The Bow Valley Parkway

Leaving Lake Louise with plans for lunch, but no plan as where to have lunch, did not turn out quite as planned.  We turned in at the first restaurant sign that we came across, which was at this gorgeous, secluded little spot just off the Bow River.

The restaurant was in an old train station, complete with a nearby railway car.  The menu looked fabulous, and even reasonable.  But sadly the staff informed us they would not be serving until 5 om, so we did not get to eat here.  We were supposed to be in Airdrie to meet with my friend Candi by around 7, so we could not wait.

We headed in to the Lake Louise town site and into the first place that we looked like we could sit down and enjoy a meal,  This also had a sad outcome, as the wait turned out to be very long as the server eventually came over and apologized but they had decided they needed to serve the entire busload of tourists that arrived after us first.  Needless to say, this does not impress one much.  The order was also incorrect but I didn't have the time to waste on a do over or the complaint.  I wish I could remember the name of the place to warn you off, but I have forgotten...just be wary of a diner on the second floor of a building in the shopping area.  And do not order the cappuccino...it will be overly sweet hot chocolate.

But moving along figuratively and literally, we took the Bow Valley Parkway back to Banff, which is a secondary highway.  The decreased speed limit and traffic means sometimes you will be treated to a view of wildlife.  Usually they are right on the road, so to avoid the extreme closeup of them coming through your windshield, it is a good idea to obey the 70 km/hr speed limit.  You have better luck at dawn or dusk, when the light is low, the air is cooler, and the animals come out to graze (this includes bears, they are omnivores so they eat greens AND tourists, er, mammals.  Kidding, Canadian bears eat way less people than American bears, go figure, so it's extremely rare here.)  Keep in mind that the Bow Valley Parkway has seasonal closures, both for bad weather in the winter, and between 8pm and 8am in the summer to reduce animal and vehicle conflicts (lose lose situation, these animals are pretty big and heavy, so is the car. just don't go there).

We did not see a bear.  We did see the swinging of a small skinny shrub on the roadside indicating that something relatively large had made a rapid exit back into the woods,  When we pulled over to take this photo, a car that must have just been ahead of us was stopped to, and asked if we had seen the bear on the roadside a few miles back a few minutes ago.  So close....but yet so far.  What we did see was more beautiful Rocky Mountain  vistas.

Feeling kind of desperate that we had travelled hundreds of mountains in the Canadian Rockies and only spotted a multitude of squirrels on Siobhan's first ever trip to the Rockies, I sent up a little prayer to see some wildlife on this lonely windy road so that Siobhan didn't think our mountains had nothing in them but a bunch of cheerful rodents.  There would be no bear, but within a few minutes, I spotted this fellow on the side of the road.

I quickly snapped on the long lens so that I would be able to take my time and get just the perfect shot of this guy across the road.

The elk however had a very different plan.  No sooner did I click the big lens on and he started walking, in the typical long stride of a animal that is 700-800 pounds, 5 feet tall (7 or 8 if you count the antlers), and 8 feet long.  What I mean, is he moved quickly.  Not quickly just for a giant animal, but quickly, and in 3 or 4 steps he was standing in front of the hood and there was no hope of a photo with the size of lens I had on.  Just as quickly as I could change to the smaller wider lens, he had walked off into the woods on the other side.  I was ok with this....I was mostly happy he didn't decide to sit on my car, or kick it with 800 pounds of hoof, and that my little prayer had been answered.

This lasr photo that I stopped for looks like the aftermath of an old forest fire.  However, if memory serves correctly, this area was actually a "controlled burn," meaning the forest service at one point intentionally started a fire in this area.  In this particular case, it was to create a "dead zone" or barrier to keep a real fire from spreading across a much larger area if it were to occur naturally...it would die out from a lack of fuel when it hit the already burned barrier.  There are other reasons for controlled or prescribed burns, and different estimates of the recovery of the forest which range from decades to millenia, but I am not an expert and won't go there for now.  But this is the "recovery" many decades after this particular event.

The Bow Valley Parkway ends just before Banff.  We carried on from there to our destination in Airdire, where our wonderful hostess Candi set us up with conversation, wifi, a great meal and bevvy, warm bath and cozy beds for the next leg out our journey.  Thanks Candi -- was great to see your new place and get a visit in!