Trip to the Canadian National Parks, 1994
Trip to the Canadian National Parks, 1994
We went on a Canadian National Parks trip even before we retired, although we always talked about traveling once we retire.
Our trip started with us flying into Seattle, Washington in the middle of August 1994. Since it was a planned road trip, we rented a car at the airport and drove to Bellingham in Washington. We were to start in British Columbia and drive on to Banff, Alberta with white water rafting adventure before visiting Columbia icefields. and then on down to Glacier national park which straddles Montana and Alberta border. It would be difficult to chronicle the entire trip as it happened, but it has exciting memories which are worth archiving for my progeny if they ever have a chance to take a peek at this minuscule slice of our life.
Canadian National Parks system is vast and spreads across the ten provinces with its 47 National Parks. In all honesty, we only had the fortune to visit and explore a few of those in the two provinces, British Columbia and Alberta, we planned and visited.
We started our trip in Bellingham after a short stay to explore the town, we left to head out from western British Columbia to the east and into Alberta. Our first stop was Bridal Veil Falls, east of Chilliwack. A spectacular Bridal Veil Fall, which tumbles 60 meters over a smooth rock face, creating a “veil-like effect”, hence the name.
I was lugging a video camera that I now call a dinosaur of video technology. But since we knew nothing else at the time, I was excited to be using it and thought it was cool. Therefore, my video of the falls is stunning, if I may say so myself. After a short stop and several photo stops, we were headed on our onward journey through Hope, BC where we stopped at one of the banks to get some Canadian money and get lunch from a bakery, which we ate in a nearby park. Then we drove to Kelowna where we had booked a Bed and Breakfast place run by a retired couple, Danny Trenton and his wife. Kelowna is situated in the Okanagan Valley and is popular for its wineries, orchards, surrounding mountains, and lakes. We were able to visit the vineyard and one of the wineries. After an enjoyable stay and a great breakfast, we left in the morning. We had lunch in one of the parks in Revelstoke. There were a lot of birds and crows flying around. Sneaky enough, and big enough to swoop down and grab one of our sandwiches. It was quite a shock.
Our next stop was Field, BC. The highlight of getting there was seeing Ashfaq, who was joining us for a week’s vacation. It was 7.30 pm when we got there, but Ashfaq’s arrival time was 9.30 pm.
Field, BC is a community of 169 people located in the Kicking Horse River Valley within the confines of Yoho National park. It sits in a deep valley surrounded by a spectacular mountain range. Their sunny steeples kiss the skies while hugging the valley in their bosom where our small Bed and Breakfast place was sitting like a doll’s house in a castle. Standing outside we could see a train coming out of the tunnel. It took me back to the train track with its toy tunnels that we bought for Christmas for our boys, Ashfaq and Ishtiaq, in the 70s. While these delightful memories filtered back into my consciousness, I watched the breathtaking one-of-a-kind sight of a real train emerging from those beautiful mountains. I wished I could have been on that iconic railway journey.
Since the town itself was small, and grocery stores were not open, we decided to look for a deli or bakery where we could get something for supper. There was a small place open where we got sandwiches, pot pies, and fruits. We organized whatever little we had, and Ashfaq was on time, and we were happy to see him. We had supper and spent time talking and planning what lay ahead during the week we were going to be together.
We rose with the first light and had breakfast, but I don’t even remember what we ate.
Our plan was to explore Yoho National Park. It is located within the Canadian Rockies, though it sits just over the Alberta/BC border. From Field we drove on Emerald Lake Road to Kicking Horse River valley where we stopped and walked around to enjoy the sublime views of the gushing water, making it look as though furiously boiling water overflowing with full force and speed, obviously, over the boulders. And the process was beyond my imagination. And probably, no one’s imagination could possibly comprehend this natural phenomenon. There we also saw the awe-inspiring Natural Bridge where The Kicking Horse River carves a path through ancient rocks sculpting and shaping it at Yoho National Park. Even with this swift current which can even move large boulders, Ashfaq had a great time leaping over the gaps and exploring the area. Even Jaffer was moving around pretty fast though deliberately, while I stood there making memories on my clunky video camera.
The kicking Horse River is in the Canadian Rockies of Southastern Birtish Columbia, Canada. The river was named in 1858, when James Hector, a member of thePalliser Expedition, reported being kicked by his packhorse while exploring the river. Hector named the river and the associated pass as result of the incident
Our next stop was Emerald Lake which is a freshwater lake in the heart of Canada’s Rocky Mountains. Its pristine blue-green waters were not only inviting but calming after experiencing the kicking horse river’s bold, noisy, resolute, and rocky water. Emerald Lake’s flat, twinkling surface encouraged us to adventure into the water and sit on a tree log floating in the water. When I think about it, I feel so fortunate that I was able to sit on a log and meditate about this Divine creation of the slopes of Canadian Rocky Mountains peaks hugging the sublime Emerald Lake.
The vivid green color of the water is caused by a powdered rock from the glacier which reflects the blue-green spectrum of sunlight, the rock type, and the amount of it in the water causes the color to vary from lake to lake and month to month even week to week.
A few minutes walk from Emerald Lake took us to the spectacular horseshoe waterfalls called Takkakaw falls. It is the second-highest fall in Canada. From Yoho National Park’s glorious Takkakaw falls we continued toward Lake Louise, Alberta.
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