Saturday 3 September 2016

Pacific NW 12 - Banff


     So we were now nearing the end of our marvellous trip.  Banff was a short drive from Lake Louise, and after all the wild open spaces it seemed a complete metropolis, with the tourist throngs filling all the streets.  We stayed well up the hill from the town, in the busy but comfortable Rimrock Resort.  Gail and I ventured up the cable car to the top of the peak above, where there is a network of boardwalks over a kilometre long, giving amazing views of the valleys and mountains all around.
     By the time we were ready to go down, the clouds were closing in until there was nothing to see at all, and the weather continued to deteriorate.
     We arranged a late dinner and were put into a private room, just the four of us, and worked our way through a tasting menu with wines for each course, served by a slightly eccentric crew of waiters, who seemed eager to talk and crack jokes.  A really fantastic way to end this trip, as we gazed out into the valley below, siwrling with clouds and now sleet flurries.
    Next day, we struggled through a near blizzard, back to Calgary and finally split up, Gail direct to London, Kathleen to California for more travel, and Ian and I to Seattle for our return flight.  We had an overnight there in what must be the best airport hotel anywhere, Cedarbook Lodge, with extensive gardens and even a little wood in the grounds, and a very decent restaurant.

    So what will we remember from this trip?  The wildest, remotest places: the rainforest and the deserted beaches of Oregon; bear country in the Rockies; snow drifts above the clouds and vast mountain ranges; swollen rivers and waterfalls.  Also, surprisingly good food, with an emphasis on local produce, from the grandest set dinners to the home-baked goods in coffee shops in remote towns; and great beer and wine from the local craft breweries and wineries.  Our favourite spots were Yachats and Revelstoke, and the remote wilderness of Alpine Meadows.  All in all, it seemed as if the best places were the least visited, and these are the places we would likely return to. 

Friday 2 September 2016

Pacific NW 11 - Jasper and Lake Louise

    
     Now we started to turn east on our loop, over the mountains and back into Alberta, to Jasper National Park.  We were leaving behind the remoter corners of BC and getting more into mainstream tourism.  Jasper, the town, though small and picturesque, with a boulder strewn mountain stream, is a tourist haunt.
    We stayed in a very comfortable park lodge established in the 1920s.  Oddly, it has an excellent upscale restaurant, with some of the best food we had on the trip (and a vast wine list), but also a pub where the food was absolutely dire.
    Next day, with the weather turning distinctly moody, we travelled to Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake, nearby.  The first was surrounded with the blackened remains of pines - a forest fire had swept through here the year before - but even this did little to diminish the beauty of the mountains and lake.  Nearby we were able to see a bald eagle nesting, its white head peeking out above the massive nest at the extreme high pint of one of the less damaged trees.
     We walked around part of Maligne Lake, soon well away from other people, and sat to contemplate the mountains and the silence.
     We next followed the Icefields Parkway south, calling in at the Athabasca Falls, deeply incised canyons filled with massive torrents; then to the Columbia ice field, a rather heavily exploited tourist spot that was largely clouded (and crowded) out, spotting more eagles along the way, as well as a moose on a leisurely stroll across the road.
     Lake Louise itself has a few impressive buildings from the early 20th century, notably the station. 
We stayed in a rather odd Best Western with split level rooms that smelled strongly of bacon.  The famous old Fairmont hotel, well out of town on the shore of the lake, is a bit of a disappointment, full of Asian tour groups and expensive handbag outlets so that it feels like an airport departure lounge.  If you walk along the edge of the lake you can quickley get away from the crowds and enjoy the deep aquamarines of the lake and the encompassing mountains beyond.

Pacific NW 10 - Alpine meadows


     So with some reluctance we left behind the charms of Revelstoke, continuing along the Trans Canada Highway through deep forested valleys and beside deeper, darker lakes, the road always playing footsie with the railway. We made a few stops en route, enjoying ice creams under blistering mid day sun at the end of a lake jetty at Salmon Arm,  coming by late afternoon to Little Shuswap Lake. This is First Nations land and the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band or Secwepemc have built a succesful business here - hotel, golf course and well regarded restaurant, with all benefits being polughed back for the benefit of the whole nation.  We walked along the shore of the lake and then enjoyed an excellent meal here, before travelling on next morning.
     A long drive, avoiding Kamloops, a large industrial town, and then we were up on quiet back roads, mostly just dirt, into Alpine country: high valleys, with forests coming down to hidden lakes, and the odd farm with a German name and a herd of dairy cattle.
     We stayed in a big three bedroomed lodge in a little resort called Alpine Meadows, just a cluster of swiss style log houses with steep roofs and stone fireplaces, by a perfectly still lake.  Lots of wild life to be seen, with fish leaping to ripple the surface, families of ducks and geese, woodpeckers and many others.  Later we found out a bear had tried to get into our lodge while we were away, and we saw several black bears in the vicinity.   
     The nearest town, at the entrance to Wells Gray Provincial Park, had a surprisingly well stocked supermarket and the obligatory liquor store, so we were well supplied for a couple of days of home cooking, making the most of this little idyll.  We rowed out on to the lake, rather gingerly, and enjoyed the sense of calm.  The blue hole was still with us.