The Search For Fall Continues in Canada!!!
We left Glacier National Park and drove over the Canadian border to Waterton Lakes National Park. At the border the Canadians asked us for our passports and for Sports' rabies vaccination receipts. Unfortunately, the Canadians were quite board due to a lack of border crosser's. We were crossing at a small border outpost on route 6 in canada, and we were probably the only vehicle they had seen for at least half of an hour, so they searched our van. The kids that searched our van looked to be just out of high school, and they may have searched the van just because they wanted to see what the inside of a Mercedes motorhome looks like. At any rate in about 10 minutes we were on our way to Waterton Lakes.
Remember you can Click on any Image to See a Larger Higher Resolution Version
There is a sign near the entrance of Waterton Lakes National Park with a Picture of the Prince Edwards Lodge, shot from high above on the mountain behind the lodge, this is a picture of the sign, it was a bit hazy when we were there.
Below is a picture of the Prince Edward lodge. The mountain in the background is where the photographer was when he shot the image on the sign.
We had lunch at the Lodge, and a Buck walked up and laid down right by our window. When I took this picture I was no more than 2 feet away from the buck. I whish the windows were a little cleaner though.
Below is a look at the Prince Edward Lodge lobby
After having a delicious lunch served by a first rate staff, we continued our journey north searching for Fall in Canada. We crossed Crows Nest Pass and traveled across the continental divide, which is the border between Alberta and British Columbia. We tried to stay for the night in Radium Hot Springs B.C.; however all the campsites and rooms there were taken, due to the fact that there was a classic car rally there. So we continued onward into Kootenay National Park, and found a nice but unauthorized (unofficial) camp site by the Kootenay River.
Below is a panoramic view of the Kootenay River at sunset. The cloud around one of the distal mountains at the left, is a cloud of smoke from a smoldering forest fire there. I think that the smoke in the valley helped to produce the iridescent red seen on the mountain tops at sunset.
This is a Large Panorama, remember to Scroll ---> to see the whole image.
A large part of Kootenay National Park has been claimed by wildfires. Wildfires are always a terrible event, but the devastation here is exceptionally heartbreaking, due to the devastated views of what were absolutely spectacular mountains and glaciers in Kootenay.
Below is an image of a glacier where the fires had not prevailed in Kootenay National Park
The first country to start the national park system was the U.S. with Yellowstone. The Australians were the next nation, then Canada was third. Canada's first National Park was Banff. We crossed the Continental Divide again and went from British Columbia to Alberta, and Kootenay to Banff. Banff and Jasper to the north are the most spectacular national parks in Canada, and the spectacular scenery here can be favorably compared to any scenery on Earth.
Below is a image taken right off the side of the major 4 lane highway (Trans Canada 1) on the southern side of Banff National Park, before the super scenic Ice House Highway even begins. Road construction provided for a nice place to pull over and take this photograph.
Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are must stops when visiting Banff National Park. Both Lakes are seen on calendars throughout the world. One warning, the crowds are thicker here than any other destination in the Canadian Rocky's; however, I think the natural beauty is worth enduring the hoards of tourists. By the way you may want to hold on to your wallet here. There is a lovely lodge on the shores of Moraine Lake that you can stay in for a mere $375 a night at discount off season rates.
Below is a Morning view of Moraine Lake.
Lake Louise is gorgeous, and has a grand historic hotel built by the Canadian Pacific railroad.
We had lunch in the Lake Louise Hotel (Lodge) and the food was great, and the service was fantastic.
After lunch we continued north, and then west on Trans-Canada 1. We crossed the continental divide again and left Alberta, and Banff National Park for British Columbia (B.C.) and Yoho National Park. There was a lot of haze in Yoho from forest fires, so in order to drive out from under the haze, we continued on to Golden B.C. and then on to Glacier National Park (in Canada)
Below is an image of Mt. Dawson (11,123ft), a tall and formidable peak in Glacier National Park Canada
The image below is of the peaks seen from the top of Rogers Pass in Glacier
This is a Large Panorama, remember to Scroll ---> to see the whole image.
There is a hint of fall in this Panoramic Image from Canada's Glacier National Park, but fall is not yet in full color. This was taken near the series highway tunnels at the east end of Glacier park.
We returned to Golden B.C. to stay the night. We had an awful meal with terrible service at the "Family Restaurant" by the highway. I guess not every meal out can be a good one, but in my travels I have been learning that very often, a highway sign that says "Family Restaurant" often leads to a dining disaster.
The next day we returned to Yoho National Park. It was still very hazy from forest fire smoke; yet, we still found some good stuff to take pictures of.
The first thing of Interest we found of interest in Yoho was the natural bridge. The Yoho River (A feeder of the Columbia River) drops 20 feet and tunnels under a section of rock, creating a spectacular rapid.
It is difficult to gain a perspective of the scale of Natural Bridge Yoho and the rapids there, from the picture above, so I also took a picture with some Japanese tourists for scale.
Our next stop in Yoho was Takakkaw Falls which is the third highest waterfall in Canada at 833 feet (275 Meters) The falls are feed by glaciers in the massive Waputik Ice Fields (these interconnect with the Columbia Ice Shelf) that could not be seen due to the steepness of the ridge. However, when looking at this area on a map, you can see that these falls are surrounded on three sides (East North, and West) by ice. It was a warm day when we were there and the water was really flowing over the falls. The image below is a vertical panorama composed of 9 images and is over 60 mega pixels at full resolution.
The water in the lower stream above is murky white because of high concentrations of glacial silt suspended in the water by the high energy of the water flowing quickly downhill. Although the glacial silt makes streams murky, when the glacial silt charged water settles in a lake it causes sunlight to reflect white at shallow levels in the lake. The white reflection makes high altitude glacial silt lakes turquoise and emerald in color, as seen in the photos below.
The image below is of Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. There is a very nice village style lodge and restaurant on the shores of Emerald Lake. This photo was taken on a trail about 1.5
Miles (2.25KM) past the lodge where the glaciers feeding the lake began to come into view.
It was a very hazy day in Yoho; however, in the reflection of mountains in the lake, the haze had little to no effect.
We crossed the continental divide again, from Yoho in B.C. to Banff in Alberta. When we crossed into Banff the Haze began to lift. We turned off Trans Canada 1 north onto Ice House Road, which is the prettiest road I have ever driven, and I have driven lots of roads.
As we drove north on the Ice House road, the haze cleared, but stormy weather moved in, but before the storms covered all of the mountain peaks, we found our first glimpse of Fall, seen in the panoramic image below.
This is a Large Panorama, remember to Scroll ---> to see the whole image.
Click Here for the next Series #3, Exploring Fall in Canada
The next series of images will be of fresh snow on spectacular Canadian glaciers and of beautiful blue lakes lined with golden trees.