Stupendous. The new overused word.

Every few minutes as we drove to Banff National park David and I said, “Wow!  This is really stupendous.  Look over there.  That is even more stupendous.”  Of course, we were talking about the Canadian Rockies.  Even the cows that crossed in front of us on the road had horns that seemed stupendous.  Sometimes we have read about tectonic plates moving and continents crashing into one another, thrusting up mountains.  Well, it made sense when we saw the Canadian Rockies; giant stone fingers pointing into the sky, covered with snow caps and glacier, colored with evergreens and dotted with glacial pools. 

However, I must editorialize here. Even though we knew that gas would be very expensive, I had not counted on the rest of the expenses.  $6.00 for a tub of cream cheese; $20 per DAY in Banff (compared to $25 per week in the US) and $27.40 for a non-electric site at the park; $2.00 per 20 minutes for internet.  I am a little taken aback, but David has taken all this in his stride.

However, the park is surely beautiful, if a little scary since our campground, the only one of the many here, is protected by a fully electrified fence surrounding the whole site, with entry roads electrified as well and gateways for pedestrians and bicyclists to go around.  There are big signs that warn that food and coolers, etc. will be confiscated and the owner thrown out of the park if everything is not put away when we leave the campsite. And there are some trails where you can only hike in groups of four or more.  Maybe they have smart bears here who know that three tourists are tasty but four are dangerous.   The showers are great!!!

As soon as we got to Banff we set up and then took a long and lovely hike around Lake Louise, the centerpiece of the park.  Not without reason is it the most photographed site in Alberta.  Glacial lake, huge Rockies’ peaks, rushing river and glaciers.  In addition, as we were hiking the fog rolled in covering the peaks and adding to the drama.  At night the temperature got down into the low 40’s and we slept under 2 quilts. That’s 9 degrees centigrade here in Canada.

Up the next day for a long hike to Consolation Lake, one of the places where foursome hikers are mandatory.  Since we are only 2 we met up with a family from Belgium who were caterers and very nice to talk to. Then we ran into them several more times during the day, as we did with an English mother and grown daughter who, we found out later, were camping in the campsite directly across from us!

After lunch we took a hike straight up into the mountains above Lake Louise to Mirror Lake and then on to the teahouse way up in the mountains.  I pooped out at Mirror Lake and David went all the way to the tea house.  However, I had my cake and ate it too since he did bring me down an oatmeal cookie.

It was freezing coming down the mountain and we scurried back to camp for hot chocolate (me) and beer (David).

Today we are spending the day in the town of Banff, hiking and soaking in a hot springs.  Then tomorrow it is on to the Icefield parkway and Jasper