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29/05
Hi everyone,
Today I drove from Jasper to Canmore via the Icefields Parkway and Banff. It is a long, spectacularly stunning drive and difficult to concentrate on the road which at times can be quite challenging on sharp corners. It is the major route through The Rockies and I believe is rated as one of The best drives in the World today. Certainly my experience of it was in keeping with this thought. It is unbelievable.
I met several other travellers, one from Brazil via Syndey, who like me had hired a car and were then finding accommodation along the way. my intention is to meet up with Tim in Canmore, who you may recall I first met in Toronto. First the journey.
The journey down was really impressive, Bow Lake and the Bow Valley are going to hold very special memories for me. The sheer beauty of the place is overwelming. Bow Lake and the Lodge founded by the Simpson family, yes honestly, dow, are as idyllic as you can imagine. Trust me when I tell you that it takes something very special to stand out here but Bow Lake IS that special. I will never forget it. When I arrived the sun was shinning brightly with large cumulous clouds passing overhead, there is still a lot of snow on the surrounding Mountains and the lake is still heavilly iced over. The combination was real picture post card stuff. The Lodge is typically wooden and inside it is festooned with Game hanging from walls on all sides. It may not be quite what anti-fur activists would like but remembering that people had to live off the land and also protect themselves it is understandable. The lodge was build in several stages and has a very distinctive look. Almost like The Sound of Music meets the Adams Family! There are large open fireplaces and heavy furniture which all fits in just so and suits the place to a T. You can actually stay there but I had to push on.
I made frequent stops but specifically I visited The Athabasca Falls which again did not disappoint due to the Ice melt, Mount Christie, Mount Kitchener, Colombia Icefield, Lake Louise, tea at the Chateau and finally Lake Moraine which I felt was better the Lake Louise (sorry Lou).
The Colombia Ice field has been visited by some of you I know. It is still quite amazing when you are there because it seems inconceivable that you are actually standing on top of 1000 meters of pure ice! It is alos very weird that the Glacier is moving, of course this caused its own problem with cravasses opening up as it flows over the ground beneath. You are restricted as to how far you can venture from the drop off point but you can still drink the purest of water, ice cold and direct from the Glacier. It has that pure ice blue colour and can freeze your fingers off, well a bit of an exageration but you know what I'm saying, it's cold, proper cold. You only get about 15 minutes or so on the Glacier which really was not enough time for me as I could have stayed for hours. The buses are quite special 6 wheel drive machines capable of decending 35 degree drops. They have massive tyres 5 feet high by 3 feet wide and only inflated to about 16psi, this allows the vehicles to travel very slowly without losing traction. Moving on from the Icefield I went to Lake Louise which I found to be heavily commercialised. Again the Lake was frozen part way but the Chateau inside is nice but a bit kitch and over the top - you know the stuff, a bit too North American mock Frenchish. I had to partakein afternoon tea because it would have rude to have come all this way and not had something. So a good pot of Earl Grey and home made (apparently) apple studle with thick crean and ice cream was ordered. Very nice it was too, and only $20 including tip for a somewhat pleasant waitress. Bargain.
Lake Lousie was named after Queen Victoria's fourth daughter and the Mountain behind the Lake is named after Queen Vicky, poor old Albert dipped out and had nothing of note named after him, well not there anyway. I moved on to the neighbouring Lake called Moraine which I thought was fabulous as it was far less busy and had more character. It was also hot whilst I was there so I took the chance to take some rays and layed on the rocks. The piece was bbroken by very threatening claps of thunder which echoed round the surrounding Mountains as if something had ripped the top off one of them. I beat a hasty retreat to the vehicle and avoided the incoming deludge by minutes.
I haven't done much walking todayas it was such a long drive, I still have issues with the hire company but I have checked my Email today and the Web Company have done something with Alamo to resolve the situation on my behalf - Go Webcar Go! Hopefully the situation will resolve itself and I will get my money back.
Tim has done me proud but you will have to wait just a little longer to find out why.
That's all for now folks.
All the best, Chris.
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