Having found Tamara and Doug (who are lovely - Nicola has been talking about them for years and I have never had the first clue who she has been going on about. Having met them I will now happily sign or write Christmas cards knowing fully where they are going!) we set out on our camping adventure.
We reached Lake Louise uneventfully but (as may surprise some of you who know us well) a little late. This was not our fault (this time!) as there was a big traffic jam just outside of Calgary and we got stuck. A further delay happened as we approached Banff National park and we queued for forty minutes to buy the park pass. Yet more time was spent in Canmore waiting for our delivery of camping equipment. The last straw was trying to shop for 9 people in an unfamiliar supermarket in a different country with 3 boys in tow.
On the way we did stop in at the calgary Olympic site and saw the Jamaican bobsled (featured in the film ‘Cool Runnings’). There was also a Canadian one there and we saw the luge course which is massive and intimidating. Towering over it all was the ski-jump structure which we think was the site of Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards’s finest moment, but we may have the year wrong.
Anyway, once at Lake Louise campsite we pitched our tent and then headed out to play by the river. This led to a late-ish tea and then a campfire. All of the children had had enough by the end and were running on Marshmallow energy and excitement. This made parental duties quite hard.
The next day we headed out on a tour of some principle landmarks of the area. It is not possible to explain adequately how the scenery in this part of the world looks. You can walk for five minutes and take a photograph every 30 seconds of something new and interesting. The mountains tower above you on every side and the rivers and lakes are the most startling turquoise colour (due to rock flour generated by glaciers). I love every step and turn of the wheel.
We saw Lake Louise, whose natural beauty is amazing, but has a massive hotel stuck on the shore. Prince Charles would rightly term this a monstrous carbuncle. Then we drove on to one of the most peculiar engineering marvels devised by man. It looks like four tunnel entrances, but is in fact a spiral train tunnel. The gradient was too great for the trains running through this pass (kicking horse pass) so they blasted through the mountain to reduce it.
Then we went on to Takakawa Falls which is among the highest falls in Canada and a powerful testament to the strength of water to shape the landscape. This was followed by a drive to Emerald Lake which lived up to its name with a deepening of the usual turquoise colour to a greener tinge. This is also the location of the Burgess Shale (which Nicola studied in Geology.) This is a World Heritage site where Mr Burgess (among others) found a lot of weird fossils. We headed back to the campsite for food and (earlier) bed. Nicola stayed up to natter to the early hours while I had a much quieter night putting our boys to bed instead!
The next day we had to say goodbye to the Morgans. Douglas has this thing called 'work' that he has to go to....
Time is running out on my internet session here in Jasper so I'm going to wrap up the next couple of days quickly. I might be able to go back over them another day and fill in details. I might not....
We travelled up the incomparable icefields Parkway to Rampart Creek. This campground has no facilities (except a pit toilet and single tap) and it was fun to be self sufficient for a night. On the way we walked around 5 miles at Bow Lake and saw the falls.
The next morning we were visited by a very curious and bold squirrel who stole parts of Peter's breakfast. Then we packed up and headed to the Athabasca Glacier which is rapidly receding. There are now barriers to prevent access to the toe of the glacier as the river and lake around it are too dangerous! In 100 years this glacier may not be there at all and the icefields are shrinking too. The water supply for Canada is in genuine peril!
We also saw more waterfalls before arriving in Jasper and settling in for the night.
The next day the highlight was a whitewater raft ride down the Athabasca river which thrilled the boys. It was really relatively tame and the next level would have been fine, but we wanted to avoid scaring the children off for life! Jasper is a lovely town and we have hit it as the Rodeo is happening. We may well go along tonight and see some of the events prior to leaving the town.\
Today holds the Jasper Gondola, Miette Hot springs and a trip to lake Maligne. Time's up. See you all soon!
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