skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Just over a week after we left Toronto, we finally boarded the Rocky Mountaineer train. Though we'd been travelling under the auspices of the Rocky Mountaineer from the time we left Toronto, the first part of our journey was with ViaRail, and we left them in Jasper, we moved into the care of the Brewster Coach Company.
All of our arrangements had been made by Rocky Mountaineer, and although we met a couple of members of their staff on our last night in Jasper, and that was simply to tell us that we didn't need the tags they were there to provide to other RM passengers travelling in different directions with different itineraries.
And so it was that it was only on the morning of September 8th that we received the necessary baggage tags, (and the RM pin!) and boarded a coach that took us to the railway station ... the RM own little terminal that boarded us on their train which would travel on the CPR line. Rocky Mountaineer is the only passenger train that travels on this CP line.
We were welcomed aboard by Mandy, Jennifer, and Curtis, who would travel with us for the next 48 hours, pointing out interesting spots, providing us with the history and background for the places we were passing, and making sure that we had everything we needed.
For those who do not know, Rocky Mountaineer differs from Via in the fact that it does not move at night. Travel is planned so that your evening meal and your overnight accommodation are arranged at hotels. No chance of missing scenery because you are asleep -- except for afternoon snoozes or other catnaps!
We'd been warned that breakfast would be late and to have something at the hotel. But actually, the prelude to breakfast - fresh fruit - was served shortly after 9 am, so our breakfast was not delayed for very long.
You can see we made it onto the train ... you can also see that thee's a reason I don't do selfies!
Shortly after we embarked we noticed that the clouds were different. It's a result of refraction -- but some of the clouds we could see had rainbow hues to them.
We were all put animal alert as soon as we left the station. Before anyone said anything I saw ... probably a mule deer (we'd seen one the day before and had it identified by Al, so knew it wasn't an elk) - this might well have been the same one. But of course, the train was moving and my camera was tucked away ... and the creature was leaving the noise of our departure behind rather promptly!
Our first stop was in Lake Louise where passengers from a different travel combination joined us on the way to Kamloops.
This was to be a very big day of firsts ... and a fun and full day as well. Almost as soon as we got on the coach, the driver suggested a small change to our itinerary. We were scheduled for a lunch drop off in Banff, with tours and events outside of Banff both in the morning and the afternoon.
However, it was the day of the Suburu Triathlon, and Banff was going to be full to overflowing, and Al (driver) suggested that trying to find lunch was going to be way more challenge than we wanted to face. Instead, he suggested going to Canmore for our lunch stop -- one more place for us to visit! We agreed and set off.
The first really momentous stop was in Kananaskis country where we went to a helicopter field and toured the area by helicopter. It was my first time in a helicopter ... and here we were in the foothills of the Rockies, getting to see the area from a completely different perspective.
Set, and ready to fly!
The highway below as we circled back was an indication that we were soon leaving the pristine areas of the Rocky Mountains and heading back into "civilization" ... Hmmm .... But I now have a certificate confirming that I flew in the helicopter!
No photos from lunch in Canmore, a pretty little town that is far less commercialised than Banff. It's also outside of the national park so people can own their homes AND the land on which it sits (land is only on lease inside the national park and Banff's size is rigidly controlled.)
Then on to our next adventure. A gondola ride up a mountain! AND a sense of perspective ...
The night before we'd been advised to go to the top of the centre ... that there were three floors but many people thought that there were only two and didn't walk up to the top. The top is open air and we were braced for it to be windy and perhaps a little scary. It was open air, but it was not windy -- nor was it cold. It was lovely, and as we had been told, it was NOT crowded. In fact, it was probably the least crowded spot! Perhaps that's a reminder to check and be sure that you have seen all that is there to be seen.
It took us longer to get through the line to return to ground level than all the rest of our adventure there. It was also the first time I'd ever been on a gondola lift like that. Two big firsts in one day!
The end of this day also marks the end of the coach section of our journey. Tomorrow morning we board the Rocky Mountaineer train for our two day trip to Vancouver.
We left Lake Louise in the early afternoon continuing down the Icefields Parkway toward Banff. On our way we stopped at the "Spiral Tunnels", which really aren't, but are an elongated figure 8.
They straddle two mountains and were built because the original gradient was so severe that freight trains regularly lost their brakes and crashed.
The spiral tunnels were built by two teams of men who planned to meet in the middle. Although they were built long before the days of modern electronics, when the two teams met in the middle they were only 20 cm off, an amazing feat!
This stop was particularly significant for those of us who were travelling west because we would later travel through this engineering accomplishment on the Rocky Mountaineer train.
But today we moved on to Emerald Lake, deemed by some to be the most beautiful sight in the Rockies. You can be the judge!
We left the beauty of Emerald Lake behind and went on the see some of the power of the water in this area at Kicking Horse River, where the river kicked its way through the rock.
Then on to Banff for the next two nights!
We had the late afternoon, evening and all of the following morning in Lake Louise. We used the time well!
Lake Louise is a glacier fed lake. That's Victoria Glacier that you see in so many photos, and Mount Victoria, I believe. But, did you know that there is a two kilometre trail around one side of the lake? Or, if you are more industrious and energetic (or simply have more time) there are several trails that will take you into the countryside -- and to at least two different tea shops? We didn't have time to try to visit one of the tea shops (closest one was 3.6 K away), have lunch and be back in time for our 2 pm departure, so we walked the 2 K to the end of the lake. And here's some of what we saw!
And just in case you thought I might have left my knitting at home, here's my current test knit, visiting and admiring Lake Louise -- though only from our room!
