On my last early morning walk in Banff, there was a beautiful morning sky.
I had seen but not learned until that morning about "woonerff" the Dutch word used to describe a different type of street that Banff was experimenting with. There are sections of the sidewalk expanded out into the street to slow and calm traffic, and pedestrians, bikes and cars can all use the street.
After breakfast, we packed up everything in the car and headed east on the Trans-Canada Highway. We had thought about possibly stopping in the village of Lake Louise but when we saw all the traffic and a sign stating that all parking spaces were full, we stayed on the highway and kept driving. We passed this bear (and unlike some less than sane people who were stopping and getting out of their cars), I took this photo with the window up as we drove by what I believe to be a juvenile black bear.
As we drove through Yoho National Park, we stopped in Field, B.C., at the Yoho Trading Post for coffee (well, I had coffee, but Patty did not). The beautiful drive continued, and we passed through Canada's Glacier National Park and into Revelstoke National Park. Our first stop was the Giant Cedars Boardwalk in an old growth forest with trees as old as 500 years.
The Canada Park Service had a nice wooden boardwalk loop to take you through the forest and protect the forest from the depredations of crowds of people walking through the woods.
We saw these plants with what looked like huge maple tree leaves, reminiscent of big leaf maples we had seen earlier. But we learned they were devils club bushes, covered with thorns and difficult to pass through.
We continued on - the park service has a lot of educational signage to help visitors learn and understand what they are seeing.
Patty was trying to keep the trees apart.
As we have seen in other forests, snags (dead trees that are still upright) are important for the forests.
As we exited the boardwalk, we found lots of wildflowers in bloom.
There was light rain off and on while we were there. While under the canopy of the old growth forest, it was not noticeable. But once back at the parking lot and picnic area, we were glad to find one of the picnic table areas that was under a roof for our picnic lunch.
After lunch, we continued east and came to the Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk.
It is known for the migratory birds that come there.
It is adjacent to Illecillewaet River, just a short distance before the river flows into the Columbia River.
My niece Laura would love visiting here because among other things, there is a continental songbird monitoring station, the first of its kind in British Columbia.
There were a lot of large skunk cabbage plants along the boardwalk, an important food source for bears.
Did I mention that this place is renowned for birds?
We saw many places where the tall grass had been flattened, presumably by large mammals resting. Considering how wet this area is and the amount of skunk cabbage, my best guess is moose or bear.
At the end, the park service raised the issue of protecting the land, flora and fauna while also allowing people to live and visit - it is a balancing act.
We arrived later in Revelstoke for our stay at the Regent Hotel. As with Banff, there are mountains in all directions around Revelstoke.
I had seen but not learned until that morning about "woonerff" the Dutch word used to describe a different type of street that Banff was experimenting with. There are sections of the sidewalk expanded out into the street to slow and calm traffic, and pedestrians, bikes and cars can all use the street.
After breakfast, we packed up everything in the car and headed east on the Trans-Canada Highway. We had thought about possibly stopping in the village of Lake Louise but when we saw all the traffic and a sign stating that all parking spaces were full, we stayed on the highway and kept driving. We passed this bear (and unlike some less than sane people who were stopping and getting out of their cars), I took this photo with the window up as we drove by what I believe to be a juvenile black bear.
As we drove through Yoho National Park, we stopped in Field, B.C., at the Yoho Trading Post for coffee (well, I had coffee, but Patty did not). The beautiful drive continued, and we passed through Canada's Glacier National Park and into Revelstoke National Park. Our first stop was the Giant Cedars Boardwalk in an old growth forest with trees as old as 500 years.
The Canada Park Service had a nice wooden boardwalk loop to take you through the forest and protect the forest from the depredations of crowds of people walking through the woods.
We saw these plants with what looked like huge maple tree leaves, reminiscent of big leaf maples we had seen earlier. But we learned they were devils club bushes, covered with thorns and difficult to pass through.
We continued on - the park service has a lot of educational signage to help visitors learn and understand what they are seeing.
Patty was trying to keep the trees apart.
As we have seen in other forests, snags (dead trees that are still upright) are important for the forests.
As we exited the boardwalk, we found lots of wildflowers in bloom.
There was light rain off and on while we were there. While under the canopy of the old growth forest, it was not noticeable. But once back at the parking lot and picnic area, we were glad to find one of the picnic table areas that was under a roof for our picnic lunch.
After lunch, we continued east and came to the Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk.
It is known for the migratory birds that come there.
It is adjacent to Illecillewaet River, just a short distance before the river flows into the Columbia River.
My niece Laura would love visiting here because among other things, there is a continental songbird monitoring station, the first of its kind in British Columbia.
There were a lot of large skunk cabbage plants along the boardwalk, an important food source for bears.
Did I mention that this place is renowned for birds?
We saw many places where the tall grass had been flattened, presumably by large mammals resting. Considering how wet this area is and the amount of skunk cabbage, my best guess is moose or bear.
At the end, the park service raised the issue of protecting the land, flora and fauna while also allowing people to live and visit - it is a balancing act.
We arrived later in Revelstoke for our stay at the Regent Hotel. As with Banff, there are mountains in all directions around Revelstoke.
No comments:
Post a Comment