dirt

I mentioned we'd had to drive the last 100 kilometres to this place on dirt roads; I should have said they were on the edge of sheer drops of maybe 300 metres for most of the route, dappled with minor avalanches of rock. The only picture I have is from the next day on the way to the gas station.

The gas station guy explained that he regularly gets people stop by who think they are on the Alaska road, but have made a wrong turning back at the last place. He says there are people in tears when he tells them they need to go back the same 100 kilometres and take the other turning. I read a road trip book a few years ago and one of the pieces of advice from the author that stuck with me is to study signs carefully in remote places and make sure before taking the next road. Good advice in this area.

The town where I got the gas has a population of 43 and was an old mining town, but now mainly logging.

I also visited the next town over the mountains which had a similarly low pop, as well as a gas station opened Thurs-Sat, a bar (closed) and a museum about mining(closed). And great scenery in all directions. Canada has scenery police who re-arrange anything that doesn't look good enough.

Later, the lure of a mountain bike, which I took out on a trail, but this London dweller found the 'flat rides' in this part of the world a trifle daunting, with loose rocks, 60 degree gradients and twisty paths that gave numerous possibilities for falling into the lake. As it was around 30 Centigrade, I decided a shorter route would probably be sufficient to get enough of an impression without leaving one somewhere on the rocks.

moose

I was right that there wouldn't be any phone or internet access where we've been for the last couple of days. Further into the wilds where the moose roam free and one keeps a bell on the backpack to alert adjacent bears that we are in the area.

Back home I normally escort bugs from the premises if I consider them ill-placed but here its difficult to know the best option.

But as if the initially isolated was not far enough from civilization, we've then cut across to the old gold rush trail across the desert towards Eldorado. There's still some dusty looking towns in the mid 35 Celcius early evening heat. And that was before traversing a 100 kilometer dirt track to the current base camp which is by another lake, outlooking to some further mountains and definitely 'away from it all'. Today is for chillin' before heading towards Whistler.

wilderness

next section is unlikely to have wifi or internet

glacial

Off to the Columbia Icefield yesterday. This is a high area where the weather remains cold throughout the year and there's enough ice to feed eight major glaciers. The ice is replenished by snow throughout the year (including whilst we were there) and the eventual river water flows into three different continents.

The thickest part of the ice is around 350 metres and the area around the Athabasca glacier where I took the pictures is around 100 metres thick. Moving across the ice is slow and there's many crevices covered with snow but mightily deep. I don't think survival chances are very high if one were to fall in. The vehicle of choice for this section looks like something from Thunderbirds but seems to do the trick.

Naturally we were above the tree line, but approaching through the last trees, they have a 'half tree' shape, like a flag. That's because of the cold continuous convected wind (katabatic) which blows from the glacier and freezes the sap on the tree's glacier side.

I filled a water bottle with the glacier water. The formula is something like that it takes 150 years to turn from snow into ice and then back into water and if I did'nt catch the water it would take another 40 years to flow out to the Arctic Circle.

Only one bottle but I'm drinking it like a fine wine.

grizzly neighbour

I included bug spray on the list of essentials for this trip, but only when I got here did I realise that there's another spray called 'bear spray'. I still havn't got any, not the mini campers' electric fences which can be put around a campsite to deter wild animals.

Nonetheless, it was interesting arriving at our log cabin near Jasper only to see a rather large grizzly bear foraging in the bushes nearby.

I'm told the trick is to make quite a lot of noise when going about one's business outdoors so that the local wildlife knows we are around and has a chance to get out of the way.

The bugspray seems to work though. No mosquitos.

Lake Louise

As luck would have it, the hotel room at Lake Louise has a view overlooking the lake, glacier and mountains. I gather it was a complementary upgrade but the result has its challenges.

Its impossible to not keep going back to the window to look at gthe ever changing light. The room also has a large plasma television, but its not been switched on at all - with no competition because the view wins easily.

So yesterday afternoon, after arrival, it was a case of throwing everything into the room and running to the lake edge. Then after a wander, enjoying the late afternoon sun from a nearby bar.

Later, an evening meal watching the sun set and then, later still, leaving the curtains open to catch the early light before sun rise.

And yes, I'll admit to being back at the lake edge as the sun came up at around six. Its still only nine o' clock in the morning, but already feels like I've had half a day today.

