Banff, Alberta to Golden, British Columbia
It’s a long weekend and everything is booked out so we’re going on a bit of a ‘ticky tour’. We leave Banff National Park (A)heading west into British Columbia to the the town of Golden (B).
An interesting occurrence seen particularly in Banff National Park is the wildlife crossings where vegetated overpasses provide safe passage for bears, moose, deer etc. Seems this is common in Europe and becoming more common in North America.
We head out of the national park toward Golden, B.C. Golden is surrounded by the mountains and is a favorite destination for climbers/walkers and in the winter, snow sports. On our way to Golden, a switchback road off the TransCanada leads us to the Takakkaw falls. Takakkaw means ‘it is magnificent’ in Cree and certainly at 380m and the second highest waterfall in Canada it is that! We end up in the Kicking Horse hostel for a night and Tanya was our Scottish hostess for the night.
Golden to Radium, BC
Our next stop is Radium (C) in Kootenay National Park, one of the lesser known parks found in southeastern British Columbia, but certainly no less beautiful. We stopped for the obligatory selfie at the Continental Divide where Banff National Park turns into Kootenay National Park and also where the province of Alberta ends and British Columbia begins. More importantly, it represents the line that divides the flow of water between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Rain or snow that drains on the east side flows toward the Atlantic Ocean; on the west it drains toward the Pacific Ocean.
We arrive at the small town of Radium known for the Radium hot springs dating back to 1880 where initially the settler who claimed the springs expected to make his fortune from sales of bottled water, not from the bathers. We marvelled at the rock formations of the Sinclair Canyon found just down the road from the hot springs and saw our first Bighorn sheep just outside of Radium village. We’re staying at the Redstreak camping ground, part of the Kootenay National Park. From the campsite there is a trail that takes us to the famous springs, then onto town, then back to the campsite via a ‘shortcut’ – ha! Some shortcut.. it bypassed the 2.5 km road up to the campsite, and took us straight uphill to finally reach the campsite. That evening, we climbed up a track to see the views across the valley so I think we got our exercise for the day!
Radium, British Columbia to Banff, Alberta
After Radium, we head back to our favorite haunt – Banff – for 2 nights and spend time visiting Banff Sunshine ski area (D) which has a 25 minute gondola ride that takes you to over 2,400m at the base of the skifield chairlift for 8 minutes takes you up to the amazing views of mountains and various walking trails. On our way back we visit Johnson Canyon (E) and admire the steeply carved limestone bedrock eroded by thousands of years of water flow.
Now onto Lake Louise, the Icefield Parkway and Jasper!
Beautiful scenery what a country we live in!
Absolutely amazing xx
Looks awesome Kathy – very envious!!
It’s absolutely out of this world!
Great pics, can’t think of anything funny to say, keep them coming
Thats not like you TD! Ha ha. Yes, we’ll keep the photos coming. Just over half way time wise😩
Your having a good time guys. Keep those posts coming. Take care
Brian Williams
Thanks for following us! We’re now heading back via the States. Done around 8000km so far.