Elizabeth and Gary's Magic Bus Tour

Thursday, July 22, 2010

NOW - the Real Fun Begins;-)

Monday morning we awoke full of anticipation as we were off to Jasper, Alberta, Canada. First we had to give Magic a bath at the local car/RV wash - we did this in the pouring rain!! Yes - in the pouring rain. An hour and a half later we were on our way;-)

After a short jaunt down Canadian Hwy 1, we turned onto the Icefields Parkway at Lake Louise (Lake Louise is in the Banff National Park (NP) - which butts up against the Jasper NP about half way up the Parkway). As mentioned in a prior posting, Glacier NP (US) and Waterton NP (CAN), combined, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So are the Jasper, Banff, Kootenay and Yoho NP’s (all together as one UNESCO World Heritage Site) along with three provincial (state) parks. These Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks combined as one World Heritage Site makes one of the largest protected areas in the world. And, the beauty is stunning!!

The Icefields Parkway IS the most beautiful road we have travelled - anywhere in the world. It is over 130 miles of continuous World Heritage Site scenery completely protected in the two NP’s (Banff & Jasper). This Parkway was begun in 1931, when the Canadian government put hundreds of unemployed men to work (sound familiar??) building the “wonder trail” through the heart of the Canadian Rockies. The men were paid twenty cents a day. Using picks, shovels and horses these hardy folks hacked a single-lane gravel track from Lake Louise to Jasper. The road opened quietly in 1940, while the country was at war. Thankfully, the tourist boom of the 50’s and 60’s required some widening and paving - although it is still only two lanes wide and could use some pavement improvement even today!!

The Parkway IS a scenic drive, not a transportation corridor. You ned a park pass to drive the parkway and large trucks are banned. There is NO traffic on this road. There are some of the most rugged mountains you will ever see - topped with seven icefields and about 25 smaller but still notable glaciers. (Note - just as rivers flow our from lakes, glaciers flow out from an icefield. An icefield is a sheet of glacial ice that is trapped by higher surrounding land and which feeds more than one glacier.)

About half way between Lake Louise and Jasper is the Columbia Icefield, which is the largest accumulation of ice south of the Arctic Circle. It straddles two NP’s (Banff & Jasper) and two provinces/states (Alberta and British Columbia (BC)). It is a hydrological apex - the meeting point of three continent-wide watersheds. On the western side (BC), the meltwaters flow into the Columbia River and on to the Pacific Ocean. On the eastern side (Alberta), the meltwaters flow into both the North Saskatchewan River, which empties into Hudson’s Bay, and then into the Atlantic Ocean; and also into the Athabasca-McKenzie system, which empties to the Arctic Ocean. A lot of water!!

The Icefield feeds six large glaciers - the Saskatchewan, Castleguard, Dome, Stutfield, Columbia and Athabasca. The Athabasca Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers in the world. One can hike to its ‘toe’ or take an ‘ice explorer’ (looks like a bus) onto the glacier. This glacier is 3.6 miles from the icefield to the toe and the depth of the ice at the toe is approximately 200 feet! You will not get the feel of the size by the pictures - as you don’t even standing across the street!

A View from the Icefields Highway.

Athabasca Glacier. (Those little specks part way up are the busses!)

As you can probably tell - we were in awe of this site. But, we finally had to tear ourselves away and continue the journey to Jasper and our home for the next four days. And, let me tell you - the Canadians know how to make NP campgrounds;-)!! They make the sites so you hardly see your neighbors - in the absolute beauty of the forest, turn off the wind machines and bring out the sun. After hooking up - a cocktail was in order in the fantastic setting to celebrate -

Our site is so private it's like no one else is here.

We pulled ourselves away from this serene setting to go into Jasper ‘to check it out’. It’s a cute little town - not as sophisticated as Banff - but cute in its own way. Gary managed to find a wood fired pizza place - so his turkey tacos had to wait for another night. Our arrival back at the campground was in time to check out the Ranger Lecture - ‘An Overview of Jasper NP’ - only to be rained out half way through. No matter, we got back to Magic just before it really started to pour.

