Another Day, a few more mountains, and a lot of ice

Saturday morning we woke to low clouds, flatlanders call it fog, but at these elevations it is just the fact that you are in the clouds rather below them. We had suspected that today was not going to be a stellar weather day so chose to do the southern half of the Icefields Parkway yesterday and head up towards Jasper today. That way if the weather didn’t cooperate Gina and Brenda could at least spend some time perusing the goods in the shops in Jasper. Our first 50 miles or so was low cloud and rain and the mountains were obscured. When we arrived at our first destination the Columbia Icefields we could have missed the glacier but soon it cleared up a little.

Once we got to the Icefields Centre Rollie and Gina decided they were going to treat us to a glacier tour. Now I had been out on the glacier as a kid but not for a veeeeerrrrrry long time. In fact I think this museum piece was the transportation then.

Now this fine blue piece of equipment was the interim transportation but I think I missed that era entirely or at least never took a spin in them but from all reports they were a victim of their lack of suspension and in the summer all those windows could raise the heat to somewhat uncomfortable levels, in fact their informal name is “shake and bake” amongst the tour guides.

 

Nowadays things are a little more modern and certainly a whole lot more comfortable than the old yellow “crummies”. They even have a fancy new name “Ice Explorer” and there are only 22 in the world, 21 here on the Icefields, and 1 in Antarctica at the American base there.

That is the Icefields Centre you can see in the distance behind the Ice Explorer. And the picture below of the four of us was taken out on the Athabasca Glacier.

Hopefully these photos will help those of you who are suffering through the high temperature elsewhere to weather the storm. Winter is coming in fact here on the glacier it never really leaves.

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And speaking of leaves above are some shots of the colourful vegetation that grows near the glaciers. We were hoping to see a little wildlife on our trip today and this nanny and kid Mountain Goats were pretty accommodating when it came to getting photos.

Gina had never seen a moose either so we were hoping to see one of them but this guy below is as close as we could come to helping her realize that dream, but not everyday do you get to see a Canadian Moose and a Mountie in his red serge all in the same photo.

Now once our Glacier experience was over, by the way thanks for that Rollie and Gina, we were off to continue our journey northward towards Jasper. The weather started cooperating with us and we actually got to see some of the pretty country we were traveling through.

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And never fear the girls did get in a little souvenir shopping once we got to Jasper.

We certainly enjoyed our Mountain Getaway and all the more so because of the company we had to share it with. Rollie and Gina thanks for giving us the right excuse to wander and visit all these sights that in our usual travels are just bypassed and if not forgotten at least put off for another trip. To see the great photo’s that Gina and Rollie took pop by their blog.

Sharing some of our Neighbourhood

Brenda and I love sharing our neighbourhood with our friends and it seems like we are seeing it for the first time all over again when we watch others enjoy the sights. We had found a spot out near Banff National Park west of Nordegg that looked like a good spot to set up our base camp. Rollie and Gina are experienced boondockers and we knew they would have no problems with a spot without all the usual amenities.

Well there are tradeoffs in life and I will definitely give up my internet and shore power for the right to wake up to a view like this every morning. We got out here on Thursday afternoon and set up camp that day.

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We saw a lot of country over the next two days and took a pile of photo’s, probably 1500 between Rollie, Gina, Brenda, and I so it will probably take more than one day to share some of the highlights with our readers. Whoa, hold it, we will cut it down to a bunch less than 1500 but, we sure will try to pick the best. If you want to see it all, you need to come for a visit.

First thing Friday morning we headed into the park at Saskatchewan River Crossing and then ventured southwards along the Icefields Parkway towards Lake Louise. Brenda and I have had the good fortune of being able to travel a lot of pretty roads but we think this highway is one of the world’s best. Rollie and I saw a comment in the Num-Ti-Jah Lodge that sums it all up pretty well. Some wit with a piece of chalk had made a comment on their welcome board that went like this “When God made this place he was showing off.” Well he hit the nail right square on the head there and we are sure glad we live here and can share it with our friends. The photo below is a small taste of the country and you can rest assured I haven’t done a thing to it except load it into the blog.

Peyto Lake

When the Lord goes to painting it don’t need any Photoshop, or Picasa to fix it up.

The photo above is Gina, Rollie, Brenda and I at Waterfowl lake just to the north of Peyto Lake. Now I didn’t think about the rock flour that is ground up in these waters when I put that teal coloured shirt on but it did echo a lot of the lake and creeks we saw today.

