Bound for Banff

Another early start this morning took us out of our rather too warm cabin by Emerald Lake into a very brisk morning. It was still overcast, so the sharpness and clarity of all our photos is diminished but we could see the fog rising from the still and very chilly waters of this glacier fed lake. There was no sign of the loons, a type of water bird, that had honked and hooted throughout the night. They are quite elusive to see but completely unavoidable to hear. The sound is a booming noise that lifts off the surface of the water and bounces around the snow covered mountains surrounding us on all sides. I would very much like to have seen one.

This place was quite isolated and lacked some facilities that are considered normal in most places these days. This would not have troubled me if I had been forewarned. There was no internet in the cabins and intermittent electricity for charging our devices. I had just enough battery to go to the main reception and send out the blog when I got up in the morning. It took three goes to get it sent. During the day Ross' phone gave up and also his camera. I had charged my phone and camera earlier and so was ok. Not so for my tablet device which struggled.

Anyway, we got through it and are happily ensconced in out hotel toom in Banff, reeling after yet another enormous meal. I could not eat half my main course and did not even try dessert! In the film "Philomena", the main character goes to the US in search of her son, but her neighbour had seen something on the tv about large portion sizes in America and warned poor Philomena about them. The poor woman was constantly concerned about portion sizing for the whole film. I find myself echoing these sentiments.

There were one or two things I left out of yesterday's blog. Here is one. Why is glacial melt water so remarkably blue? The many rivers and lakes we have seen with this dramatic colour indicate that it is not an isolated matter. I know I have seen it elsewhere as well.

Well, it turns out that it is the suspended fine dust powder in the water from the grinding of the ice against rock at the base of the glacier. These dust particles, called rock flour, have a small electrical charge which means these tiny particles repel each other like magnets do and so remain suspended in the water, not settling to the bottom for some considerable time. The ultraviolet light from the sun is reflected from these particles creating the vivid blue colour of the water.

The next burning question was, why there are so few trucks on the roads. There are thousands of RVs but almost no heavy transport vehicles, except for logging vehicles. The answer is trains. They have huge trains that roll along quite slowly on the very busy lines. Some trains, carrying nothing but containers, will go for 240 carriages, many of them double stacked. Fifteen minutes further down the track you see another train of similar size carrying tankers. It is quite amazing and the roads are relatively clear. There are still trucks but they tend not to be large and are certainly not as frequent.

Now, for today. Our first stop was at Lake Louise. This is a major resort and very crowded. The Fairmont hotel is uber posh and stands directly opposite the huge glacier that comes down the mountains at the opposite end of the lake. The view is amazing.

We were particularly lucky and our tour director kept saying "Oh my, oh my" as he looked towards the glacier. I had whipped out my camera very fast because I could see what had caught his breath. A tiny pocket of sun had hit the walls of the mountains and they shone against the otherwise cloudy skies. The sunlight kept moving around picking up different facets of the rocks casting shadows and sparkling. The only tricky thing was ensuring no pesky people stood in front of the camera and struck a stupid pose. Let's face it, pouting at the camera does not make the glacier and the Rocky Mountains more interesting, nor any less important. These stupid people mock it by their inane posturings. I got some great shots. Hopefully they will print up well. It was certainly beautiful watching colours move around the faces of the mountain. We were very lucky to have seen it.

As I was wandering away from this scene I heard a Chinese voice say "beaver!". I looked down and there it was. Nothing like a beaver in fact, but a decidedly cute little critter nevertheless, about 30 cm from nose to tail. We later discovered it to be a ground squirrel. He bounded around and scuttled among the rocks by the water's edge. He was completing his last forays into the district to gather food for the winter. I actually filmed him! Not too much later we saw another cute little critter scurrying along. This one was different. Slightly smaller than the first, he was another kind of ground squirrel. Neither should have been out hunting at this late stage of the season, we were assured.

It was not isolated though, because on our way to Banff we called in to a gondola that went up Sulphur Mountain. After we had had a good look around, we sat in the leeward side of the building, away from the snow inspired wind and watched some more ground squirrels gathering up food for the winter. These ones were harder to photograph. They are very quick and the tourists kept disturbing them. This just sent them underground. They were very cute though.

More wildlife surprised us today. In the forest by the side of the road, I saw a moose. We had sped passed before I could photograph it, but I felt confident that it was nevertheless, a sighting. About ten minutes later our tour guide yelled "Moose! Moose! Stop the bus. Moose!" The bus came to a screeching halt. I was just about to take the picture when the bus jolted, the moose scarpered and I took a great picture of the back of the seat in front of me. Another missed opportunity. The tour director was very excited. He had not seen moose in the park for a great many years. It was indeed a privilege to see such a creature even if I have no proof of it. I have now seen several elk, quite a few deer, (many in suburban gardens) ground squirrels and moose. Let's not forget the local bird called the magpie. Nothing like our magpie except for being black and white. This creature has a long tail and a boring call, not at all like our majestic bird.

When we got to Banff we went shopping. I had shown Ross a picture in which the back of his head was very clear. He was horrified to find out he had a bald patch. ( He'd never believed me when I had told him.) He immediately went out and bought himself a beanie. I have tried for a long time to get him to wear one and he had always refused. Perhaps I should have used the camera earlier! This time he did not buy a lime green one. He was disappointed he could not get it in Richmond colours, but that seemed unlikely in Banff! He gets a fix of footy regularly enough from his fellow football mad travellers. They are all so happy chatting about their teams.

You may recall the excursion to the glacier where Ross neglected to wear his long johns, had to buy a new jacket because his really good one was in his case and he was too cold and his dress shoes were too slippery so he got back on the bus? Well, today, he did it again. He did not wear his long johns and failed to bring either of his warm jackets on the excursion up the gondola to the top of the mountain that was well over 7600 feet. It had an arctic blast coming through the long valley. I told him he was not allowed to buy another jacket, (he admitted this would be pushing it) so he spent his time conquering the great indoors while I took on the icy gusts for some shots down into the various valleys that met at this point. The cloudy skies meant that none of them was particularly good. There was a rather spectacular mirror bear statue awaiting me at the exit to outdoors. Maybe Ross had it right. Anyway, now he has a beanie that he can leave behind.

I teased him this morning, before the jacket fiasco, saying that he had come back to the breakfast table saying he was going to get fruit and he came back with rice bubbles. Then he said he would follow it with toast and came back with a full cooked breakfast. When I drew his attention to all this, he did say that perhaps he succumbed to the suggestable too often and wasn't really good at thinking things through. I wonder if, when we go canoing tomorrow, he will remember to wear clothes suitable for drifting down a glacial river and that he has set aside some dry warm gear if he falls in the drink. That is extremely unlikely of course, but I will be sure to let you know if he forgets his jacket and beanie.Read more