Day 19 Calgary to Lake Louise

Our hire car is a Toyota Matrix with only 20,000 kilometres on the clock. With the back seat folded down there is plenty of room for our suitcases and hand luggage and there is a surprising amount of leg room in the front. We drove through some of the planned communities in Calgary before we took the 16^th Avenue Nth/Banff exit heading towards the Trans-Canada Highway. The scenery was a very fresh green colour and the farm animals seemed to be flourishing in their paddocks. We saw cows, horses and a Wild West Event Centre. There were hay bales rolled up in preparation for winter and some unusual signs beside the road (highway). These signs appeared at various stages of our trip today. Most were on the sides of highways:

·         Watch out for deer crossing the road

·         Watch for pedestrians on highway

·         Cows crossing road

·         Logging trucks

·         Important intersection ahead

·         Warning bear in area

·         Slippery when snow covered

·         Boating Warning: Cold water and sudden high winds may be dangerous: Use  extreme caution

·         Attention: Elk crossing next 2 kms

·         Caution: Wildlife on highway ahead

·         You are now in Avalanche Country

·         Attention : wildlife crossing : Deer, Bear, fox

Most of the day the roads were lined with beautiful spruce forests and the horizons were dominated by huge imposing rock formations in which slopes had been carved out due to glacial action in the past and present. There were some snow tipped mountains but the main colour was grey as the strongest rocks stood proud to show they had beaten Mother Nature so far. The highways had much fewer trucks on them than our ones do but there were lots of grey nomads in huge winnebagos (RVs) ; some with cars attached and some with boats attached either above or behind.

Our first stop was at Kananaskis Village which is mainly a ski resort . It was used as the meeting place for the G8 summit in 2002 and I’m sure the delegates would have taken advantage of the bear repellent  and bear mints being sold in the general store. I wonder how the manufacturers did the testing on those products. Imagine the early stages when they were only 50 % effective. Maybe only every second person was attacked!!! Anyway, the centre was being renovated and, given that it is in a valley under the ski slopes, perhaps the renovations were set back by the April floods. There were some funny T shirts there eg car towing a caravan=canned meat for bears OR people riding pushbikes =fast food for bears OR meals on wheels ( and we saw lots of meals on wheels on both sides of the highways).

Then we looked at Barrier Lake with its beautiful blue water. It is obviously popular with the locals because there were people boating and kayaking on the water and joining nearby hiking groups. The Three Sisters refers to three taller rock formations here (similar concept to those Blue Mtns) but the bases are connected and the peaks are much higher. On the way to Banff, we drove through Canmore. There were lots of ski lodges and the main street was full of leisurely Sunday shoppers/coffee drinkers/ dog walkers. There was a Sunday market and an “Art in the Park” event. It was a traffic jam but later we saw that there were suburban shopping centres and life seemed much more relaxed in those areas.

We drove out to join the main highway again but very soon we were part of the highway car park. The highway goes through Banff National Park so everyone has to purchase a national park pass. Four lanes went towards toll booths like we used to have on the gateway bridge and 2 lanes were free for the few people who already had the passes. We bought a 4 day pass ($75) and were soon travelling again. We stopped at the Cascade pools to see the icy blue water, family picnic areas, Banff legacy trails and the reflection of the mountains in the water. The fir tree lined drive continued to Lake Minnewanka, which is a deep lake formed in a canyon. Its surroundings form an important habitat for bears which eat the buffalo berries in preparation for the long winter.

We battled the nose to tail traffic jam in Banff and eventually had subway chicken and salad for lunch. It was so good to have some fresh salad. When we left the subway shop, we met a fellow who was waiting with his dog outside the shop. It looked like a huge version of milkshake. It had the same colourings and the same head (in a big form) but it was an Italian Mastiff weighing 130kgs. It has to be with people and uses its head to push in to wherever he wants to go eg the shower. Obviously the wife is very tolerant because the dog sleeps in bed between them!!!

Bow Valley Parkway is the scenic route into Banff and we were hoping to see a bear or two. As the miles went by I was beginning to think that the advertisement in which you see the bear in the stream holding the freshly caught salmon was a con job but then we decided that the bears in this area are probably too full to fish with all the” meals on wheels” available. Cyclists were everywhere and they firmly believe that they are very important as far as road usage is concerned.

At Johnston Canyon, we had a fantastic view of Castle Mt and later Castle Cliffs. There have been many famous paintings done of this area with all the various shades in the rocks inspiring both young and older artist to put brush to canvas. The road we were on was partly built by people who lived here but were interned in Castle Internment Camp in WW1. People of Austrian, Hungarian and German background were imprisoned here in 1915 and they were put to work building roads in the national park and the main road to Lake Louise.

Just before we arrived in Lake Louise (with thousands of people from all over the world), we drove along a section of straight road with very, very tall fir trees which seemed to almost meet in the distance and the only thing stopping them from touching was a mountain with a light, puffy cloud above it. The view was stunning (see Neil’s photos). Before we checked in to our lodge we went down towards the lake but there was no-where to park. We asked the manager about it and he said it is always like that but that many of the day trippers go home after 6pm so we went later and the crowds were lighter. We are staying in Deer Lodge (next to Chateau Lake Louise) but the only way to the Lake is via a walkway. Anyway it is spectacular. The summer waters are icy blue but the colour changes to bright blue in Spring and of course it is frozen in winter so it seems that the view would be different every time you come to Lake Louise.

Tomorrow we head to Jasper and, no doubt, more fantastic scenery.