Once we hit the Highway #1 down near Lake Louise we decided that rather than head back to camp right away we would head west into British Columbia and see some other spots like the Spiral Tunnels that make it possible for the Canadian Pacific Railway to operate its transcontinental service through the Kicking Horse Pass.

We weren’t lucky enough, or maybe patient enough, to see a train but usually you can see the end going in one of those tunnels while the front is crossing either above or below it. There are two set of these spirals in this valley that manage to reduce the grade enough to allow rail traffic to travel here a little safer. But the real reason for our visit to Yoho National Park was Takakkaw Falls. They are magnificent and a photo cannot do them justice as they are Canada’s second highest falls and at 1250 feet it is hard to capture the sheer magnitude in a photograph. Hard for me to believe but it is probably 45 years since I have been in here to see this falls. Brought back a lot of memories standing here listening to the thunderous falls and thinking of those I shared them with last time and those I was sharing them with today.

 

Now the photo below is pretty common in this country two folks eating lunch at a picnic table but this one has a multi-cultural aspect to it. You’ll notice that although I am wearing a light vest and drinking cold water, Gina, a true Louisiana girl at heart, is enjoying her lunch while wearing her mitts. It was a little cool but really, mittens, in September…..lol!

But maybe Gina had the right idea after all this little fellow had his best fur coat on while scurrying around us.

Well we will finish the Northern part of the Icefields Parkway in a day or so.

Banff National Park

Today we took the day to see some of the sights in Banff park. It is only an hour or so from our gate but we seem to only get there when we have guests to show it off to. The weather wasn’t the greatest but the company sure was. There was not a lot of wildlife out and about but we did see this guy wandering along beside the Parkway.

We took a few shots and then pressed along our way towards Lake Louise. Where we enlisted another tourist to take a shot of the four of us standing in front of the lake.

Now for a picture without us cluttering up the view.

And here is the view from the coffee shop, no wonder so many folks come from around the world to visit this spot.

Now we figured we might have to sell our motorhome to pay the restaurant bill here so we headed on down the road a little before we ate. On the way into Banff we stopped first at Moraine Lake to take some photos and see the “Valley of the Ten Peaks”, but they were hidden behind the clouds although the lake was beautiful by itself.

After that last glimpse at the lake we headed into St. James Gate, one of our favourite Irish Pubs in Banff where we chowed down. Although I can’t speak for the others my “Steak and Blue Cheese Boxtie” was excellent and well worth the price.

We were planning on the girls having a little time to do some shopping along Banff Avenue but a higher power was looking after Rollie and my financial affairs and we had to eat and run so that we could pop into the Cowboy Trail Church in Cochrane on the way home.

After spending the day wandering the park which must be one of the Lord’s greatest cathedrals it was nice to end it all with a plain from the heart sermon and be able to share it with good friends.

Out to the Ranch

Rollie and Gina arrived yesterday afternoon so rather than let them rest up, we dragged them out to the Yaha Tinda for the day today. Longtime, well maybe even occasional readers, know that this is one of Brenda and my favourite places. We like to share it with a select few folks, usually those who call home somewhere far away, as it is getting to be pretty crowded out there already on the long weekends in the summer. There was a little method to our madness of heading out there right after their big travel day from Great Falls. My cousin Mike and our friends Harold and Diane Baldwin along with a couple of Mike’s other friends, Roy and Peggy from Valleyview, were out there for the weekend so we knew we would be able to visit with them and introduce Rollie and Gina. Well that, and use their campfire for cooking our gourmet meal. Tube steaks for everyone.

Here is a picture of Rollie and I that Gina took while we were waiting for the fire to get ready for cooking.

Sorry I do not have any photos of us cooking for our brides, to busy making sure the wieners were done to perfection to mess with the camera I guess. And oh by the way, thanks Mike for the grill, Mike made a grill just like the one in the picture for Brenda and I and had it with him on this trip. It will come in handy when we are in the desert this winter.

Before we invaded Mike`s camp we took a hike up to Bighorn Falls a little ways up the creek from the campsite.

The pictures above were taken from the meadows at the top of the falls and the one on the left is from directly over the falls and Rollie took that one as those who know me know that I am not going that close to the edge. Below is a shot of Rollie and Gina in front of the falls

And here is one of Brenda and I

Now here are a couple of Rollie up on the cliff face beside the falls, you won`t find me up there and it even gives me the shivers to watch my friend climbing around up there.

