September 21, 2005

September 21, 2005

Lake Louise, Alberta to Golden, B.C. & return

YEAR 2 DAY 96

 

Today was sunny and cold. Very cold at the top of Kicking Horse Mountain.

Yesterday in a local regional newspaper I found an ad for a September windshield sale at Rocky Mountain Auto Glass in Canmore, Alberta, about half an hour south of Banff, where we're headed tomorrow. I phoned them this morning, got a quote, and made an appointment to have the windshield on the truck replaced Friday morning. I figured I might as well have the windshield replaced at a sale price, in a province with no provincial sales tax. The cost of the windshield is less than my insurance deductible, so it will be at my expense. I’ll have to phone Autopac to cancel the insurance claim.

After breakfast, showering, and morning chores we headed west on Trans Canada Hwy. 1 across the provincial border into B.C., through Yoho National Park and Field, B.C. to the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden B.C. At Golden we followed the Kicking Horse Mountain Road for 13 km. up to the resort. After paying for our day package we headed up the chair lift to the mountain's mid-station where the Grizzly Bear refuge is located. I had to teach Joanne the proper and safe way to get on and off a chair lift. She had never been on a chair lift before. Nothing worse than doing a face plant getting off a moving chair lift, especially while wearing skis. Been there, done that ! I had to laugh at her comment as we rode the chair lift up the mountain. “WOW ... my sister would never do this !” The Grizzly Bear refuge is a 22 acre fenced section of the mountain side, housing Boo, the 3 year old Grizzly. Boo came into the refuge as a 12 pound cub with his brother Cari. Cari died during hibernation last winter due to a twisted intestine, so Boo is the only resident of this refuge. This refuge is affiliated with the Grouse Mountain Grizzly Bear refuge just outside Vancouver. That one houses 2 Grizzlies in only 5 acres. We observed Boo having his afternoon nap, while a biologist delivered a very interesting and informative one hour lecture on their refuge, Boo, and Grizzlies in general. After the tour and lecture, we took the chair lift back down to the base of the mountain, then got on the gondola for the ride to the top of the mountain, and the Eagle's Eye restaurant. The scenery up the mountain, and at the top, was astounding ! We had a fairly nice lunch in the restaurant, which seemed to care more about the presentation that the food itself. Very nouveau ! But for me, eating is about the food, not how it looks. Call me old fashioned. I had barbecued buffalo ribs. The restaurant bills itself as Canada's highest restaurant at an elevation of 7700 feet. After lunch we went out on the restaurant's wrap around deck to look around and take photos. We took the gondola back down, and went over to the resort's sales office to pick up some information on the purchase of resort accommodations as an investment, perhaps even as a summer home for us.

We drove down the mountain to the town of Golden, where we bought a bit of groceries, and filled up with diesel. We headed out of Golden east on TCH 1 back through Yoho National Park. We stopped to see the Natural Bridge on the Kicking Horse River. The water over a waterfall has eroded the rocks underneath until the water now flows under a rock formation forming a natural bridge over the waterfall. We took a 13 km. side trip to see Takakkaw Falls. The switchbacks on the Takakkaw Falls road were so tight, that Dee-Dee could not make it around. I had to turn 90° , back up 45° , then go forward turning the last 45° to complete the 180° switchbacks. The truck is too long, and the turning radius isn't tight enough. Next stop was the railway's spiral tunnels through the mountain. We were fortunate enough to be at the spiral tunnel observation point just as a train came along. We watched the front of the train enter the tunnel, then exit another tunnel higher up the mountain even before the rear of the train was in the lower tunnel. Finally, we got back to Lake Louise. It was a long, tiring, but exhilarating day. Supper for the animals was about 2 hours late. Teddy hates having his meals late. We fed the animals, then ourselves. We watched a bit of TV, while Joanne washed dishes and I worked on today’s accounting and journal entry.

DSK