Although we really enjoyed Revelstoke, we wanted to leave fairly early so we could spend as much time as possible in our major destination of the day, Glacier National Park. The drive into the Columbia Mountains was stunning. Great, gray peaks many capped with large ice masses lined each side of the road. The lower elevations of the mountains were covered in a thick, dark green,coniferous blanket.
We climbed steadily until we reached the Rogers Pass at about 4200 feet. There we stopped to to look at the rather unusual monument below.
Although its hard to see in the picture, the tiles at the base create a map of the provinces and territories of Canada in the early 1960’s. The interpretive material, partly on some nearby plaques and partly on the box handing in the center of the two arches, indicate that this was the place where the Trans-Canada Highway was completed in 1962. Pictures show a dour John Diefenbaker, the Conservative Prime Minister, holding a shovelful of asphalt. It seemed odd to me that so much of this highway is only two lanes. Was it ever designed to move serious freight traffic? Or was it just created for the vacationers of that era pulling campers behind a V-8 Chevy? It seems like trying to join Newfoundland to British Columbia by road was both a grand gesture and a fairly timid one at the same time.
There was a Parks Canada information center near the monument. We went in an asked the young woman there what hikes would be good to do with dogs. She handed us a map with a list of hikes on the back. “Dogs can go on all of these except for Balu,” she said, pointing to a hike designated “strenuous” and apparently lasting 8 hours. John and I left and we studied the map in the car. I suggested that we try the Glacier Summit hike. It was designated as “moderate” and was supposed to last about three and a half hours. That was a little more than John wanted, but he agreed it seemed like the best choice.
Initially the trail was quite gentle and followed the path of a small mountain river.
Along the way, we again saw lovely wildflowers.
We also saw quite a few small animals, though no large ones, predatory or not.
We were almost the only people on the trail, so we unleashed the dogs. Eli stayed close by us, but Edie took on the role of trailblazer. She would run ahead about 10 feet or so, then run back to us to make sure she knew where we were.
As we walked further along the trail, it began to gain elevation and to become rockier. Every time we were tempted to say, “This is enough,” and turn back, we were given some new and astonishing vista.
Eli always seems much less aware of his surroundings that Edie is, but even he seemed to grasp that we were in a pretty cool place.
We almost turned back about this point, but we pushed on just about 500 feet more until John saw this sign. We had a great sense of accomplishment.
There was a little mountain stream at the top. The dogs had a good drink. There were some German hikers on the rocks in the stream silently eating the lunch they had packed for this purpose. We did not want to either disturb their contemplation, so we headed back.
The way down was easier, and Edie seem particularly proud that she knew that trail and she rushed ahead and then back.
We had only a short drive further until we came to Lake Louise. We had programmed our hotel, the Lake Louise Inn, into the GPS, but Daniel kept on taking us to a gas station. We finally gave up on him and went into the information center. “I don’t know what it is,” the woman at the desk said, “but GPS doesn’t seem to work well here. It takes everybody to a gas station.” She gave us a map and with a laugh said, “I guess you’ll just have to do it the old-fashioned way.” On a board at the information center, we noticed that there is a 60 percent chance of rain tomorrow. So we figured we should stop by the lake before going to the hotel so we could take some pictures while we had clear skies and sun.
Lake Louise itself is about 4 kilometers from the town of Lake Louise. Both John and I had seen pictures of Lake Louise since we were children. It is perhaps the most iconic view of the Canadian Rockies. Some places, as John has often said, look smaller or shabbier than the postcard image. A few places, like Niagara Falls manage to be more impressive than the postcard. And others, like Lake Louise, look exactly like the postcard. The lake itself is not large. It is narrow with granite canyon walls on two sides and a glacier on a the far end. The water is a bright turquoise, typical of glacier melt, and reflects the sky and the canyon perfectly. The closer end of the Lake is dominated by the old Canadian Pacific hotel. This was the only disappointment; it was obvious to both of us that the hotel had been extensively reconstructed and it looked like a modern building trying to look old rather than an authentically old structure.
There were hundreds and hundreds of tourists milling about as we walked the lakefront. Most of them were Asian. We listened for the distinctive sounds of each language to try to determine the country of each group. We mostly heard Mandarin, and both of us noticed that these were also by far the best-dressed tourists. That distinction used to fall to the Japanese.
A few hundred feet from the hotel, the crowds thinned a bit. We could move around a little more easily and even take some pictures of the scenery.
John was trying to take my picture when a man offered to snap a picture of the both of us. It rather looks like we’re standing in front of some kind of backdrop, doesn’t it? The dogs have grown better at posing for pictures and are more tolerant of it.
From the lake, we returned to our hotel, the Lake Louise Inn. Our Frommers guidebook notes that it is expensive to stay in Lake Louise. We are at the cheapest accommodation in town, but it still charges double what it should for the quality of the rooms. As soon as we had unpacked and placed their beds on the floor, the dogs were fast asleep. John went off and found an equally overpriced grocery store where he purchased a few item for supper.
Tomorrow, unless it rains a lot, we’ll go back for some more extensive hiking around the lake.