 

And of course we are not the only local folks who have discovered this great place. Long before we humans and our equine friends were frequenting this mountain paradise the Wapiti (elk) have been coming here to spend their winters on the lush grass. There was probably about 100 head in this group and the bull in the centre was busy keeping others from invading his harem.

 

Guess Who’s coming to Dinner

Well we had a great weekend visiting with Lacey, Clayton, and of course Miss Ella. The weather could have been a little better but all in all it was not to bad. We came home on Monday morning so the bus was back in its spot and everything set up by early afternoon. It has been a beautiful week here so we have enjoyed the weather and are looking forward to Rollie and Gina’s visit towards the end of the week. We had hoped that Mike and Janna would be traveling with them but apparently there was some snafu with the paperwork on their new motorhome so they didn’t want to risk crossing the border without everything in order. With the weather good as it has been it is hard to get a nice sunset photo, so I tried the other end of the day and got up early (5:43AM) this morning to a spectacular sunrise.

And here is a shot of the skies off to west a little later while I was out on my morning walk.

We are having company and here they are arriving.

Gina and Rollie crossed the border today and arrived at our place mid-afternoon. Rollie brought that big old Volvo through our narrow gate just like he had done it a thousand times. Although it had rained earlier in the afternoon the sun broke out to welcome our guests. They continued what is seeming to be a tradition when our American friends come to visit and brought a armload of butter for Brenda. She was pretty happy to see the butter and even more to see Rollie and Gina again.

As per usual in the RVing world, they traveled and we, well really Brenda, cooked, and she had a quite the spread set out for our supper, steak, ribs, cheesy potatoes, sauteed asparagus and of course no meal is complete without dessert. Today we had a choice, Brenda made my mom’s frozen lemon dessert, and of course her own trademark dessert, Frozen Peanut Butter Pie.

We had a good chin wag and tomorrow is a new day, so we will see what it brings.

Visiting Ella and More Mountains

Friday dawned bright and early with Miss Ella coming to spend the day with us. Her mother had to work and we managed to kidnap her for the day from her daycare so she could spend the day entertaining Meg and us.

After she took Grandma for a walk and spent a little time sharing Megs bed she did a little snuggling. That was Friday a kind of all Ella day.

Saturday we took a spin out the David Thompson highway west of Rocky Mountain House towards Banff National Park. We thought we might be able to find a new place to take our horses too. Not sure if that will happen as it is a little hard to get our outfit into some of the spots but there is some beautiful scenery out that way. Might take a little work to figure out where the trails are in this new country but then that is half the fun. Here is the view from one spot called Preachers Point.

On the way we ran through a burn on the east side of the Park boundary and it was already alive with regrowth. I am not sure whether it was a natural burn or a prescribed fire but nevertheless I am sure that Kootenay Plains at the head of the Abraham Lake reservoir is used to fire helping fashion the ecosystem.

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The shot below is for Rod and his comment the other day on our small square bales. In our country we bale them the way the market likes them. Bales that are fed to our local livestock are usually the large round bales, but the timothy hay we grow is in demand around the world and it is easier to ship the small square bales. They actually compress them down to about half the size at our local hay plant and then ship them in containers overseas and into the southern states.

Out of the Mountains

We don’t spend all of our time out west in the hills, sometimes we are just hanging out on the farm and watching the world go by. It is haying time here on the Northern Ranges, what with the cool spring we had it is a few weeks later than normal. It looks as if we found a window in the rains though. We got it off without to much moisture affecting it and 80% will go to the hay plant down the road. From there it could end up in Japan feeding some of those Kobi beef cows. We grow timothy hay and although it is great for our horses, the Japanese actually use it for roughage for their cattle and rely on grain for the rest of their nutrition.

What with two balers and a bale wagon it gets done in a hurry.

 

Along with the hay crop we have a few acres of barley to harvest also but that will be another few weeks until it is ready. The shot below is across the neighbours field to his buildings and also a sunset over those same buildings.

After a few days watching the haying work going on it was time to hit the road again and head for Rocky Mountain House for a visit with Lacey, Clayton and of course Ms. Ella. She is growing like a bad weed and her grandmother says she can walk forever. She has learned a new photo smile since we were here last time.

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And here she seems to be saying, “Hey, how do like it when the camera is always pointing at you.”

We are camped at the New Old Town Cabins and RV Park here in Rocky Mountain House. It is only about 1/4 mile from Lace and Clayton’s place and is a pretty nice spot. Our site is quite large and the neighbours appear to be quiet, in fact I don’t even think they are there, maybe they are just weekenders.