The Canadian Rockies and the Kootenays

After visiting Stephen (Carolyn’s brother) and his partner, Lauren, in Quesnel, BC, we headed into Kamloops, BC for a visit.  Here Tony surveys the scene at a downtown park on the Thompson River.    

En route to Revelstoke National park, we had a nice lunch at a scenic rest stop

 

Revelstoke National park is one of a number of Rocky Mountain national parks in eastern BC and western Alberta.  (Revelstoke is in BC.).  Some of the scenery was breathtaking, including along the Meadows in the Sky Parkway, an alpine drive leading to amazing views of Mount Revelstoke, Lake Revelstoke, and the surrounding Rocky Mountains.  

 

At the top of the drive, the hiking is great and affords amazing views of alpine meadows and jagged peaks.  The alpine flowers—just in bloom!--were lovely.  On entering the drive, Parks Canada warns: “Don’t pick the flowers, no matter how much you are tempted.”   We were tempted, but were good citizens….  

 

A boy in awe...

 

From Revelstoke, we headed south to Nelson, BC, and along the way we took a scenic drive (it is hard not to have scenic drive in this part of the country!).   Here at a secluded rest stop, a family of ducks is out for a bit of paddle.

 

Nelson, BC is in the Kootenay mountains.  The town is known for its rich mix of characters, including hippies and wealthy BC residents with summer homes in the surrounding hills.  In this picture, Carolyn surveys a local beach on Kootenay Lake.  Note the smoke in the background, as there was a fire in the region that burned for many weeks

 

Nelson was the site for the filming of the movie Roxanne with Steve Martin and Darryl Hannah, loosely based on Cyrano de Bergerac (of the long nose!)

We next headed to southern Alberta, and camped near Waterton Lakes National park. 

Waterton Lakes National Park is smaller and not as well-known as Banff but is arguably equally spectacular.  After a half hour-- mostly uphill--hike, the site at Bear’s Hump hill is, well, spectacular.   

 

Did we say spectacular?

 

The view from Cameron Lake,, a short drive from Bear's Rump.

We also did an amazing day hike to Crypt lake in the park.  The hike is listed as one of the top 10 day hikes in the world by National Geographic magazine. Justifiably so.

Along with amazing scenery along the way, the hike includes narrow trails along the edge of a mountain and bit of spelunking through a cave.  Yes, Carolyn, through there…..

At the end of the hike, you reach a beautiful alpine lake, Crypt lake.

 The lake was not only beautiful but also very cold (note the snow).  On asking about the possibility of swimming there, our campground host paused and then reflected, “well, some do…”   We did, but very briefly….

More Waterton Lakes.  Here Tony tries to get his phone out to take a picture, but Carolyn beats him to the punch.

Next we headed to Lethbridge, Alberta, where Tony had a four-day conference.  But along way we stopped in at world heritage site: Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.  For many thousands of years the local native people would attempt to round-up and stampede buffalo over cliffs.   A fascinating but very risky way of hunting before they had guns and horses. 

Next we drive south and eastward through the U.S.  Home soon….