Journey Day 14 - Moraine Lake to Golden

Lake Moraine

Morning arrived and I thought I could hear rain pattering on our roof but opening the blind on our huge picture window revealed a dry morning; however, the wind was still blowing and the surface of the lake every bit as choppy as last night
Still, we a reason to be here was to be out before the crowds arrived so 06:30 we dressed and headed out; Amazingly, at 07:00, the car park was well filled and people were already milling about.

Moraine Lake car park at 7am

The Rock-pile

The best views of the lake are from the top of the Rock-pile and that is where we headed for a hopefully un-crowded view of the valley. It was easy to move around at the top but it was still amongst people and waiting to get into a position you wanted for a particular shot. It was definitely worth being there early. So much rain had fallen that a couple of the best positions were flooded.

Looking up the fells from the steps

The sky was broken with patches of blue but was largely clouded and only slivers of sun made it to the Lake and valley sides.

Lakeshore Walk

After descending the Rock Pile we walked the 1.2 km trail along the lake shore.

Looking back up the lake toward the sun, the blue colour in the water is absent and it presents a more broody view.

rapids where the creek enters the head of the Lake

View North with cliffs silhouetted

Walking back to the Lodges, an icefield is visible above the Lake on the far side which is inaccessible.

Breakfast and Checkout

Back from our walk we headed into breakfast in the main lodge building around 09:30.
It continued windy with snatches of sun as we walked back to our Lodge at the far end of the row. I still love this lodge; it feels comfortable and welcoming as soon as you walk through the door and then the big picture windows, albeit through trees; over the blue of the lake and the high hills.
We were really sad that the wind meant that the canoes on the Lake were suspended again. We had both been looking forward to that as a special part of the trip. It is good that it clearly would be unsafe; better than wishing and wondering or resenting a close that you don't agree with.

We had also expected to go on a hike before we left the area but neither of us feel like it. Time is moving on so we shower and pack and just about make checkout 11:00. We wanted to call in the cafe shop for some sandwiches for lunch and went before checking out so we had our key for 10% discount.

rock pile #3

Car packed and ready; we couldn't resist a third trip up the rock pile. Moraine Lake is stunning even without the sun and we visited various view point positions though now moving among large crowds. We still managed to get good photos, I thing I took about 40 on one camera so the selected ones are among the best. 

Our final shot, below, we searched out as matching the front cover of The Rough Guide Canada which Lynne has had as a constant companion.

Match to The Rough Guide to Canada front cover

Moving On

We only had about 60 miles to travel today but with the weather not encouraging us to be out walking  we decided to head South again toward Banff and pick up part of the Bow River Parkway which we had bypassed on the way into the area having stayed on Highway 1.
Bow River Road North
We were stopping for fuel in Lake Louise town but after missing the garage turn, I managed to miss interpret directions and ended up on Highway 1 North. Not Happy! Fortunately, there was a turn off not far out of town and we were soon back and filling up. Fuel here in Alberta has been a little dearer than the last couple of Provinces but having pre-authorised $50 I went ahead filling to over 3/4 full at $1.22per litre (more on this tomorrow).

Bow River Parkway

Back down Highway 1 South for some miles and we turned North again on the Bow River Parkway.  This is a much smaller road with a reputation for wildlife sightings,though most of these were on the section South of us.

Moraints Curve

All the way across Canada we have seen and heard rail freight being used as a primary mover. There are trucks on the Trans Canadian Highway, but nothing like the density of European countries or indeed the USA on long distance trunk roads.
We halted at Moraints Curve view point on the Bow River road to see a wonderful vista of a wide curving river backed by heavily forested hillsides running up to the exposed tree line on the mountains which in turn were topped by highlights of white snow.  In addition to the natural treats, a long freight train with double container loads rumbled and squealed past for ages. The locomotives had long disappeared around curves up the valley while the rest of the train continued to rattle past.

Moraints Curve

Wildlife

Driving on suddenly noticed two Elk up the hill side on the far side of the road. A third, a female appeared on the road ahead and had to be avoided by car which had passed me. Somewhat spooked she ran different ways on the road before heading up the hill to he male friends.

Telephoto lens used

Trans Canadian Highway

AT the top of the Bow River Road we again joined Highway 1, coincidentally at the same junction we left it to head up to Jasper.
Time had moved on by now and we settled down to cover some miles.

Rogers Pass

We briefly visited the Visitor Centre at Rogers Pass where after years of surveying, a pass had finally been found to drive the Trans Canadian Railway through. The engineering for so long ago withbasic tools was amazing.

Spiral Tunnels

At first, the railway descended to the West from Rogers Pass with various escape lines and such but repeated train wrecks led to a new solution.
Two loops are built into the mountain so that the trains can spiral down much more gently. We stopped at the Spiral Loops view point for along time as we knew a train was coming but it was a lot longer than intended. Unfortunately, the trees have grown add the bottom tunnel exit is barely visible.
On this picture, the locomotives are running right to left just visible in the bottom centre of the photo. Thy have completed the loop in the mountain and the rest of the train can still be seen entering the top tunnel and crossing above the tunnel exit. Quite remarkable how the pull can continue in such a loop without dragging things off or losing power.

Spiral Tunnels

End of Day

The rest of the afternoon we just drove and arrived at Golden. The hotel is on a typical hotels and garages scrappy strip by the Highway and we couldn't see anywhere we fancied eating. We got in the car again and headed into Golden downtown which turned out to be a very pleasant small town with a cinema and nice centre.

Near the bridge over the river was a small restaurant,The Island, and we enjoyed a very good pasta and a beer.

Chatting to our server, she was saying how lucky we were that it had been so wet this year because by now the whole area normally smells of wood smoke from forest fires. 

Blog Progress

Getting behind on blogging. This one is going out 24 hours late and I haven't even started writing Day 15 yet..

Today's Statistics

Statistics: Miles today: 160; Miles so far: 3191 ; Fuel added so far: 308.5 litres, 67.9 imp gals; Provinces: Alberta & British Columbia; Time Zone: UTC-6 Mountain Daylight Time (MDT)