On Our Own Again - Banff to Fairmont Hot Springs, BC

We stopped by the Laundromat at the Douglas Fir Resort, which was actually quite nice and did about 3 loads of laundry-amazing how it piles up.  And, we actually wear the same clothes over and over.  Someone told us the other day that, if you weren’t comfortable wearing the same clothes for 3 days in a row, you probably shouldn’t be a camper.

AND, we finally got the tire fixed.  There was a leak in the stem.  They didn’t have lug nuts though, so it still looks kinda funny-but then, so do we J.  Neither of us has had our hair cut since we left home; I hardly wear make up; our clothes are pretty much camping clothes and Boo could sure use a good grooming!

We had a great brunch at Tooloulous,

Pictures of food-geez!  But I had to show this.
It's a breakfast poutine-never had anything
this good or this fattening (for breakfast that is!)

...while Maxine was getting her shoe fixed, and then we went to the library where we could access the Internet and get our email.

Thank goodness it was air conditioned

The Whyte Museum had a wonderful indigenous art exhibit which was just a delight.  Here are some of my favorites:

After a grocery shop and a liquor store run, we finally got back to our camp site only to find that someone had taken our rugs and set up tents in our site!  No one was there so we went back to talk with the warden (the equivalent of our rangers).  He was a baby in a warden outfit – looked like this could be his first day on the job.  Apparently, someone (certainly not this young fellow!) had double-booked our site.  We couldn’t believe it!  They did have our rugs, thank god, but we had to run around to find another adequate site (not easy, since most are very narrow and some not long or even enough).  Long story short, we found a good site, asked for compensation and got a night free for our inconvenience.  Then, just as we were settling in, Boo threw up.  He vomited about 5 or 6 times that night and about 3 more times the next day.  We were about to go to a vet the 3^rd day, when all of a sudden, he returned to his old self.  We have been spoiling him with tastes of our food, and I think we may just have gone overboard.  Either that or it was giardia .....or maybe some of the poutine I gave him.

Poor sickly Boo!

The road through the Columbia River Valley was just beautiful (how many times have I said that on this trip?!)

Smoke is coming down south from the fires in Banff.

Columbia River wetlands

We thought Fairmont Hot Springs sounded pretty darned good.  It was a little expensive to stay and was like but Jim needed WIFI and the springs would be a nice way to relax after a big last week.  We thought it was associated with the Fairmont Hotels—not so, BY FAR!  It was a beautiful drive down through the Kootenays into the Columbia River Wetlands.  The Columbia’s headwaters flow northward here, before reversing course and flowing south into the states and out to the Pacific.  There are birds everywhere and the topography suddenly takes a gentler look.

Well, the Fairmont was a big disappointment.  It was a little like being in an RV parking lot, we couldn’t get WIFI at our site and the sewer line backed up while we were here—we are still trying to get compensated for the anguish of this visit.  

The resort

The RV park.  Anathema to us!

This cracked me up.  It's an electric water
fountain-in someone's RV site!!!!!

The upside happened the 2^nd day, when we took to the waters and got our distressed bodies and minds readjusted and then found a very nice patio at the hotel where we could hang out with Boo, drink wine and beer and eat nachos and get our much needed internet connection!  

Waterton Lakes National Park

We had never heard of this park before and, yet, it has become one of our favorite places to camp-and, that’s saying a lot!  It is in Alberta, Canada but is adjacent to Glacier National Park in Montana.  Together, the two parks form Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.  It is a wonderful example of international cooperation in maintaining a special wilderness area, managing wildlife, combining interpretive programs and doing search and rescue operations.  It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995.

It was a beautiful drive in through the prairies into the mountains.  

Luckily, the campground we thought we’d stay at (Townsite-Jim wanted the WIFI they advertised) was full and we were directed to Lake Crandell up on the Red Rock Canyon road.  We loved it here and decided to stay for awhile.  

Look who greeted us when we arrived at our site!

We had all kinds of weather here, which was really exciting—hail storms, thundershowers, 100 km winds and both hot days and cool mornings.

Watching a storm move in

It started snowing in the mountains

The sun came out again but....

Soon, it started to rain again.

One brave windsurfer

We were battered by the winds

And holed up inside Maxine.  We even had
an escape plan, if she rolled over in the wind.

But, we survived-look at that horizontal rainbow.

And all was right with the world again.

The glaciers here have created such a beautiful setting of tooth-like horns, sharp-edged arêtes, steep sided valleys and gorgeous subalpine lakes.  The land here is sacred to the Blackfeet, Salish and Kootenai tribes.  It is easy to feel the vision that this park represents in the coming together of so many varied interested parties:  the natives, two countries, two provinces and a state.  It is a great example of how people can set aside their differences to work together for an important cause.  The wolf, the trumpeter swan, grizzly bear, lynx and the bull trout have experienced recovery here. 

We attended a program put on by a Blackfoot elder while we were here.  It was a fun night of stories about his ancestors and animal spirits.  We had a nice chat with him later about growing older and, hopefully, wiser.

The hikes here are phenomenal.  One of our favorites was right at the campground-Crandall Lake.

A beautiful path through the aspens and wildflowers

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My guy

My other guy

On our last day in Waterton, we decided to start with an early morning hike to Red Rock Canyon.  We had tried to hike it earlier but it was raining like crazy so we decided to do it on our way out.  We had seen pictures and just couldn’t believe the crazy red colors.  On a warmer day, it would be fun to sit in the bathtub like rocks with all that red rock surrounding us. 

We finished off the morning with another beautiful hike up to Blackiston Falls.  The mosquitos were fierce, so we didn’t stay long.  Jim had about 30 bites on his one arm.  I faired better because I was pretty well covered up.

We buzzed on up to Akamina Parkway and the infamous Cameron Lake but didn’t stay.  It is a beautiful drive and we saw a big old black bear wandering the road like he owned it, which of course he did. 

And a grizzly closer to town.

The highlight of the drive was me trying to make a U turn in the middle of a very narrow section of road.  Try to picture about 15-20 times of turning back and forth!  When I finally succeeded, sweating profusely and a little embarrassed, the woman in the backseat of the car, waiting to go the other way gave me the thumbs up and said, “Well done, Girl!”  Never again!

We just can't say enough about the beauty of this area: