Kathleen's Window: On the Road through Yoho, Glacier, and South to Castlegar

Friday, August 8, 2014

Last night and this morning we had rain showers. After we left the campground this morning, we had a few sprinkles, but discovered the smoke that yesterday's wind dissipated, had returned. We drove back south onto the Icefields Parkway, and stopped at Saskatchewan Crossing for fuel. The smoke was heavy there, and we were told that there were no new fires, but some hot spots still existed. As we left we drove through a burned over area.

Climbing the Icefields Parkway

Steeply dipping bedding in limestone

Following the Athabasca River upstream

Smouldering forest fire near Saskatchewan Crossing

Bow Lake

Bow Lake and Bow Glacier

Crowfoot Glacier

Back down the highway we reached the turn-off for Yoho National Park, so we skipped Lake Louise and Banff hoping to miss the crowds as we traveled to Yoho. Well, we wound up on Highway 1, the Trans-Canada Highway that runs across the whole darn country. It travels through Yoho and there are just a few dead end roads to the attractions. We pulled into the maxed out parking lot at the visitor center. After lunch in the parking lot we walked to the crowded center. The main thing that interested me in Yoho are the Burgess Shale Fossil Beds. They are inaccessible without a paid hike that you reserve ahead of time. Since they only take reservations by phone, and our phones are not working in Canada, we had decided to try to luck into a hike when we arrived. We didn't even bother to ask if there were any openings. After yesterday's hike, I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle an 11-12 hour round trip hike up the steep slope at a high elevation to reach the fossil quarry. I reluctantly took that one off my bucket list.

Unique railroad tunnels used to make a gentler climb up the valley at Yoho

We drove the road in to the exhibit center at Emerald Lake, hoping for a better display of the fossils than the small one at the visitor center. We couldn't park, unless we wanted to join the long lines of vehicles parked along the road. Most people were there to swim, sunbath, and boat on the lake. Disappointed, we left and drove out of the park to Golden where we crossed the Columbia River whose headwaters are north of there.

The road through Yoho, Highway 1

Emerald Lake Visitors Center

Looking up the valley at the Burgess Shale Fossil Beds

The highway took us west through Glacier National Park. Smoke still obscured the mountains. We turned into the first campground we came to. It was full. The next one had a few sites left. We grabbed one, and were off the road before 3 pm. Crossing back from Mountain Time into Pacific Time, gave us an extra hour. After dinner and a brief walk to enjoy the Loop Brook that the campground is named after, we slept well and woke to rain.

Canada's Highway 1 - dramatic road cuts near Glacier National Park

Netting to catch rogue rocks

Steep, narrow, tight turns on Highway 1.

Entering an Avalanche Shed

Avalanches roll over the road and down the slope to the left

Loop Creek near our camp in Glacier National Park

Railroad Trestle piers used to raise the track in a loop that crossed the creek twice to reduce the grade

Last years avalanche debris in Loop Creek

We were ready to get away from the summer crowds. Canadians love to go south in the summer, and fill their beautiful parks. Once we cross back over the border we will be in the wilderness of Idaho. Not the hot spot for tourism you find just north across the border! We got back on the Trans-Canada highway and joined the crowds heading west. At Revelstoke we turned south onto a lightly used highway and drove along the shore of Upper Arrow Lake. The road ended at the shore and a ferry dock. We waited about 20 minutes for the next free ferry and drove on with our fellow travelers who included a huge lumber truck. The ride across was scenic and only about 20 minutes.

Upper Arrow Lake at Shelter Bay

Waiting for the ferry

Lots of room on the ferry

The skies cleared as we drove south and turned into Nakusp for lunch. We found a small village with a few blocks long downtown. Along the lakeshore is a paved path and we found the Leland Hotel, the longest operating hotel in British Columbia. They had a deck looking over the lake and we enjoyed the view with our lunch. It was a funny old place that reminded me of the old beach hotels on the East Coast where we would go with multi-generations. The “old folks” would stay on the porch in rockers and watch the “youngsters” play on the beach and in the surf. Then everyone would gather in the big hotel dining room for supper. The Leland Hotel looked like the kind of place that families have visited for generations.

The lakeside walk below Nakusp

The flower garden at the Leland Hotel

The deck at the Leland

The Leland Hotel

After lunch we wandered the downtown and went into a used bookstore. It was your stereotypical jumbled mess. A book lover with no head for business opens a store, loses money, but loves being with books all day. We got into a conversation with the shop owner who inquired where we were from. He said that he used to spend summers at his aunt's in 'av'de Grass. It took me a few seconds to realize he was using the French pronunciation for Havre de Grace. “Oh, you mean Haver- dee- Grace!” He was from Massachusetts. After a spell in the Navy, he was touring Europe, met a Canadian woman, and they flipped a coin to decide which country to live in. Obviously she won, and he made a point to say that he had actually been in the Navy. Being my age, he needed to clarify that fact, because this was an area that received a lot of draft dodgers during the Vietnam War.

Leaving Nakusp we continued south until we reached Summit Lake Provincial Park and once again, before 3 pm snagged one of the last few remaining campsites. The campground was located on a small peninsula in a small lake. Lots of families staying there, with lots of kids enjoying swimming. The host said we were fortunate that the wind was coming across the lake and not up from the south. There were several fires still being contained to the south. He said they were having a bad drought and a hot, dry spell that looked like it wasn't going to break. The temperature had been consistently 30 degrees Celsius, which is the upper 80's. This area is usually rainy and cool in the summer. Currently it's great for swimming, bad for fires. While we were there we began to see the fire fighting helicopters with their large hanging water carriers, flying to the closest fire.

Summit Lake Camp

Summit Lake

Silverton forest fire

The next morning we decided to head for Castlegar, near the border. Greg wanted to try out THE Columbia and Western rail-trail there. We drove through more small towns, and at Castlegar crossed over the Columbia River again on its way to the border. A quick check of e-mails at Tim Horton's, affectionately called Timmy's by Canadians, their country's answer to McDonalds, (“What, my mother did a face-plant four days ago and cracked her nose?! I hate not being connected...”), and we drove into the municipal park. They had no spaces due to a wedding on the shores of their pond the next day, but offered us an overflow space up the hill by the ball fields. We took it and were joined by three other parties by night's end. One couple had a car with Nova Scotia plates. Turns out they were from New Zealand, purchased the car when they arrived, and were on their eighth tour of Canada. We also talked with the camp host, a delightful woman who just applied for her passport and is excited to be traveling to the U.S. for the first time. I love never knowing what interesting people we will meet!

So, today here we sit, in the heat, with the occasional cloud of smoke moving across the hill/mountain across the ball field. Greg had his ride on the rail trail. ATV's, and anything else motorized is strictly forbidden on the path, so guess who he spent his time dodging? We will spend tonight at the ball field, probably alone, as the wedding guests have cleared out below us. We've had our free shower, so tomorrow we need to find the town RV dump, such mundane but important matters with an RV, and then we will head for Idaho. Time to explore back in the States!