Vancouver, Okanagan Valley and Canadian Rockies, June 12-25 2007

June 12 - Bus, Trains, Plane & Rental Car

We caught the #54 bus right in front of our house around 8:00 am on Tuesday, June 12. We were fairly lightly packed, so it wasn't much trouble.

We got off at the Sunnyvale Caltrain station and caught the 8:13 baby bullet to the north. We caught the Milbrae BART extension to the airport. We checked in at 9:05 for our 12:30 flight. I guess we padded the schedule a little too much. Oh well, it was better than being stressed out.

Our flight and retrieval of rental care were pretty uneventful. We gave a lovely Toyota Yaris, which gets 45 mpg, which is good considering gas at $4.50 per gallon.

Our drive into downtown Vancouver was pretty easy, too. We checked in to the Park Plaza on Broadway - our home for 2 nights.

We had a wonderful dinner at the Banana Leaf Malaysian Restaurant down the street.

June 13 - In Vancouver

We had a very forgettable breakfast at the hotel then headed off to Stanley Park. We bought our parking permit and hit the totem poles first.

Then, we walked to the aquarium. They had all manner of north Pacific sea critters. The best exhibit was the Beluga Whales, which neither of us had seen in person before.

We ended our afternoon in the park at a tavern in the rose garden. I had a seared tuna and couscous salad. We spent the late afternoon reading and blogging and catching up on email. We watched Oprah and had a nap.

For dinner we hit the Indian buffet across the street. It was pretty good. Oh, and we tried our first Tim Horton's donut today. It will probably be our last.

June 14 - to Kelowna

We left Vacouver bright and early and headed across Highway 1 and Highway 3 toward the Okanagan Valley. We took the 'scenic' route that took us to Princeton for a lunch stop after passing over a hairy mountain road, having one-way traffic controls several times. We had lunch at a family diner where they tried to sell us on the the 'buffet' for $9.50. But, we decided to order off the menu. I ordered a halibut burger. I was picturing a grilled piece of halibut on a whole grain bun with avocado. What I got was a fried fish patty on white bread with tartar sauce and iceberg lettuce salad. doh!

We continued for another couple hours until we reached the south end of the Okanagan valley. We stopped at a fruit stand in Peachland for plums and cherries. We hit two wineries on the way up to Kelowna. The first was Greata Vineyards where whe bought a Pinot Noir and an Eherenfelser.

Then we went to Heinle, which was the original vintner doing ice wine in the region. The proprietor was real chatty and we bought a nice Chardonnay from him - non-oaked.

We then headed into Kelowna to the Mission Creek Inn - a B&B - our home for two nights.

We had a great dinner at a Creperie recommended by the owner of the inn.

June 15 - In Kelowna

We woke up and it was still quite cool outside. We sat on the porch and did some reading.

At 8:00, we were served breakfast by the owner of the inn - fresh goat yogurt with home-canned peaches, home made wheat toast, eggs and bacon. We even got to try some honey made on the farm - yum!

After breakfast, we took a brisk walk along Mission Creek and I did 4 minutes of running with sprintervals. After we got back from the run, we set out for wine tasting. our first stop was Summerhill Pyramid Winery. We pulled up amongst the throngs of tourists and 1 tour bus. We did a tasting but didn't buy. Then, we went to St. Hubutus Estate. By contrast, it was completely deserted. We had a nice chat with the owners and bought a Reisling that was terrific!

Our lunch stop was Cedar Creek, which was the sister winery to Greata where we'd been the day before. I had goat cheese and grilled vegetable salad. Then, we did a tasting. The Pinot Noir was god, but similar to what we'd already purchased, so we moved on.

We crossed the lake and started at Mission Hills winery - the biggest and most corporate of them all. We did a tasting, but another really struck us, so we moved down the road to Quail's Gate. We did a tasting there. They had a decent Foch, the original varietal in the area, but not $25 good.

