Conni – 08-04-14 Banff Trip – Glacier Park

Glacier Park encompasses over 1 million acres. Today we crossed the park on the Going-to-the-Sun-Road, the only road that bisects it. It is 53 miles long and goes over the Continental Divide at Logan Pass at 6646 feet. The two lanes are very narrow and winding, so passing is virtually impossible.

Of interest, per Wikipedia: “The road is one of the most difficult roads in North America to snowplow in the spring. Up to 80 feet of snow can lie on top of Logan Pass, and more just east of the pass where the deepest snowfield has long been referred to as Big Drift. The road takes about ten weeks to plow, even with equipment that can move 4000 tons of snow in an hour. The snowplow crew can clear as little as 500 feet of the road per day.”

 

 

There were lots of wild flowers, including one that reminded us a little of the bluebonnet.

 

There are over 200 waterfalls within the park. Of course, we only saw a few.

 

The main attraction, of course, is the glaciers. While there are many, most have been lost to warming and that trend continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, there are many lakes and rivers too. Bentley enjoyed some of that really cold water. Well, maybe Mary enjoyed it more. Hard to tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably half of the road was under construction – read: dirt. This caused us to take a different and longer route back to St Mary. All of it was beautiful.

Conni – 08-03-14 Banff Trip – Many Glacier

We camped in St Mary, MT and took side trips to Many Glacier and then the Going-to-the-Sun-Road thru Glacier Park. Many Glacier is actually an area to the north of the Sun Road. The route has several lakes and rivers and includes the Many Glacier Hotel, which is the largest in the park and was built around 1915.

 

 

 

Conni – 08-02-14 Banff Trip – Toward Glacier Park

OK, this little trek was a mistake. When we left Ft MacLeod, AB, our intent was to take IH15 in Montana to Glacier Park. We started out on Hwy 3 by mistake and decided to just take it to Waterton Lakes National Park, which is the Canadian portion of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

This route actually saved us a couple of hours or so and we had more beautiful scenery, to boot.

 

 

 

Mary – 07-31 / 08-02-14 Banff Trip – Bob & Francoise

Our wonderful friends, Bob & Francoise, from Edmonton, came down to Banff to visit.

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it was just a few days after Mary's fall in the campground. The glasses are hiding another bruise under her left eye.

On our drive down Tunnel Mountain to have lunch at Tony Roma’s , we were all treated with a bear sighting.

 

 

 

Later today, they treated us to dinner at the Keg. I think it was the best steak I’ve ever had. Good food, great company – awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we all packed up and headed to Ft MacLeod. I rode with Francoise and Bob rode with Conni in Figment. It was fun having some one-on-one time with them both.

 

Conni – 07-30-14 Banff Trip –Banff Area

Today was Mary’s pampered day <grin>. So, while she was enjoying her mani-pedi, I grabbed the camera and went to some of my favorite spots around Banff.

I took one more shot at seeing goats up toward the Norquay ski area, but no luck. This trip is really being a bust for animal sighting.

I came back and took the drive by Vermillion Lakes. Saw a few birds and lots of pretty wild flowers. Beautiful scenery – hard to match.

I finished off my little outing with the Bow River Falls – above and at river level.

 And, of course, a final shot of the Banff Springs Hotel.

 

Conni – 07-27-14 Banff Trip –Lake Louise Outing

Today we loaded up Bentley and headed to one of our favorite places to eat in Lake Louise. As we were going down Tunnel Mountain from our campground, we saw a yearling bear. Since it was a two lane road and other people trying to look, Mary only got a few quick shots. He was pretty shaggy with a lot of winter coat left.

 

 

It was a beautiful drive, mostly along the Bow River, to Lake Louise. Our favorite place, an old train station restaurant, was closed for some event. So, up the mountain toward Lake Louise. We had lunch at the Deer Lodge. For those who remember J, we’ve had meals here before with Shirley, Gail, Bob, and Francoise. Lots of beautiful flowers and hanging baskets.

 

 

 

We didn’t go the extra few hundred yards to Lake Louise. There were so many people that it made it an easy decision to bypass since we’d seen it several times before, in winter and summer.

Next we took the beautiful route toward Moraine Lake to snap some shots of hanging glaciers and the mountain stream following the road.