Saturday June 6th

8:00pm

Today we rose early in order to leave early, but it didn’t quite work out that way! For starters, breakfast was a shambles – we were seated, a buffet was on, and we weren’t given a menu or served drinks for about 15 minutes. Eventually, Mathew got up and asked if we could help ourselves to a buffet. The answer was ‘yes’ so we did, not knowing how much it would cost....but even when the bill came, the waiter had to ask us what we had eaten. Fortunately, they mistakenly charged us for one Continental Buffet breakfast and nothing else, not even the drinks! We didn’t complain about that, but no gratuity was left!! We left the dining room and I filled my thermal mug with free tea (available only in the mornings). I paid enough to stay here, I was having all the freebies I could get thank you!

By 9am (not that early then!) we were off. We decided to go along the southern third of the Ice fields Parkway to look for wildlife. It was SO cold – zero in the morning warming up to around 7 degrees for the rest of the day. At one point we went back to the hotel so I could put my thermals on, along with hat and gloves. Much more comfortable!

First off, we stopped at Hector Lake which was mostly frozen but in the process of thawing. Here

we could also see the ‘Crow’s Foot Glacier’ in the mountains. Looking along the Parkway we saw very little wildlife. But we weren’t to know of the marathon or relay race which was taking place along this road. Many cars were parked at various points filled with people encouraging their friend or family member who was (foolishly!!) running along the Ice fields Parkway in this silly temperature! Shouts of support probably scared off any wildlife which may have been lingering there.

But suddenly we came upon. . . .a BEAR!! A black bear, *nomming* on his breakfast. He was close to the roadside but he quickly *pommed* off behind some trees. Unfortunately we didn’t get that good a photo – just some fuzzy bear butt – but we wondered if we might see some more wildlife tomorrow when we drive along here on our journey to Jasper?

Next up was Peyto Lake – Janet’s favourite, apparently. There was a short, cold and icy walk, but when we got there the view was pretty damn good, although the lake was quite frozen. I could not believe the colour of the water. Such an unreal deep blue I did not think existed in nature, the same colour as Mathew’s coat!

Next we stopped at Mistaya Lake to have lunch. Still very very cold and LOTS of silly runners and their supporters. No wildlife with the exception of Nutcrackers, Ravens and some tiny brown birds which seemed quite tame. We continued onto Mistaya Canyon which we walked DOWN to and I immediately knew I wasn’t going to like walking back – effort at altitude does not seem to comply with my body! The Canyon was quite small but very pretty. The water flowed fast and just by watching the water move, I could see how it had shaped and was still shaping the rocks surrounding it. They were curvy and shapely, and reminded me of the Grand Canyon in America on a very small scale. We agreed that it was definitely worth the walk down and back up again, which by the way, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

The last thing on the list was the turning point to go back to the hotel – Saskatchewan Crossing. By now the weather had improved a little (temperature up, sun out, NO snow!!), so Mathew took time out to have a rest here from driving while I sat and looked for bears. Several had been spotted here last week apparently, and there was an incredible amount of space for bears to have been – they could have been anywhere.

The mountains ahead sat behind forest and rivulets of water breaking up a plain where Native people once lived. I could easily imagine a small Native village here on the plain, as it was a HUGE valley. It was mid-afternoon, so the beards could have been asleep or elsewhere – although we did find two female elk when we first arrived, but they quickly ran off shortly after we spotted them.

No luck on the bear front, we left and turned back to Lake Louise. We discussed getting breakfast elsewhere but we didn’t find anywhere else which would start serving as early as 7am, so we settled for breakfast at the hotel but we would make sure we had a menu first! When we got back to the hotel, my trousers ripped (!) but I managed to sew them up successfully. Then it was off to the “Station Restaurant” for our last dinner in Lake Louise. Alas, Dominic was not working on Saturdays, but we still had delicious food, great service and I had a lovely strawberry cheesecake!