Bow Valley Parkway, July 12

We drove the Bow Valley Parkway today. It runs parallel to the Trans-Canada Highway, but it’s two-lane and much less traveled than the Trans-Canada. Occasionally I wonder about our anti-social tendencies and always looking for the “road less traveled”, but I’ll examine that some other time and just enjoy not fighting the crowds for now.

We visited Lake Minnewanka. The Stoney people called it Minn-Waki or “Lake of the Spirits” and respected and revered the lake for its resident spirits. The early Europeans called it “Devil Lake”. We didn’t encounter any spirits that we were aware of on our visit. It was a pretty lake and the first that we’ve come across that allows motor boats on it. We watched some novice boaters trying to figure out how to get their rented row boat sized boats with a small motor away from the dock and headed out into the lake. It was pretty comical and made us wonder how many had to be rescued.

From there we went on a ways to Two Jack lake and had a picnic lunch while watching a couple of girls on paddle boards. They seemed to know what they were doing and had on dry suits, but I bet their feet were COLD!

We went back into the town of Banff. We were there Saturday with the motorhome pulling the Jeep and it was stressful with all the traffic, both car and foot. We filled up with gas, which was crazy in itself with all the impatient folks at the gas station and got out of town as quickly as we could. Today was much calmer and we went to the Cave and Basic Historical Site. It has hot sulphur springs and was the “birthplace” for Canada’s national parks. It used to be a destination for folks coming to soak in the hot stinky water, but now is just a place to show off how it used to be.

Coming back to camp on the Bow Valley Parkway again, a black bear crossed the road in front of us. Of course, the only picture I got was of a black blob in the bushes, but it was fun to see him/her.

The Canadians had Internment Camps during World War I. Thousands of immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire were imprisoned as “enemy aliens”. There was an encampment near Castle Mountain and the men were put to work building the road through the mountains.

There was a bird singing a beautiful but lonely song while we were here and reading about the Internment camps.  I have no idea what kind of bird it was, but its song seemed a lovely tribute.

Two views of Castle Mountain

Lake Minnewanka

Two Jacks Lake

In the cave at Cave and Basin. The hole above is how the Native Americans and first visitors entered the cave, climbing down and back up of braided ropes.

 

Life-sized game of Snakes and Snails (or Serpents et Escargots). The Banff snail is the size of an apple seed and is only found in the hot waters of the springs here.

Our bear!

And then there were flowers...