Our last stop was Mt. Boucherie Estate. They had a great Semillon, which we purchased and an interesting, odd, Austrian varietal we'd never seen before. But, we decided not to purchase that, because we would have too much to drink before leaving the country.

We attempted to go to an Indian restaurant the B&B owner had suggested. But, they were all booked up. So, we ended up back at the crepe place, which was all right by me!

June 16 - Driving from Kelowna to Jasper

After another hearty farm breakfast, we departed at 9:00 am from Kelowna knowing we had about 600 km (400 miles) of driving ahead.

We headed back to the west over a high pass. This route eventually took us through Kamloops. Then, we started a long slog north. We followed the North Thompson River through a never-ending valley past the occasional small outpost. We stopped at the general store/post office/Subway sandwich shop in Little Fork. We sat eating our sandwiches in the car as some creepy guy in a mini van was starring at us. He eventually got out of his car and walked over to look at a posting board next to our car. We both had a weird feeling, so we buckled up and hightailed out of there.

After many hours, we got to the junction of 5 and 16 - the turn over the pass to Jasper. The pass into Jasper was actually lower and easier than the pass out of the Okanagan Valley.

The intermittent rain had clouds hanging low over the peaks. We couldn't see the top of Mt. Robson. We pulled into Jasper and set our clocks forward one hour.

We grabbed dinner at the Greek restaurant attached to the Inn and did some email and went to bed. One thing we couldn't believe was the price for the park pass - $18 per day for two people. It was actually cheaper for us to buy and annual pass for $126.00. Yikes!

June 17 - Jasper, Maligne Lake, Medicine Lake and Opal Hills

We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and headed out for Maligne Lake. Is is a 50km drive from town. We stopped to buy some snacks for our hike.

When we got to the lake, it had been raining pretty consistently. There were already a bunch of tour buses in the parking lot to get the boat rides on the lake. With some assistance, we located the trail head and headed up. The trail rose a thousand feet in the first kilometer. So, I was anaerobic for about 20 minutes.

Then, it slacked off for a bit when we came to the split in the trail that formed the loop. We took the left fork. It was gentle for a while, then extremely steep for a short while. We finally came above the trees and got some good views into the lake area.

We finally came to the Opal Hills meadow behind two small peaks. It was filled with snow and snow was falling though not sticking. We slowly made our way through the meadow - sometimes falling into the deep snow. It was slow going and a big cloud descended and it was snowing heavily.

I was worried we would get white-out conditions and lose the trail. But, we came through and started descending before the cloud covered us. Once we crossed a creek and came around the two small peaks, the trail was constant and visible. Then, we started the steep descent.

My feet were really bothering me on the descent as I hadn't really dialed in my new shoes on the trails before the trip. But, I suffered through the toe crunching and made it down.

Four hours and 8.5 km after we set out, we got back to the lake. We got some photos, had some hot chocolate and headed out. On the way back, we got some nice photos at Medicine Lake after the clouds cleared a little.

We cleaned up, had a nice Italian dinner and did laundry.

June 18 - In Jasper

Today's plan was to go up o Mt. Edith Cavel - about 25km from town and hike to Cavel Meados - a meadow within a cirque with a view down on the glaciers of Mt. Edith Cavel.

When we arrived at the trailhead, there were patches of snow on the ground - not a good sign. So, we started up the 1 km interpretive trail. When we got to the fork with the trail to the Meadows, there was a sign informing us that the trail was closed due to heavy snow and mud and that it would re-open in July. Bummer.

So, we continued around the 1 km loop that took us past the glacial lake and the lower glacier - the Cavel glacier. We could get a nice view up to the Angel and Ghost glaciers above.

On the way back through the scree, we were passing lots of small stones and boulders. I heard a cooing sound to my left and realized one of the rocks had a red eye. It was a white tailed Ptarmigan. He had a lady friend sitting a couple feet further off the trail all bristled up. We got a few pics of them and headed back to the car....just as the skies opened and rain started falling.