Tuesday was another fabulous day in Paradise;-) First stop - Athabasca Falls. (Athabasca means the place where the bulrushes grow in the native language.) Here the Athabasca River (flowing out of the Athabasca Glacier discussed above and ultimately into the Arctic Ocean) pours into a VERY narrow canyon cut into a very hard, quartz-rich rock. A softer rock would have allowed the river to flow over it and create a gradual flow of rapids. But, this very hard quartz broke off in very large chunks as the river flowed over it - creating the narrow, DEEP canyon. The pictures won’t due it justice, as you need the thundering of the water falling over the rocks - so loud you can’t hear another person talk!!

Athabasca Falls.

A rainbow at Athabasca Falls.

Up river from the Falls, we found a good spot for lunch with a beautiful view -

A perfect rock for our lunch break.

Our picnic lunch view.

Not too much time to rest - the next stop was calling. Yet another wonderful hike - this time following the Maligne (pronounced Ma-lean) River as it plunged more than 70 feet into a steep walled gorge of limestone bedrock in Maligne Canyon. (Have you figured out that we really like waterfalls??) Several footbridges took us over the canyon in order to get spectacular views of the canyon and the river.

Falls in the Maligne Canyon.

Lots of water moving down Maligne Canyon.

Back at the car, we followed the Maligne River upstream to its origins. (You might guess where it winds up - yup - joins the Athabasca and winds up in the Arctic Ocean!) But, first it travels through Medicine Lake - where you can see it flow into the lake, but not out?!?! There is no surface outlet. The water flows underground for many miles, emerging in Maligne Canyon. And, before that, it flows out of Maligne Lake. This lake is the largest lake in Jasper NP and the deepest. Brian and Guy took us out to Spirit Island close to the end of the lake where we could see the Maligne Glacier and the origins of the Maligne River;-) The scenery is awesome -

View from Spirit Island on Maligne Lake.

Spirit Island is on the left. Too bad there were no nice views here!

A bird flying over Maligne Glacier.

It was now the time of day we were hoping for animals on our way home - and were rewarded.

Laying down on the job.

Work day is over. I'm heading for the cave!

Ok, where is my mom?

Enough pictures already, take this raspberry.

No rest for the weary. Wednesday we had an early tee time in Hinton - about an hour away. We scheduled this as all the literature said we had to travel Hwy 16 east - and Hinton was that direction just outside the park. So, we were off a little before 8 and did get to see many of the animals out for breakfast - lots of deer and a wolf on the hunt -

One of the motley crew.

I'm outta here!

After golf (which needn’t be discussed;-() we were off to another ‘must’ drive on the eastern edge of the park - the drive to Miette Hotsprings (pronounced Me-at). A very small, winding mountain road leads up the scenic Fiddle Valley to the hottest mineral springs in the Canadian rockies - with incredible views! And, of course, we took advantage of the springs to soak our weary, golf-sore muscles;-)

View from the Miette Hot Springs.

Another fantastic day in Jasper NP ends with our ‘crock pot dinner’ in our private outdoor dining area upon our return to Magic. It is a terrible assignment - but someone has to do it;-)

It was mentioned at the beginning of this piece how the Canadian’s know how to do it with their NP campgrounds. They turn off the wind and bring out the sun. This is true - except for the wonderful late afternoon thunderstorms that Elizabeth grew up with and loves! And - they have real doozies up here!! Fortunately, these always seem to come as we were in the car on our way home from the day’s activities or very late just as the sun is going down - which up here is not until after 10PM. (We have yet to see the ‘path lights’ go on as we can not stay up that late.) It also rains during the night which has been true the last several nights. It wakes you up to let you know it is raining - then lulls you back to sleep with the ‘rhythm of the falling rain on the top of Magic’. What a nice way to sleep;-)

Last night it rained pretty hard - and is still at it this morning. This may alter our plans for the day - like eliminate the planned bike ride - which is a good thing since it is now 9 and Gary is at the computer working on pics in his pajamas and Elizabeth just got out of bed!! Our breakfast plans (before the eliminated bike ride) have now been moved to lunch plans. We are going to the Soft Rock Cafe, which advertises an internet connection, and may allow us to get these last few days posted before it becomes an entire book. Keep you posted (so to speak).