Later we'll head for the morraine lake and then further along the trail.

bear facts

Some wiggly roads during Wednesday, which also provided some stunning scenic views. We seemed to be working our way upwards through the sizes of wildlife too, seeing deer and then a small collection of mountain goats on the road. The goats were brilliant, because as our vehicle approached they, with a single boing, deployed themselves to the side of the cutting. To me this had a sort of surreal 'zoo-like' quality about it as we then drove past the goats clattering around the rocky hillside.

Next in scale was a true collectors' item. Two bears crossing the road in front of us. A mummy bear and a baby bear. They say its dangerous to see a bear cub alone, because the mummy bear will consider us as an immediate threat and get angry. In this case the sleek dark brown grizzly and her cub ambled across the road. As I was driving at the time, despite various camera implements nearby we didn't get a snap, but its well and truly etched as a good moment during the trip as we headed towards the snowy slopes near Lake Louise.

slopes

I've been wearing hiking boots pretty much since I arrived here and its about time to exercise them on some hilly bits. First stop is the range overlooking the hotel, where there's a selection of glacial valleys with the town nestled in the bowl of the valley.

Some of the slopes had much loose scree, a function of the soft rocks being eroded by the ice and snow which is a feature of the area for much of the year. The ice gets into the crevices in the rocks and then breaks small pieces creating the loose stones covering much of the hillsides.

The rocks became mountain ranges as a consequence of plate tectonics warping what would have been a sea bed and pusing it many metres intoi the air. Thats why there's small sea creature fossils in some of the rocks.

The particular summits were in the 2000-3000 metre range, which is high enough to be able to experience different weather systems from those closer to sea level.

I'm trying to add some photos whilst still operating the circa 10 minute per post rule but the combination of slow bandwidth and no Edge, GPRS or G3 on my cellphone is making it difficult, hence some of the pix being drastically compressed jpegs as an interim measure.

minniwanka

Time to hop a boat further out into the wilds; the forest either side of the lake has plenty of wildlife, although the bears prefer the side with slightly less dense trees. There's a particular berry they enjoy and in the monbths when its abundant the trails are closed to hikers.

The lake's name was a result of a makeover by the Canadians. It used to be called Cannibal Lake which didn't do the tourism any favours so inspirationally they changed it to Minniwanka which means "spirit of the water" in the local native dialect. Below the lake is a flooded village, a consequence of the damming of the water to create hydro electric power.

The shaded side of the glacial valley is denser with spagnum moss and maybe more moose rather than elk. I'm still waiting to see something bigger than a chipmunk but I'm sure as we get further into the wilds it will be possible. There's talk even of cougar on the slope to the side of this valley.

Banff Springs

Not too difficult to find the hotel in Banff, which looks like a cross between a Scottish castle and maybe a chateau in France. Originally built as a railway hotel and added to over the years, now a rather large and bustling destination, set by a river, close to the Bow Falls.

Time for a balcony cocktail and a view of the mountains and then some planning for the next day's investigations of the area. Still Monday and already quite a range of experiences from the area finishing in the Germanic sounding Waldhaus, for an alpine fondue.

gopher alert

By late morning Monday, it was time to move on from the Palliser to the next destination. Time to whistle for the wheels and hit it. I'd been told that the old Route 1A was a better route than the Route 1 for our journey to Banff and sure enough, there were some interesting views and stopping points along the way.

Thats where the late lunch of rice and vegetables came in very refreshing along with a mighty fine cup of coffee.

The real target destination was Banff Springs, with its splendid and somewhat iconic hotel. The route started to show warnings about bears, wolves and elk, allthough we'd have to work our way up to that, starting with a gopher sighting.

wrangle

I have a feeling that keeping an internet connection on the little toysrus computer may be challenging in some places. The hotel room is fairly spartan with its board for a bed and I've only really got a space to hang jeans and maybe park some cowboy boots.

The culture of Calgary is a blend of cosmopolitan urban with the slick city skyscrapers of the oil crowd and the more rough and ready charms of the folk who wrangle cattle for a living. Throw in the Asian influence from the settlers who moved to Calgary from the Pacific Rim in the late 1800s and there is quite a mixing pot.

Similar contrasts between the airconditioned security patrolled comfortable public areas facilitating traversal of the city by glass corridors compared with people panhandling on the streets for a few dollars.