Day 4

Day 4, Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Got up and had a good breakfast at the hotel. Packed up the car and decided to check the bench where we sat by the river to watch the sunset. Lo and behold, there sat my missing notebook. Guess it wanted a sleepover by the river. It was a tad damp, but we dried it out.

So, off to downtown Revelstoke to find Parks Canada and get a pass for both us good for all the parks we will be visiting. Canada doesn't offer that great $10 good for a lifetime senior pass. Then we filled up with gas and headed for Revelstoke National Park. Somehow, we missed the turn off to the Meadows in the Sky Parkway which seems to have been before the actual park begins. We decided not to go back because there is a lot of road construction on the Trans-Canada Highway. As it turned out, this was a good decision, because we just plain ran out of time.

Next up was a short walk through an old growth cedar & hemlock forest. Smelled great in there.

Now on to Glacier National Park. Stopped at the Rogers Pass Discovery Center to look around and take pictures of the great scenery. Also have fun pictures of Heidi and me, but there aren't going to be any pictures tonight because the wi-fi here at the pricy Deer Lodge at Lake Louise is painfully slow.

Next was Yoho National Park. This is where the scenery starts to get really spectacular. We took the hike to Wapta Falls which said it was only 2.4 kilometers. That turned out to be one way. The entire Kicking Horse River plunges over the falls—it's been called the Niagra Falls of the west. Maybe in the spring. I mean the water was thundering over the falls, but it's not anywhere near as big as Niagara. Anyway, that took quite a while as it is up hill and down dale, through mud puddles, and over lots of tree roots.

Now it's getting seriously late in the day since we've lost an hour. So we made a quick stop at the Spiral Tunnels viewpoint (waste of time, you can see them better from the highway) and then headed up the hairpin curve road to Takakkaw Falls. Now that was worth the drive. The water is plunging down the mountain about 200 feet. Sounds like a freight train. I can't imagine what it is like in the spring—it was impressive enough in late fall.

Then we backtracked a few klicks to Field to have dinner at the Truffled Pig Café. Of course, a train was parked on the tracks blocking the only way into town. Longest train I've ever seen—had one locomotive in the lead, two in the middle, and one at the end. They finally got moving and the backed-up line of cars could get to Field. If you are in the area, do not miss this place. Food was wonderful. We had the special, wild mushroom ravioli with scallops & pancetta & various root vegetables. Yummy. We “licked” our plates clean with the good bread. By this time, there was not one but two trains blocking the crossing, so of course we had to stay for dessert. Okanagan peach pie with homemade vanilla ice cream & caramel. More yummy!

Our waiter explained that the trains come east from Revelstoke and switch crews here. They grab some sleep in the bunk house and they take a westbound train back to Revelstoke. The other trains are coming west from Calgary—same deal, they switch out crews and end up taking another train back to Calgary. So that's why they park there for about 10-15 minutes. He says they get about 24 trains through there a day. Yikes!

So, finally got out of Field and headed for Lake Louise. Major, major construction on this portion of the highway, so it took a while. Totally dark when we got here, so can't report yet on Lake Louise. Stay tuned. No pics today, it would take years to upload them. I'll be lucky if I can get the blog up.