Tuesday June 2nd

5:55pm

Today we started off by leaving at 9am to drive along the Bow Valley Parkway – this road isn’t closed, but visitors are asked not to use it between 6pm and 9am so as not to disturb the wildlife. Needless to say, no bears were out today, although there were several lay-bys with information boards and viewpoints. We stopped at most of them, and through binoculars we saw a Loon, Osprey, an Otter, a Moose and a Mule Deer.

Onward we went to Kootenay National Park which borders with Banff. Today we actually crossed into British Columbia while we went into Kootenay! We first went to Marble Canyon which at first I wasn’t that impressed with – except for the glacial waters which were a really nice colour! But the boardwalk too us zig-zagging up and across the Canyon which I would describe as more of a Gorge, but when we reached the end at the top, we were VERY high up and could even see some ice inside the Gorge – a frozen waterfall which had grown as the ice had accumulated.

The landscape surrounding the Canyon was very strange – there had been a forest fire a few years ago, and there were many dead trees and bark, but there were also saplings growing in between the dead wood. It was quite surreal. At the top of the Canyon there was a double waterfall which was fun and quite impressive. Lots of spray and rainbow patterns – here the stone looked like marble as it was constantly wet – hence the name of the Canyon I guess! We had our photo taken by a Tommy-Lee Jones doppelganger, and then had lunch at the bottom of the canyon before moving onto “The Paint Pots”

“The Paint Pots” were different to what I was expecting, having seen “Paint Pots” in America which were muddy bubbling hot springs in Yellowstone, these were totally different. Again, the landscape was strange – part due to where the edge of a forest fire had reached, but the main strange thing was the presence of “ochre beds” – where Native people collected ochre, baked it into cakes and ground it into a powder in order to turn it into paint when mixed with oil or grease. Everywhere was orange, mostly dry and sandy, other parts wet and gooey ochre clay.
At the end of the walk there were three “Paint Pots”. Two large and one small, plus a large defunct one. These were created by natural springs and natural iron minerals mixing together. Iron minerals deposited around the edge and hardened eventually forcing the spring to move upward to create a cone. These weren’t hot and bubbling like in Yellowstone – these were still. But throughout the walk, there was a small steady stream of glacial water and iron mineral water mixing and depositing within the clayey soil below. A bridge across the river here was also quite fun with its gentle swaying!

We went back to the B&B going along the Bow Valley Parkway a second time. By now it was around 2:50pm, it was warm and sunny – most furry animals were probably asleep by now! Even by 5pm there was little activity with the exception of the Columbian Ground Squirrels which were pretty much everywhere.

BUT, we did find three Big-Horned Sheep grazing by the roadside on the way back before stopping off at a place I thought was the best spot and viewpoint along the Bow Valley Parkway ...at least from what we had seen anyway. This morning we had stopped there and saw the Loon and Osprey first thing, and there was a cyclist taking a break on the grass on the hill just below. When we came back here this evening, I thought it would be nice to sit at the top of the hill for a while, even if there was no wildlife (which of course, there wasn’t!). But the reason why I wanted to sit here a while was the view – I just wanted to sit here and take it in just like I had with the Hoodoos the other day. We were looking across the river which ran parallel with the railway line.

Despite being close to the main road, this viewpoint was my favourite in particular because we had a view of mostly pine forest covered mountains, and some snow covered. Being must lower down than we were when looking at the Hoodoos viewpoint I think I finally began to realise the scale of everything and appreciated it much more here. The immensity of these mountains, the habitats and how long it stretched on for in the distance.

The mountains were impressive, huge, and amazing. I just loved how the forest completely covered them. More forest spread out like a carpet below the mountains, interrupted politely with large marshy lakes. It was certainly one of the most beautiful views I had ever seen and it was nice to be able to just sit and stare at it for a while.

There was another place called “Pilot Pond” formerly known as “Lizard Lake” (because of Salamanders), which I would have liked to have stayed a little longer, but I was really conscious that although we weren’t far from the main road, it seemed like we were actually in the middle of nowhere. I though a bear or elk might come out of the forest behind us, and I felt quite uncomfortable despite the pond being more of a lake and the view quite spectacular, especially with the dark green water!

But this view point where we sat for a good long while, was my absolute favourite and I don’t think I would have tired of it at any point. The last meal in Banff was in Wild Bills (our third visit here!) and this time we had dessert. Pecan Pie with Ice Cream and Maple Syrup.

Delicious!!