Boom Lake

Saturday was a beautiful perfect day with very blue skies, temp about 60, clean fresh mountain air. We drove about 40 miles, up to Castle Mtn junction, left on Hwy 93 and up almost to the continental divide, which is the boundary between Alberta and BC, to take the Boom Lake trail. 

Since it was a weekend, parking lot was crowded, lots of people hiking the trail.  Many locals, from Canmore, Banff, and Calgary, get out and hike on weekends..  Trail is about 3 miles long (6 miles roundtrip), elevation gain about 500 ft, so not as grueling as the Castle Mtn lookout trail.  Trail is nice hiking the whole trail, not like many that are nice at the end, but boring along the route.  When we got to the lake, we walked our way across some boulders, picked one out that was big and flat and lunched on the rock.  We found only one bird, a lone loon fishing, he would duck his head to look under the water for a few seconds, then he'd dive and stay under about 3 minutes, was hard to keep track of where he was.  I took a short nap, took the videos and some photos, and then we hiked out.

There were about a dozen people at the lake when we got there. Several people carried fishing rods.  One guy had hauled a rubber blowup boat, packed onto his backpack, so he could go out in the lake to fish.  Unique little boat, he half reclined on his back, with his feet in the water and wore swim fins, and this is how he powered the boat.  The lake is snow melt, so temp is about 40 at most, brrrrr.  You can see him in the video. 

On the way back to Canmore, we stopped in Banff for an early dinner, ate at The Balkan, a Greek restaurant.  I had a superb meal, baked chicken, Greek potatoes, rice, and mixed red peppers and zucchini.  Bill had moussaka, was mixed ground beef and eggplant.  I thought it was superbly delicious, but he didn't care much for it.  He's really not a beef eater and had too much beef for his taste.

video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw321uU72vU

Castle Mountain

Tuesday was the cold day, high about 47.  Wednesday we drove up to Castle Mountain, about 36 miles from here, and hiked the Castle Mountain lookout trail.  Took a little more than 2 hours up, and a little less going down, about 4 and a half hours roundtrip.  Was 2.3 miles one way and about a 1600 ft elevation gain.

Was about 55-60 as we climbed up the trail, and we got pretty hot going up.  Got to the lookout and it was about 52 and the wind was whipping across through the valley. My shirt under my pack was soaked and the wind was cold on my back.  We about froze up there with the strong winds.  I changed to my dry long sleeved shirt, and set my wet one out to dry.  We ate a quick lunch, took the videos, and were ready to go.  I added my wet shirt on top of my other one, and headed back down.

We've hiked this trail before, didn't remember any after-effects, but this time, both of us have had sore muscles, mainly our calves.  After sitting, can barely move.  Rested all day Thursday, took one short walk down to the river and to the open market in town.  Bought fresh corn and green beans.  Today we took a little longer walk, across the river and around Mountain Shadows housing area, back along the river, and home again.  Has been threatening rain, we could see it raining up near Banff, so Bill opted not to play golf, has been watching the tournament at St Andrews where the winds have played havoc with the tour.

videos taken at Castle Mountain lookout   http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=banffwego+castlemountain&aq=f 



viewpoint is near the top of the tree line

looking towards mountains that surround Lake Moraine, Lake Louise, and Paradise Valley

Snow on the Mountain in Canmore July 13

Haven't done anything spectacular these last few days, just lazying around the house, and taking short walks on the trails around town.  Went downtown noon on Saturday and watched the Miners Day Parade, lasted about 10 minutes   Canmore was a mining town until about 30 years ago and the town still honors them and their families every year.  Any resident related to a miner can be in the parade and many are.

We went to Quarry Lake on Sunday, walked some trails around there and up through Grassi Peaks subdivision, many duplexes and a few single homes, all very close together, looks quite crowded. 

See photos of Miners Day Parade and Quarry Lake at the photo site
http://billandmarilyncanada2010.shutterfly.com/

Yesterday, Monday, we drove out to Ghost Lake which is towards Calgary and where Ghost River and the Bow River come together and there is a dam there that makes the lake.  Several years ago we saw osprey here, but not this time.  They are building a new subdivision called "cottages" which is pretty cheap small houses.  Even cheap is not cheap in this area, housing is quite expensive, I'd guess 2 and a half to 3 times higher than the same house would be in Louisville.

