Lake Moraine and Lake Louise

Saturday—

As we left Banff for our daily adventure, Tom, the tour guide, told us about  a herd of elk who made its way thru the town frequently.  They didn’t bother too many people—a few tourists who got too close, but the locals knew to leave them alone.  Then the herd began following and harassing the school children on the way to and from school, so the herd was relocated to a place where they would not be around people.

The fire I have mentioned in the last 2 posts is still burning, but it is going away from the town of Jasper and is being “managed” whatever that means.  Controlled or “managed” burns eventually make the forest healthier.  There is a pine beetle here that kills trees and the burn eliminates these dead and infected trees and allows new healthy trees to grow from infested areas

I keep hearing CPR- which doesn’t mean a lifesaving technique, but Canadian Pacific Railroad.

Some of the roads we’ve been on today are closed in the winter and sometimes at night in the summer. 

The wildlife commission builds overpasses over major roads to give the wildlife a chance to cross to the other side without endangering their lives.  These overpasses look like a continuation of the vegetation with dirt on top and  native plants put there. 

We stopped at Lake Moraine where there is an enormous pile of rock and some of our group  got to the top.  The view from there was supposed to be spectacular, but N and I stayed on the trail around the lake, which seemed kind of ordinary (by Canadian standards).

Pic from Pat Knowles, thanks for sharing.

Next we visited Lake Louise (named for Queen Victoria’s 4th daughter, Alberta Louise)  There is an iconic Chateau  (hotel) here that has grown and enlarged since the early part of the 20^th century. 

Back side of Chateau

The Chateau burned at one point and was rebuilt and enlarged and enlarged until it became the massive structure it is today.  I should have used my camera’s panoramic function to get a complete picture of the place, it is HUGE.  We walked through it and then walked around the lake.   

The landscaping is bright and inviting and I suppose I’ll never think of hanging baskets of flowers the same way again.  These are enormous and meticulously groomed.  Ours on the back deck in Arlington are truly puny.

N’s Kodak has a broken battery latch and sometimes the batteries don’t make good contact—we got some masking tape to hold the battery compartment closed.  We’ll make it til we get home, but I’m afraid it can’t be fixed, because Kodak went out of business a couple of years ago.  Maybe we can find a “fix-it” person who has spare parts. 

Stopped in a small tourist area past Lake Louise for some lunch.  Since we’re scheduled for Supper at 5:30, we had only ice cream for lunch, while others had sandwiches, salads, hot dogs, etc.

We spent a little time in Yo Ho National Park—Yo Ho means Wow—Hmm!

Stopped at a display about the spiral tunnel built for the train, back when they were used for freight in this area.  The original track was so steep that travel on them was dangerous and several engines were needed to get a load up the mountain and then  to keep them from plummeting down again.  The ingenious spiral design  is difficult to explain but rather like a  big underground  rail loop to give the train more time and less grade to make the trip safer.  (think switchbacks) With these tunnels the extra engines were not needed for pulling and pushing and “runaway” sidings weren’t needed as well.  As I said, really clever and innovative engineering.  Wish I had a good picture or diagram to show you, but alas.....

Back to Banff- we did a little shopping and met the group at the appointed Greek restaurant for supper.  Food was good- dessert, not so much—but that’s okay, we had ice cream earlier.

I have been trying to track my food (Weight watchers) but it hasn’t been particularly accurate and I’ve gone over my allotted points almost every day.  It is difficult when food choices are made for you, rather than choosing for yourself.  Also when I prepare a meal, I know how it was cooked, eating-out every meal, I have no way of knowing.   My goal on this trip was not to lose weight, but also not to gain.  I’ll find out how I did when I get back.

Tomorrow we don’t leave til 9am, we travel to Calgary, and go to the fairgrounds.  We have been told that there will be over 100,000 people at the Stampede tonite, which is our last “event” til we leave to come home.