We diverted a little to the south to see Athabasca Falls due to the rain. It was a nice cascade that had cut a nice sculpture out of the gorge.

We came back to the hotel from some reading, blogging and napping. At 5:00, it had cleared up, se we did a short 5 km hike close to town on a trail that was supposed to be good for large mammal viewing. We had a nice hike, but no large mammals. On the way to dinner, though, a black bear cub popped out on the road! We didn't stop to take a picture because there are usually over-protective mamma bears hovering near by.

We ended the day with dinner at the Jasper Brewing Company and a chat with the parents and Grandma. It was Grandma's 85th birthday today!

June 19 - Jasper to Lake Louise

We got up early and had breakfast at the Soft Rock Cafe. Then we headed out of town.

On the way out, we saw a couple of elk by the side of the road. Our first stop was at a mineral lick just off Icefields Parkway where sheep and goats apparently frequent. We saw a long mountain goat there. We continues on to Sunwapta Falls. The falls were nice, but not spectacular. Shortly after leaving the falls, we saw two mountain goats by the side of the road and got some pictures.

Our next stop was the Columbia Icefield Center. We looked at the educational exhibits, which were well-hidden beneath the gift shop and ice-cat ticket sales.

After departing the center, we went about 2 miles south to the Wilcox Pass trail head. It seemed to be in the snow shadow, so we were hopeful we could complete the hike.

The trail rose steadily through a fir forest, but not strenuously. We the popped out on a high mountain ridge across from the icefields.We had a great view and could also see the pass clearly ahead.

As we neared the top, we kept seeing fresh sheep excrement on the trail. Just as Rick was musing on where the sheep were, we came over a rise and saw 16 big horn sheep laying in the meadow! As we crested at the top of the pass, we had some significant snow on the ground and flurries falling. We put on our jackets, ate and drank and headed down as some nasty weather was coming in.

We scurried down and got to the car just as rain was starting. We made a beeline to Lake Louise. At the north end of Bow Lake, we saw several vehicles pulled over and occupants pointing and looking at the neighboring meadow with binoculars. We pulled over and soon saw what all the commotion was about - a momma grizzly and two cubs following behind. Cool!

We continued to Lake Louise and stopped in town to eat baked goods and coffee and get a dinner reservation. Then, it was on to the Chateau Lake Louise. This was m first stay at a luxury hotel. We checked in and found out parking was $20 - in addition to the $400 room. Yikes! We got up to our room and were pleasantly surprised with the size and view. We plugged in our computer to the high speed line and fired it up - only to learn the Internet access was $14 per day - screw that! I can't believe how little is included in the luxury hotel price. Oh well. Live and learn. We had a luxurious bath and headed out to dinner at the Jasper Station Restaurant. It was a converted rail station. I had a watermelon salad with red and yellow varieties. My main course was duck with butternut squash. I finished with tea and Rick had the cheesecake - of course I had to take a couple bites to make sure it was OK. :)

June 20 - Lake Louise and Lake Agnes

We awoke early so we could squeeze in a hike to Lake Agnes before our checkout time - and hopefully a shower, too.

We were the first ones on the trail. It was a steady 10% grade that was unrelenting. Occasionally, we would pop into a clearing with sweeping views of Lake Louise below. The skies were clear for the first time in the morning since we'd arrived in the parks. We quickly arrived at Mirror Lake - short of 45 minutes. We took some photos and pushed on toward Lake Agnes. There was only a little snow on the trail. As we left Mirror Lake, we could see the tea house hanging on the cliffs next to Lake Agnes.

We passed next to a waterfall on the last stretch before the lake. It took us just over an hour to arrive. The tea house was just opening as we finished taking photos of the icy lake. They said it would be a while before the could serve anything. So, we decided to head down. We were making good time until my bladder became a little too swollen. We slowed down a bit on the way back. The throngs of tourists were making their way up as we came down. We were glad we'd gone early when we could be along.