Today the temp dropped quite a bit and has been socked in and drizzly rain all day,,, but snow on the mountain!  It's been fun watching the white patch grow.  High today is about 49, low last night was about 35.  Tomorrow it's supposed to warm back up with a high around 72.

what it looks like out our front window, click on the photo and click again to get a close up view:

Hike up Tunnel Mountain

Wednesday we went to Banff and hiked up Tunnel Mountain.  Trailhead is almost downtown, just on the edge of the main district.  Somehow we'd missed this trail in previous years, Bill says probably because it's a short hike and he looks for half day ones.  This was about 2 hours roundtrip and was about a 1000 ft elevation gain.  Has great views all around, and well worth the climb.  Weather was perfect, clear skies and about a high of 78.

Photos in next section, taken with my video camera, so are not high resolution, but will enlarge once, but not to extra large.  Videos are here: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=banffwego+tunnelmountain&aq=f

I tried and  tried to take a photo of Bill without the nocs in his face, but he persisted.  After about 12 takes, I did have 3 that they weren't there, but since he wanted the nocs looking at YOU, that's what I uploaded.  He had me laughing so hard I was afraid I'd fall off the rocks!

Today it's also a high of about 79 and blue blue blue skies.  We took a walk around town and along the river.  Many many walkers, joggers, bicyclists, everybody gets out and enjoys the fantastic views and weather.  Had my small digital camera, but batteries were half dead and wouldn't take a pic :(

Tuesday and Thursday Bill played 9 holes at the Canmore Golf and Curling Club, said it was the best he's ever played and when he gets back home, he's gonna turn pro!  I stayed home and did some computer work etc.

Loving it!  Even sitting here at "home" is great, with the beautiful views out the front window.  Bill's on the front deck reading the local paper.  We're on a dead end street, but the foot bridge crosses the creek here, and we see lots of people walking to and from town.

What a view!!

views from top of Tunnel Mountain in Banff township ... looking down at the town

Banff Springs Hotel golf course

Bow River

hoodoos

Banff Springs Hotel

view out our front window in Canmore

There is a creek just across the street where you see the lowest strip of green, and then there's the board fence and on the other side used to be an RV campground.  What you see now are construction supplies.  They closed about half the campground and built 3 huge, I mean huge condo complexes to the right of the photo.  We used to enjoy watching the RV's come and go.  We still see some, half the campground is still there, but they built a new entrance.  The old entrance, to the left, is still there, and I guess many of the oldtimers still come in that way.  The plan is to eventually fill all the campground area with condos and shops, but since the economy fell, construction has slowed way down.  Eventually our good views will be looking at 3 or 4 story condos and we'll only be able to see the mountain over the buildings.  All houses and buildings in the main  area of town are restricted to a max of 3 stories, but the condos are on the other side of the creek so I guess that's why they were allowed to be 4.

Bow River at Canmore

Johnson Lake

We finally got into the park today and went on 2 short easy hikes, both in the Banff township area. First we hiked around Johnson Lake. Usually we see birds here but only one today we couldn't identify. Uploaded a video of it, so if you know what it is, let us know.

Then we went out to Vermillion Lakes, saw one osprey here and one duck that was flying low all the way across the lake. Then went up by the Cave and Basin area where the hot springs are and hiked the Marsh Trail, saw one red winged blackbird. also saw 2 deer with antlers eating grass on the parking lot islands... of this whole vast park and forest, they choose the parking lot???

In years past we both remember seeing lots of birds in all these areas, but in the last few years, not many. We wonder if their population is down, or if it's just that we're not seeing them.

Temperature today was a high of 57, overcast and some drizzling rain. We wore our raincoats but never got rained on, except a mist.

Uploaded 2 videos today taken at Johnson Lake.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=canada2010+banffwego+johnsonlake&aq=f

Was a nice day.

resting in Canmore for the weekend

July and August are the most popular times to visit this area, and with Thursday July 1 having been a holiday and this being the first weekend of July, we haven't tried to go into Banff yet. Yesterday and today we've just been been resting and recuperating from the drive. I've done some catchup with computer stuff, uploaded photos and videos. Bill has been watching tennis and golf. We did go out and do a walk around town yesterday and today. Took some photos, but not the best. It's pretty solid overcast and some drizzly rain. There are trails throughout town, and along both sides of the river, so there are miles of trails we can walk without ever driving anywhere.

