Radium Hot Springs and Banff June 7

I was determined to try some natural mineral springs in the Rockies and was happy to take the long drive through Kooteny National Park to the hot springs at Radium. Very soothing and refreshing. The nearby town has the climate and feel of Kamloops with hoodoo hills and a Western vibe with a bit of Alpine flair thrown in. Saw a bear eating dandelions by the highway and an elk in Banff. Banff is overly crowded and seems quite built up including an indoor shopping mall!

Lake Louise and Moraine Lake June 6

The iconic Lake Louise is a very popular spot for tourists, us included. Beautiful varying colours of blue and green serene below the surrounding mountains. Tour bus us even this early in the season spilling put of the parking lot onto the roads below. The Chateau Lake Louise is classy and opulent and wonderful for people watching.

Nearby Moraine Lake is a more unspoiled spot with fewer visitors. Gives a real feeling of what these places were like years ago.

Jasper to Lake Louise June 5

No documentary or travelogue or magazine spread can ever replace for me  the reality of travel in person.  The total body experience of sight, sound, smell and how your brain integrates and relates it to your own past and mind maps is priceless. My eyeballs are sore every day from so much swivelling to look at all the things around me. 

A cruise on Maligne Lake just outside Jasper began the day. A woman discovered and surveyed the lake. Bravo Ms Shaeffer! 

Then the Athabasca Falls... So swift and powerful. 

A stop at the Columbia Icefields before we arrived at Lake Louise, remindedus of   the effects of global warming as the ice retreats further and further from the highway every year. 

Yellow Head Highway to Jasper June 4

The Fraser River, Mount Robson, the aerial tram in Jasper overlooking an amazing vista. Words are not adequate to describe the grandeur surrounding us. 

Kamloops trails

A couple of relaxing days spent in the western style town of Kamloops. Set on the banks of the Thompson River, it clearly developed as a working location on the railway. It was hard to get close to the river in town but there were amazing views from the sandstone hills surrounding the valley where the original town was built. A drive through a First Nation on the other side of the river was magical with a sweet smell of sage brush and big horn sheep on the road!  Very warm temperatures but the winds were tremendous! 

The end of the blogging break

June is here and I am on vacation and inspiration has returned. The recent broken leg certainly cramped my style as they say. Moving on from that setback has brought me to Kamloops British Columbua after an amazing drive from Calgary through the the Rockies. Saw the train go through the spiral tunnel at Kicking Horse Pass. Iconic. What a marvel it is that the railway across Canada was ever completed however I know there was much human pain and loss of life along the way. 

Revelstoke was filled with masses of lupins and poppies and other spring flowers and was really hot after the drive through the mountains covered with snow at the top. There seemed to be an unusual number of Chinese restaurants for a town of about 7,000 people. Then Kamloops is really a desert with unusual sandstone cliffs beside the Thompson River. Brown sage brush covered hills surround the town.