Lunch is delicious and the internet connection is really fast - so here it is;-)

Love to all - and back when we have internet again - E & G

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Golden Scenery

What a beautiful drive! Saturday was a travel day - from Waterton NP in Alberta, Canada to Golden, BC. The drive was about 300 miles taking us about 8 hours. We have discovered that we like to take what we refer to as the ‘green dot roads’. (In our atlas, the scenic drives are noted by green dots along the indicated highways - thus the green dot roads.) These tend to be other than the main highways - and are therefore usually less travelled;-)

We had planned to leave the camp in Waterton about 8AM - BUT, Gary slept in!! For all those who know him pretty well - he is almost always up anywhere from 4:30 - 6. So, we rarely set an alarm as one is almost never needed. This Saturday morning, however, all the fresh air, hikes, wayward golf and internet hunting had worn him down and he did not get up until 7!#**! No matter - in this world of retirement we just left a little later;-)

After being in the NP’s for about a week, we were in need of a few supply items and figured we would stop at the WalMart Super Center in the first little town outside Waterton (we remembered this store from our fall trip;-)). An hour later our cupboards and freezer were full again and we were on our way.

Canadian Highway 3 to Highway 95 were our targets. We travelled along the western base of the Rockies - along the Columbia River. The scenery went from pines to high farm/ranch lands to little towns. There was the little town of Fernie at the base of the Fernie ski resort, which made us feel like we were back in Park City. We passed through Skookumchuck, Invermere and Spillimacheen. We skirted the Kootenay NP on our way to the Yoho NP. Lunch was on the side of the road next to one of the many lakes along the way. Each bend of the road presented a beautiful new picture out our front window. And, before we knew it - 8 hours was gone and we were in Golden!

Hmmmmmm. Our new campground was quite interesting?!?!?! BUT, it had an internet connection as fast as home - so, no matter what it might look like. We were in contact with the world again (pick up email, do our needed banking, etc.) - AND we could get a couple of blog postings out;-) We were happy campers. After a quick dinner, we took a walk about town - down Main Street, across the bridge, over the river and through the forrest.

You can almost see the wooden bridge over the river

Sunday brought an early tee time at the Golden Golf Club. No chancing Gary’s automatic waker-upper - we set the alarm. The course was beautiful - much like the PC Muni course - and in great shape. There were bear warnings everywhere - but, we only saw deer;-(

Beautiful vistas from many of the tee boxes

Gary's ball found the water between here and the green. Thank goodness the scenery was spectacular.

After a quick 3 1/2 hour round, we were in the bar just in time to see “O” (I’d spell it but I can’t) get the claret jug. Then off to the Kicking Horse Ski Resort (which is just above the golf course), a car wash, ice cream cone and a visit to the local hardware store (one of our favorite activities in a small town - as you never know what all you will find there). Finally back at Magic to take advantage of our internet connection one more time and to do a few loads of laundry. Very mundane stuff today.

Off to Jasper tomorrow;-) More later - E & G

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Hiking and Golfing Waterton Lakes

WOW!! This place is just sooooo beautiful!! There are so many different ways to describe the area. In many ways it reminds me of an adult Scout camp. As I mentioned in the last entry, the campground is adjacent to the little town (or township as they call it up here in Canada). So - you just walk to everything from the ‘camp’ - the ice cream on the corner, the pie on the corner, the Italian restaurant (VERY GOOD), the local bar for the internet connection (did NOT work this year;-( ), the sports outfitter - everything. Many of the trailheads leave from the town or the campground. The town is on the lake - Lake Waterton. AND - the mountains surround the township. In short - it is location, location, location with beauty, beauty, beauty!!

