed, but not 15 miles into it, the rain started, so I stopped and
put the roof up. And from then on it was
regular showers and low cloud all day, although the drive down through the
Columbia Icefield was pretty stunning.
Would love to see it on a fine day !
First stop was the Athabasca Falls, and what an amazing
sight they are !! The wide Athabasca River is forced down a narrow gorge that
in places isn’t much more than 20 ft across, and the power and the noise that
results is just indescribable. I get a
kick when a big rocket takes off on November 5th, when all the power
of that gunpowder is focussed on shooting the rocket into the sky. I got a similar thrill watching the water
funnelling down into the narrow gorge – It is just an unstoppable force. And with all the snow melt and rain water that
is around at the moment, the falls are probably as big as you are ever going to
see them. And old channels that are now
not used by the river are made into stairways so you can see the erosion of the
rock by the river. So pretty special – I
thought so anyway, and left there feeling totally in awe, and in a great mood.
After the falls, the rain started in earnest, and from
then on it was stop start rain all day.
Some moments you would see glimpses of blue sky, or sun shining on the
snow on a mountain, and the next the clouds would come down and for a while you
would see very little. But never boring, that’s for sure.
Next was the gradual lead up to the Columbia
Icefield. The last drive up the hill to
the main base and coach stop is stunning, even with low clouds, and the
glaciers of all shapes and sizes on the west side of the road are just amazing. Once again, I am afraid my camera just does
not capture their true grandeur. While I
was there, I saw the big coach they use for glacier tours, and I just had to
get a picture beside it – It really is a massive vehicle – I couldn’t quite get
under it, but I can assure you there was only an inch or to preventing me !!
After the glaciers, the weather closed in for a while,
and then cleared up a bit for this most incredible glaciated valley that you
drop down into. My map is too small a
scale to give me all the details, but it certainly was a fun drive, while the
shear size of the valley is pretty awe inspiring while you drive through it ! When you see glaciers at work, and then
realise that these valleys were all formed by them over the many years, it
makes one feel very small and humble.
Dropping into the valley we passed the Weeping Wall, and
because of the current snow melt and the recent rains as well, it was probably in
as good a rate of flow now as it ever will be, with multiple falls down the
face of the rock. Quite stunning to
watch.
We then drove on down through Banff National Park, with
mountains appearing out of the cloud one minute, and disappearing almost as
quickly sometimes. You could see the
tops of some mountains, but not the lower parts, as the low cloud was like a
necklace around them. As we got closer
and closer to Lake Louise, the rivers and Lakes beside the road started to show
that very blue-green colour caused by the sediment from the glaciers being
carried in the water, and reflecting the light.
And in the meantime, there were still glaciers visible all the way
south, mostly quite high up in the mountains. My altimeter seems to have slipped under or
down beside a seat somewhere as I couldn’t find it today, so I didn’t have a
reference for how much we were climbing or descending.
And so into Lake Louise.
It didn’t help that as soon as you turned off the highway, it was
gridlocked traffic. It probably took 30
minutes of stop start traffic to get up into the car park for the lake. But once there, although the sun was not out
so the colour was quite muted, it still is a stunning sight, there is no doubt
about it. The Lake is surprisingly small – and hemmed in by steep mountains on three sides – and by the Fairmont
hotel on the 4th side !! But
dramatic as it may be, it lost a lot of its attraction for me because of the
huge numbers of tourists there (Yes, myself included !!!) – You almost have to
push yourself through to the water’s edge in order to get a photo with no
people in it !! After the isolation and
lack of crowds up north, one has to
ensure that you go to more accessible places like this in the early mornings or
at other times when the crowds might be smaller and less intrusive. I am sure that if you hire a caoe and go out
onto the lake, or hike or even ride a horse around the lake, you would get some
peace and quiet, and also some stunning views looking back towards the
Fairmont. Next time…….!!!
In the meantime, in to Banff. Interesting little place - Like Jasper, it has the feel of a ski village, with lots of motels and hotels and retaurants. And a lot of people crowdng the streets. A quick cup of coffee and check of the
internet at Starbuck’s, and then it was over to the information centre to check
on camp sites. It had been dry for a
while although the sky was still very overcast, so I decided to go for the camping
in the hope of a clear morning tomorrow.
But by the time I got in the car and filled up with gas, the skies had
opened and it poured really heavily. I
did drive up past the camp site, and there was water running out of the
driveway onto the road !!! And at that
point I thought NO !!! So I decided to
head into Calgary which I want to have a quick look at, and hope that by the
time I come back into Banff it might clear up a little. So I drove out of town, and just 5 miles down
the road found a reasonable motel in Canmore, and will get up and on the road
early in the morning to have a look at Calgary, before I head west.
Interesting day – Not the best weather, but great scenery
and great driving - although I have to say that the road through the central
glacier section was probably the worst I have encountered all trip, with joins
in the road every couple of yards, it was almost like driving over corrugations
in a dirt road – Might be OK in a softly sprung American vehicle, but in the
Elise I felt every single one of those bumps for an hour or so !!
