Stuck in the Bow Valley

Canadians love their outdoors... I suppose if our Texas winters were as long and cold as theirs, we would head towards the outdoors at any opportunity also.  The problem is that we are currently stuck in the Bow Valley, near Banff in Alberta, Canada.

We arrived unaware that the three-day Heritage Weekend was upon us.  Known to be the busiest weekend for all of the parks throughout Canada, no less than five people, including two park rangers, told us that we better have a campsite by Thursday and plan to hunker down until Monday.  We tried Johnston Canyon Campground, right on 1A, the Bow Valley Parkway, one of our favorite routes.  But the train whistle blew just a hundred yards or so from our campsite.  We retreated back to Two Jac Campground, where we spent our first night all alone on our loop.  We felt fortunate to find an open campground before 11 am.  By 5 pm, the park was filled.

After a harrowing effort trying to reconnoiter the narrow streets of Banff, we decided to spend Friday morning doing laundry and refilling with gasoline in nearby Canmore.  That afternoon, we took Rox on one of our favorite hikes up Rockbound Lake and let Rox take a dip in the creek.  It is so great to see a Golden smile!

By Saturday morning, when we left for our wildlife drive up the Bow Valley, there was a line that had formed overnight to get into Two Jac campground.  We encountered hundreds and hundreds of bicyclists on our route to Lake Louise.  When we reached the Lake Louise cutoff, that destination was so crowded and congested with cars that we determined it just wasn't worth the effort to even try to find a parking spot.  One of our favorite trails to Johnston Canyon had vehicles parked nearly a half mile on either side in either direction.

Even today... a day that we thought would be quiet... the lines to get into the park extend nearly a mile in either direction.  Traffic in the area is down to a crawl.  Canadians do love their parks and outdoors!

After Rox took another dip at Rockbound Lake trail this morning (and our Golden girl hiked over a half mile with us!), we sit in the truck at the Canmore Visitor's Center, catching up on emails and the blog.  It is a cooler day than we have been having, with temperatures in the 70s.  We have been surprised at how warm the temperatures have been.  It has gotten into the low 90s several days in a row.  Thankfully, the temperatures always drop into the low 60s or 50s at night.

The good news is that there are definitely worse places to be stuck.  Because of its beauty, David and I have traveled this area for nearly 30 years.  In spite of all of the traffic, we have stumbled upon fields ablaze with flowers after a fire ravaged this meadow.  I was alone, taking photos of the flower field early yesterday morning.  As I turned to head back to the truck, I saw David pointing frantically off into the woods.  I was surprised to see that dozens of cars were stopping.  Low and behold, two enormous bull elk were entering the meadow, about fifty yards ahead of me.  They were beautiful beasts, with full racks still in velvet.  I hightailed it back to the truck for my long lens.

Flowerfiled in Banff National Park

Elk grazing flowers in Banff National Park

Elk in velvet

Today on another drive up the Bow Valley, we spied a Bighorn sheep.  Who knows what we will find next?  With promises that the majority of Canadians are heading home tomorrow, we plan to leave for Jasper bright and early tomorrow morning.