And, today (Thursday, July 15) was just another day in this paradise. There are free guided walks/hikes almost every day and free ranger talks almost every night. We decided to join one of these hikes today and learn about those who inhabited the area 10,000 years ago and the history of the bison in the area - as well as the ‘uses’ of the bison by the inhabitants. It was interesting that the bison is a ‘curious’ animal and does NOT do well in snow or bogs (depending on the season) due to its relatively small feet for its body. This allowed the ‘plains people’ to create an activity of interest to the bison (such as dressing as wolves) - get it to follow and investigate - then lead it over an edge into a bog or snow bank, both of which would make it difficult for it to move or get away - and kill it! During our 5 mile hike we saw some of the most beautiful wild flowers - something we are not used to on our trips as we travel in the early spring and late fall when flowers are NOT out yet or are long gone.

Just as we get started on our hike this beautiful view appears

Our guide, Karen, talking about the Bison that used to roam the area

Now we are trying to learn the names of the wildflowers. I'm OK with "the purple ones" and "the redish ones"

You can see why we wanted to come back to the area.

Stunning vistas

The fields of flowers and the surrounding mountains provided another of those ‘Sound of Music’ moments -

Is that Julie Andrews in a cowboy hat?

After our morning hike, we were only capable of 2-3 additional miles around the lake and the town in the afternoon. Most of that was spent looking for an internet connection;-( Oh yes - and eating pie and ice cream;-)

After a nice steak dinner in Magic (we did NOT share with the deer who did their share of begging with those big brown eyes!!), we headed over to the evening ranger program - “Mistakes, Madness, Passion and Protection: 125 Years of Canada’s National Parks”. This was a very interesting, informative program on the 44 Canadian NP’s - and gave us a new target to visit all the Canadian NP’s!!

Friday was a golf day at the Waterton GC. We left the British Open during the 1 hour delay due to the wind and moved to the wind on the Waterton course. We felt a great deal of empathy for all the players at the Open - as we could not judge what the 30-50 mph wind gusts might due to our ball - and we did NOT have a million dollars on the line!!!! It was NOT a fun round - BUT, the scenery was wonderful. AND - we saw a bear on the way to the course;-)

The view from the course was great, the 30 mph winds were not!

Too bad my (Gary) ball was in the junk on the right

We were up on a viewing stand to see if the next green was clear.

After golf - we headed to the spa in town - Gary got a massage and Elizabeth her manicure. We also decided we needed to try the local Italian Restaurante, as Elizabeth did not get anything out of the freezer for dinner! Bel Lago (Beautiful Lake) was wonderful - VERY good parpardelli;-) After dinner we took in another ranger talk, which was actually an American in an exchange program to discuss Glacier NP. A fitting end to our stay in Waterton as Saturday was another travel day - to Golden, BC Canada.

More later - Love to All - E & G

On to National Parks - Glacier & Waterton

Well - tonight I am sitting here with NO internet connection (so have NO idea when this will actually get posted)(finally have a decent connection in Golden, BC on the 17th - so several days to post!), NO phone connection and listening to the wind, which is gusting at 50-60 miles an hour. We DO love the National Parks and all the beauty they provide - BUT, would love it if they could figure out how to connect to the internet and TURN OFF the wind machine (the wind has followed us since the beginning of our Spring trip in March)!!!!

The VERY good news is that I am looking at the beautiful glacier-filled mountains that make up Glacier NP - an ugly task but someone has to do it;-)

Arriving at Glacier National Park

View from our St. Mary's East Glacier campground

This has been our ‘home’ for the last couple of days. We pulled into the KOA in St. Mary’s (on the eastern side of Glacier NP) on Sunday, July 11, and immediately headed to the Park Visitor Center to get information and ‘map out’ our hikes for the next couple of days. We also ‘investigated’ the little village of St. Mary’s before returning to Magic, our park ‘walk-about’ and dinner.

