The Canadian Rockies are connected with those in the States, but also look very different. The entire day was filled with wonderful mountains and great scenery.
We stopped at a visitor’s center with some great volunteers who got us all set with maps of British Columbia, Alberta, and the very cool National Parks that we would be visiting. Although today was July 2nd, one day after Canada Day, we saw lots of evidence of as big celebration the day before. We heard of some rumblings of the First Nation People (the native people of Canada) being unhappy with the celebration since there was insufficient recognition that they were in Canada first and had their own independent nations). That voice was drowned out by the overwhelming joy of everyone else celebrating 150 years of nationhood.
We decided to take a side trip to a little town called Kimberly in order to see the world’s largest freestanding Cuckoo Clock (of course.) This town is known as the Bavarian of Canada, and they did their best to create a fake German look. We watched the Cuckoo Clock.
We then ate a genuine German meal of roast pig, Wienerschnitzel and apple strudel. Delicious!
Then on the road heading for the parks. Patti dug out our requisite John Denver sings Rocky Mountain High cd, and we listened to this music that is so full of the glories of the mountains.
We finally reached the first of our National Parks: Kootenay. This is a lightening bolt shaped park with a lot of wilderness and a big highway running over and along three mountain ranges. Lovely views at all side. We mostly had to be content with driving through and seeing these out the windows of the car.
However, we were able to make a couple of stops. One in an area that has been a sacred Indian site for gathering ochre (rusty orangish) color clay that was used in ceremonies. This ochre was of very fine quality and the First Nation People of the area traded their ochre with other tribes and it was passed on for thousands of miles.
We followed a path through the woods. Again, the wildflowers were amazing. Finally, we started seeing the clay. It was striking. At some later date, commercial interested had a short-lived mining busy trying to get this out, but it was too difficult and too remote. It was an interesting hike.
Then, just a mile up the road, we took another hike to Marble Canyon. This natural canyon with a loud waterfall had seven bridges that went over it. We were able to discover the power of water and erosion and could see how the waterfall had shifted or migrated over the past 9000 years. It was so powerful to see it and to feel the freezing air rushing through the canyon. This was, in part, due to the melting ice that made up the river.
Near the waterfall, we found one of our favorite features in the Canadian Parks: The Red Chairs. Many parks have these chairs sometimes hidden, sometimes easier to find in their park. The idea is to “share the chair”. You are invited to sit in the chair and then take a photo which can be uploaded to a website. We love these and feel like it gives another fun thing to do in the parks. We will look for more during the next several days.
We continued to be enchanted by the wonderful wildflowers. There were so many shapes and colors. Stunning!
Coming through this park, we then moved into our next area: Banff National Park. We drove through the park, knowing that there would be time the next day for more sightseeing. For now we waned to get to our AirBnB place for the night in nearby Canmore. We checked in, meeting our host, Andres, a man originally from Switzerland. In the other bedrooms at this home are guests form China, and Germany. As well as his son, daughter-in-law and three grand children. We were tired, but pleased. Ready for a nice sleep.
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