Canadian Rockies

After taking Bridget and Daniel to Seattle so that they could go to Philadelphia for a couple of weeks, Paula and I headed inland on our way to Canmore in the Canadian Rockies.

We crossed the Cascades over Snoqualmie Pass, and headed towards Spokane. On the way we travelled through the farming area of Ellensburg. All along the highway the fields were full of hay bales in various shapes. Some were looking like huge marshmallows wrapped in white plastic, but most were in large rectangular shape that were then stacked in huge hay sheds, or stacked in long shapes like a shed, which then had large blue and white tarpaulins thrown over the top. It seems like a lot of the summer work on the farms here is to provide feed for their animals in the winter.

The landscape continued to change as we went further inland. It seemed that the closer we got to the Columbia River Valley, the drier the land looked. There were no trees, and the entire landscape was rocky and brown. From this plateau it is quite a descent to the river. We crossed the river at Vantage, and then began the climb back out of the valley. The dry valley began to change to huge farms on both sides of the highway.

From Spokane we headed towards Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and north to cross the border into Canada. We were looking for a place to stay and found a Provincial Park at Yahk. We camped right on the river.

We continued on through Fairmont Hot Springs, Radium Hot Springs and into the Kootanay National Park. The road entered the park through Sinclair Canyon, which had been cut through the mountains by a river that the road follows. Amazing mountain scenery all around.

We arrived in Banff and spent a short while getting supplies before driving the 24 km to Canmore. While staying in Canmore we explored the town, walked along some local trails, drove to Lake Minnewanka, and drove the Kannanaskis Loop.

At Lake Minnewanka some of the backcountry trails had been closed because of an active mother grizzly bear and cub, and while on the Kannanaskis Loop we spotted a mother moose and calf near the road, and also several groups of mountain sheep. When we crossed back through the Jasper National Park on the way home we also spotted quite a few mountain sheep.