We decided that we didn’t have to be on the hiking trail at 7 every morning - so Monday, after a leisurely morning, we loaded the PB&J sandwiches, snacks and water in the backpack and headed up the St. Mary’s/Going To The Sun Road to Logan Pass, which was just opened on July 4th! We had been warned that the trail to Hidden Lake Lookout (our morning destination) still had snow on it - but, had NO idea they meant snow-packed!! It was fun to see the wildflowers at the edge of the snow, though;-)

Heading for the Hidden Lake trail - from flowers to snow in a step!

Looks and feels almost like winter

Hidden Lake at the base of the mountain

Looking down a valley from the Hidden Lake overlook

Hang on to your hat. Wind gusts of 40-50 mph

Upon our return to the car we were rewarded with a ‘1 PM show’ by the local Big Horn Sheep. They pranced and posed for pictures right at the edge of the parking lot for about 30 minutes. They sure provided a great show and completely tied up the parking lot while doing it.

This longhorn sheep was talking to us

Oh where oh where has our leader gone?

This guy was showing off

When we finally pulled ourselves away, we headed back down the Going To The Sun Road and stopped at the St. Mary’s Falls trailhead. We were off on our afternoon hike - and got two falls for the work. First was St. Mary’s Falls -

St. Mary Falls was loud and full.

Then the Virginia falls -

Virginia Falls (not sure who it was named after)

Virginia Falls from a distance

Both were beautiful as was the hike. Not sure even my ‘crack personal photographer’ could transmit all the beauty in the pictures.

Oh - did I mention that Glacier NP is grizzly bear territory???? Well - it is - and something to be aware of as we hike;-)

Haven't run into a bear yet this year

After these two hikes, we were exhausted and headed back to Magic to cook something up for dinner. After our beer and vodka tonic AND several Advil we were off to bed only to be awakened by the 50-60 mph wind gusts around midnight. All the slides came in and between us we did get a few hours of sleep.

Our sleepless night did slightly alter our plans for Tuesday - like our 8 mile round-trip hike went by the way side;-( Instead, we headed to the little cafe on the corner for breakfast about 9 - they are known for their pie - and YES I had pie for breakfast;-))!! (The problem is that if you don’t have pie for breakfast, or at least get it then and take it with you, they are out of it!! This is the very good reason you MUST have it for breakfast!)

We then headed a little south to the Two Medicine area - we decided a drive in the car, out of the wind, would be in order. Also, this way we didn’t have to use our legs and feet again! We did do a short mile walk to the Twin Falls when we arrived at Two Medicine - another beauty -

Twin Falls. Not sure why I m sitting. It was our shortest, easiest hike.

Bridge over troubled water? or Trouble on the bridge over the water.

You can see how Twin Falls got its name

Then it was investigate Visitor Centers and just enjoy the beautiful scenery - which there is a lot of. Oh - I forgot - we also disturbed a little herd of cattle on the way. They were laying in a wonderful field of wild flowers and I just couldn’t resist a picture -

Sorry to disturb all y'all

We both were tired of battling the wind today, so we returned to Magic early, which allowed Gary to work on pictures and Elizabeth to do a load of clothes and to write this about the last couple of days.

It is now time for dinner and the All Star Game;-) Gotta go.

Wednesday (July 14th) was another travel day. But, only after breakfast at our little cafe on the corner - AND, another piece of pie;-) This was a very short travel day, though, only about 50 miles to the Canadian side of Glacier NP - Waterton, which will be our home for the next three days. We really loved this place last year - thus the return. AND, it is just as special this time - and is definitely one of our most favorite places anywhere!!

