salt the planet

After driving through Glacier, we entered Banff National Park and stopped at Lake Louise, at the urging of my Aunt Janet and Uncle Darry, where we camped for the night. Once we secured our tent site, we drove up to the lake which sits beneath two glaciers on the continental divide. The pristine nature of the lake and surrounding mountains was breathtaking. There is a large hotel at the edge of the lake that was built in the 1920's. It doesn't seem to fit in with the ageless glaciers and mountains surrounding it as they far surpass anything man could construct. The only upside to having the hotel there was that it gave us a reference point to how thick the glacier was (nearly twice the height of the hotel).

After a night surrounded by electrical fence (to keep the bears out), we continued through Banff National Park where the mountains become even more spectacular. We stopped for the day in the town of Banff, nestled in a valley with lakes and streams. Riding the gondola to the top of Sulphur mountain and taking the boardwalk over to Sanson's peak, where the Cosmic Ray Station National Historic Site of Canada, and the historic Sanson's Peak Meteorological Station were located was a fantastic journey. I imagined my Dad spending days and weeks high atop these peaks gathering weather information and living inside the rustic stone cabin. If it were still open, it would be a perfect place for him to retire.

After Banff, we drove straight through Calgary only stopping to take a picture of a gigantic skateboard loop. We stayed our last night in Canada in a small town called Cardston just north of the border. Though I haven't been here long, it is a melancholy experience to hit this milestone of our trip. We are halfway to the end.

# posted by salttheplanet : 12:33 PM