To view photos and videos, go to http://billandmarilyncanada2010.shutterfly.com/

arrived in Canmore

left Shelby this morning about 7 AM local time (Mountain Time), border is only about 35 miles away and crossed with ease, no waiting line, first time I remember that happening, we drove right up to the window, handed the person our passports, answered a few questions and were on our way. Stopped in Lethbridge at McD's for Bill to get coffee (and charged it, had no Canadian cash yet), drove straight on. Found the exit onto 2A then 22X (to circle around southwest of Calgary) without a hitch.... twice before we've missed the exit... previously the area was under construction and now it's finished, so guess the signage is better! We came via Bragg Creek , a small tourist community with lots of little shops and cafes. We made a quick stop and grabbed a quick bite of food we had in the car and then continued on. Arrived Canmore about 1:30, got the keys to the house and moved in. We still haven't seen Ray, the rental agent, but he'll show up next week to get a rent check we can be sure.

We moved in most of our stuff, still have other stuff to get out later, but we're tired and only got out the basics. Later on we'll take out the camping stuff and store it for later.

Went to ATM, got Canadian cash, then went to grocery store. Since we had a light lunch, we were starving so I cooked supper about 4:30, grilled salmon, steamed broccoli, and rice. Boy, it was yummy.! After eating out for 6 days, it was good to have a home cooked meal.

We sat around for awhile then took a walk down to the river, the Bow River, which is about 5 blocks from our house. Town is laid out in square blocks, but short ones. We enjoy looking at the houses, the old ones still here from when this was a mining town, and the new massive ones that are replacing them as the town transitions to a tourist town.

Temperature is about 50 degrees. Will drop into the upper 30's tonight. High's for the next few days are in the mid 60's, low's around 40, until Tuesday when it's expected to get up to 70. It's perfect for hiking and so refreshing. Sunset is 10 PM, sunrise is at 5:30 AM. We love the long days.

Will upload more photos when I get a chance.

Installed router, got both our laptops going. Got magicJack and phone hooked up and working, so can make and receive calls same as if we were in Louisville. I'm amazed at how great this little gadget works and all for $19.95 for a whole year, unlimited calls within and to/from US and Canada. If you call our home phone it will ring here in Canmore. (I have our home phone forwarded to the magicJack number). Cell phones are turned off while we are in Canada. I changed both our outgoing messages to say to call our home number.

We are on Mountain Time, 2 hours earlier than Louisville.

want to see Canmore? view the webcams anytime... we're about 5 blocks from the Main Street cam http://www.canmorealberta.com/news/webcam/

Tired from 6 days of traveling, glad to settle in and stay put for awhile!

If we're in Shelby this must be Thursday

loooong drive. We left Eau Claire Tuesday morning, drove across Minneapolis quick and easy. In previous years it's been congested slow going and seemed to take forever. This year we averaged about 60 mph and made it across in about 40 minutes. Was about 11 on a Tuesday morning. We usually get to Minneapolis about 1 or 2 in the afternoon, so wouldn't have thought it would be much different. Anyway, was glad it was so easy! Made it to Bismarck ND Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning we toured the capitol building, we like to tour the capitols when we pass through one. Several miles later on we stopped and did a quick visit at the visitor center and a short drive in T Roosevelt NP, not much there but enjoyed seeing what we did, mostly the bad lands that are in this area. With these 2 stops we didn't make many miles and stopped in Glendive MT. This was a good place to stop because we leave the expressway here.

This morning we left Glendive and drove north thru Circle to Wolf Point and joined US 2, then straight west from there. This is a 2 lane road but almost no traffic, averaged 70 mph. A few very small towns, a few a bit larger, but mostly continuous wheat fields, cows, and just wide open spaces with only an occasional tree. Very green. Arrived Shelby about 3 local time.

After leaving Eau Claire where it was coolish, as we drove across North Dakota and Montana it was much hotter, but not as hot as years past. Has been in low 70s most of this afternoon. We expect it to be cool in Canmore.