This year we stayed in the Provincial (State) campground, as it is right in the middle of the little township inside the park - and this is our view and the ‘wildlife’ that make it its home -

Great views from our campground

The deer seem at home here

We did our usual routine after getting set up - trip to the Visitor Center to determine all the possible hikes and activities for the next couple of days and a walk about the campground. We also made a stop at the historic Prince of Wales Hotel (I provided a fairly long description of these lodges in the blog last fall as we travelled through this area - so all I will say this year is that these lodges (both in the US and Canada) were built by the RR’s and we can be thankful for them) for an afternoon snack and a drink so we could map out our next couple of days from the info obtained at the Visitor Center. Gary managed to track down an internet connection - but, determined it was not a good one;-( Back at the campground we decided it was too early for dinner - so, the little 3 mile trail at the end of the campground was calling and we were off to Bertha Falls. Many beautiful vistas of Waterton Lake, the many glacier mountains, the Prince of Wales - and the falls.

A view of our campsite from a nearby trail

Prince of Wales Lodge and the town of Waterton below

A view from the trail to Bertha Falls

Along the Bertha Falls trail

Bertha Falls tucked behind the foliage

All I can say is that there is just beautiful, wonderful scenery everywhere!!

So - Much more later (if we ever get an internet connection again) - much love - E & G

Sunday, July 11, 2010

We're Off - North to Alaska;-)

So - I am sitting here listening to the thunder from one of those wonderful storms that we grew up on in Arizona - thankful that I am in Magic and not one of those tents at Girl Scout Camp in Prescott, AZ;-( You can get VERY wet in those tents during a good old fashioned summer storm!

We have finished dinner, watched “The Big Chill” and I was going back over the last two days and figured the thoughts may as well get into the blog - so here I am.

Yesterday was a long driving day - about 10 hours - from Park City to Great Falls, MT. 5 discs of “The Girl Who Played With Fire” kept our attention and made the time fly!! We arrived in our camp for these two days and were all set up in time for dinner and our ‘walk about’ the camp. The office was full of brochures on what to do in Great Falls - so we also mapped out the activities for today.

Saturday, July 10 - First stop was the Charlie Russell Museum Complex, which included a museum of his works, his home and his workshop. Russell began painting ‘his vision of the West’ when he was only 13 - living in St. Louis and painting from what he read or conjured up in his head! He followed his dream and moved west from St. Louis when he was about 22 - he never returned to his home there. We are all very lucky he didn’t - as his works of art wonderfully capture the ‘Old West’.

The C. W. Russell Home in Great Falls, Mt.

Russell's studio

Our next stop was the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. When Lewis & Clark were attempting to complete their Presidential ‘charge‘ of navigating/charting the Missouri River and all its tributaries in order to figure out how much territory had been acquired by the Louisiana Purchase - and to map a route to the Pacific - they ran into a great deal of difficulty when they hit the Great Falls which reside in what is now the state of Montana. Even though they had been warned by the Indians (who were a GREAT help to them despite some history teachings) that they would encounter these falls - they were surprised when they came upon them. AND when they found four more falls (Crooked Falls, Rainbow Falls, Colter Falls and Black Eagle Falls) - they began to plan the best route for a portage, as it was impossible to ‘drag’ their boats upstream (as they had been doing) over these falls! This was the hardest and worst part of their historic venture. Lewis did have a wonderful/pleasing sighting of the Giant Springs during this ordeal - a bubbling springs of unknown origin that create the shortest river feeding into the mighty Missouri! After our stop at the Interpretive Center we were off to see the Springs and all the falls for ourselves - and here they are -

Giant Springs. Yep, that is the whole 201 foot river there.

Giant Springs up close

The Great Falls

Rainbow Falls

Black Eagle Falls

While at the Great Falls, we were watching this magnificent storm move in and decided it was best to head back to Magic for dinner, a movie and a quiet night. Tomorrow we head on north to Glacier NP and the many beauties and wonders that await us there.