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.