After that, we headed into Banff and had some lunch and got settled in our hotel. It seemed a bit too spartan after the Chateau and for the price point. But, such is the plight of tourists in a national park in high season.

June 21

We decided to hike up to the top of the Banff gondola today. We read it was a difficult hike, but that you could ride down the gondola for free. So, we hoofed for about two hours hard, uphill, with few views. Finally, we received our reward at the top. The views were spectacular and it was another clear day. We continued another .6 km to the old weather station and took more photos.

We ate some chili at the cafeteria at the top and then went to catch the gondola, which was no longer free but $12.50! Once again, we bent over and took it from 'the man' and had a 5 minute ride back to the car.

Unfortunately, the trail head been just steep enough to initiate a nice blister on my heel. Ugh!

We cleaned up and did some reading in the afternoon. Rick did laundry. The, we had dinner and went to see the movie 'Knocked Up' after dinner. It was a cute story.

June 22

Today we caved and rented mountain bikes!

We told the shop we wanted a 2-3 hour off road ride - not too technical. They sent us to the Spray river trail loop. We finished that plus some in 1.5 hours. So, we ventured on some trails and roads through the Banff Springs golf course.

I did my first drop off and nailed it - only because I didn't see it coming and couldn't chicken out. I just came over this rise and there was about a 5 foot almost vertical drop off on a rock face. I just turned the bike 45 degrees to the face and moved my butt back and survived it! Yay for me!

Our total ride was about 35 km. We didn't see any wildlife even though we were promised elk around the golf course.

After lunch, we went back to clean up and then spent the afternoon loafing. I finished my last book. Yikes!

We had a pasta dinner to fuel up for our 5-6 hour hike tomorrow.

June 23

Well, the weekend has come and the population of Banff has nearly doubled again.

We planned to hike the Cascade Amphitheater - our longest hike to date - 16 km round trip.

The hike started in the Mt. Norquay ski resort. it was flat to downhill in the first 3 km as we approached 40 Mile 'Creek', which was more of a raging river. Then, the trail started a relentless uphill for 5 km - some very steep sections with bad footing. We made it to the cirque meadow in 2.5 hours. We walked into the meadow and sat on a flat stone between two talus slopes. There were bones of an elk that had died on the stone. Yikes!

We ate our snacks as we watched marmots, picas, and ground squirrels flit about. We also listened to their various chirping noises.

After the long hike down, we drove down Mt. Norquay Rd. and saw more big horn sheep and a male deer coming into town.

We stopped at Wild Flour - a bakery with lots of vegan, organic and whole wheat goodies for coffee and treats.

We had Mexican food for dinner and called it an early night around 9:30 pm.

June 24

Our last full day in Canada. We decided to take it easy, since rain was in the forecast.

We drove over to Kootenay National Park to go to the Radium Hot Springs.

We stopped at 'paint pots' about halfway there. It was a 40 minute round trip hike to the 3 cold water springs that ran into yellow ochre earth. it was a little overrated and not worth the hike. But, it was good to stretch our legs a little. We got lunch in the town of Radium Hot Springs and then headed up for a dip.

We sat in the hot pool for about an hour and then I went for a one hour deep tissue massage with Jim. It was great.

We headed back to Banff in time for dinner. We finally ate at Earl's - a Canadian chain - because it had good salads.

It was surprisingly good. We should have eaten there earlier!

June 25 - Heading home

We woke up to a cold, rainy day. We had a good breakfast at Melissa's Miss-steak. Then, we checked out of the Driftwood (good riddance) and headed out.

We did a brief loop around Lake Miniwanka and then headed to Canmore for lunch. We at at the Bear Paw Brewing Company, which was good. We decided if we ever come back to stay in Canmore.

We drove through pouring rain to Calgary and after a long wait were on our way home.

We arrived in SF around 8:30, rode BART to Caltrain, Caltrain to Sunnyvale and a taxi home. The Caltrain had about 1,200 Giants fans and was standing room only. Yikes! But, around midnight, we arrived unscathed at home sweet home.