The One Where We Went To Cedar Trees

Early morning in Banff was lovely. Once again the sun was shining (how lucky have we been?) so we hopped on the downtown bus again but stayed on to the bridge at the far end of town for a further look around and to enjoy a longer stroll back. Imagine somewhere slightly smaller than Stratford but with the same sort of feel - a river, parks, historic buildings, an array of small (and some not so small) shops, enough to engage the tourists at all times of year etc but then drop a gobsmackingly gorgeous backdrop right round in a full 360 degree vista. Banff! Beautiful.

View from the bridge ...

And heading back into town over same bridge. Stunning!

What's more the streets are wide, the traffic slow and drivers respectful of pedestrians, it's clean, quiet and well maintained. I loved that all the cross streets are named after wildlife - Elk Street, Bear Street etc - and that junctions with the main thoroughfare are indicated with engraved brass plaques about 18" across, set into the pavement. 

Buffalo Street and Wolf Street

And just in case you were not sure when you'd arrived at Moose Avenue, they helpfully built a large but appropriately chalet-like hotel of same name and marked it in an unobtrusive way.

This may be the only moose I see :-( 

Saying goodbye to Banff after a brief but very pleasant visit was tough. We could have stayed longer, but our next stop, and the Okenagen Valley (wine!) was beckoning. Back past Lake Louise and the already amassing crowds, and on to Highway 1, the Trans-Canadian Highway, towards Revelstoke. 

Blue skies, beautiful views and a straight road meant we made good progress.

Then suddenly, after an hour or so, the drive got interesting. Winding through steep mountain passes required careful concentration such that at Golden (and the quaintly named Kicking Horse ski resort) we stopped for lunch and to swap drivers.  It was noticeable that having left Banff National Park and as we unceremoniously slipped across the border from Alberta back into BC, there was a distinct but subtle change of scenery. The mountains became less vast, equally beautiful but less rocky, more alpine, which was when we realised we had also transitioned from Banff National Park into Glacier National Park. 

This park's history is closely tied to the Canadian Pacific Railway which was finished in 1885. Before then this area was virtually impassable, prone as it was to heavy snow and avalanches. It has many active glaciers, one of the largest networks of underground caves in Canada and a large number of trails which attract keen alpine walkers (not us - we were just passing through). In fact some say that the early pioneers who were determined to access these peaks and valleys were those who gave rise to the 'sport' of mountaineering. The 'main event' is known as Rogers Pass. I would have taken a photograph but I was too busy hanging on to the door handle as we made our way up, down and around the hair-pin bends. 

We did however have another rest stop in mind before checking in to tonight's accommodation. HRH had spotted that just before our turn-off and at the eastern edge of Revelstoke National Park (no kidding, they all pretty much run into each other round here), was a Giant Cedar Boardwalk. 

This short but beautiful walk takes you into the heart of the forest, among cedar trees that may be more than 500 years old. To put that into perspective we were informed that many of the trees there were seedlings when Columbus discovered America, saplings when the Mona Lisa was painted in 1506 and already more than 100 years old when Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was first performed in 1595! That's old ...

... I meant the trees!

Shaggy-barked western red cedar ...

... and furrowed western hemlock.

See how big they are? Comedy shot coming up. 

Tree hugger

We were fascinated that this woodland has been left completely natural (apart from constructing the walkway) with as much dead or dying as thriving and growing, demonstrating the whole unique ecosystem for everything from bears to bats, birds to bugs. 

Decay and evidence of earlier growth

So there we have it. Another day, another  shared experience. And that was where today's blog was going to end. We checked in and guess what? We were next to the lift!!! But it's ok :-) I road-tested it for noise and the room was pronounced acceptable so I headed to the open-air jacuzzi for a lovely long soak. And then a familiar face appeared. With a new room key. We'd moved. Nuff said. New room has a balcony ..... 

It seems HRH has been here before. Before he became King Edward VIII that is when he unveiled a tablet at the top of Mount Revelstock in 1919. A man of influence.