Salmon Arm and Margaret Falls

5 September 2014   I’ll spare you the painful puns about Salmon parts and what happened to Margaret

We started off today with a short drive to Margaret Falls in Herald Provincial Park on the northwest side of the Arm (I guess they called it an arm since finger doesn’t do justice to this big chunk of Shuswap Lake).

Cool and well shaded in this little canyon. Easy trail right up to the Falls.

Been there done that. Now what?

Back to town. Down to the waterfront.

Looking north from the trail.

We decided to take the shore trail through the Nature Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. It was hot and sunny. Could we have erred in the order of operations today?

That green expanse will be lake bottom in the spring.

Looking at the municipal docks. Yes the water was that low.

This place is a birder’s paradise in the Spring – we were surprised to see white pelicans hanging out here in September. Perhaps it’s because the lake is so low in the Fall and the fishing looks easy (for pelicans and herons anyway).

No zoom lens. 2 pelicans with a heron in front plus a gazillion other birds.

We slogged through the heat to the end of the trail and back and congratulated each other for choosing this unshaded route in the middle of a hot, virtually cloudless day. And dipping our toes into what resembles an evaporated swamp to cool off didn’t hit the option list. Turns out we still have some learning to do about timing

The geese have elected a leader and are starting basic training:

Alright - everybody follow me

N aah - too much work. We'll train tomorrow...

I did get an OK dragonfly shot:

He was following Norene around and ignoring me. Understandable – by this point

she still smelled pretty good and I had exceeded my “best before” long in advance of this meeting.   

Travelling through Rogers Pass British Columbia

1 September 2014   All it took was a forecast of snow to get us moving…

Nippy air and cloudy skies prompted a hasty exit from Lake Louise. Time to get to a lower elevation somewhere west. This meant taking the Trans Canada (Hwy 1) toward Salmon Arm – about 3200’ lower.

Just starting west - Yoho National Park coming up in 1 km

If you’re curious what the drive is like and don’t want to wait for Google’s little man to show you street images take a look at this little slide show (click)

No big deal in a car. More challenge with a motorhome - lots of steep hills and a few sharp corners. When they post 50 or 40 km limits you pay attention or you get to take the fast elevator down the hill (as in over the side). If you have a diesel truck or motorhome with an exhaust (“Jake” or Jacobs) brake you will know why I fondly kiss that switch at the end of a hilly run. Otherwise, you might think this practice is weird. Norene skips the exhaust brake switch and goes directly to kissing terra firma on these days. 

No I don't have a picture.

Johnson Canyon

29 August 2014   This one is easy.

Just 1.5 miles each way. Located between Lake Louise and Banff. You’ll find this place busy on the weekends so maybe show up on an early weekday to avoid the crowds. Unlike us (Friday).

There are 7 waterfalls. I missed a couple but you should get the picture.

 

Enough rise to ensure the water comes down the hill promptly but this one won’t kill you going up.

Hitting the top of the trail.

Nice to go home and stay awake until after dinner for once.

Take a pinch of Millennia, grind a few megatons of Rock and add melted Glacier to taste…

30 August 2014   Simmer at low temperatures and you get Moraine Lake.

Spectacular.

At 6181’ above sea level you might want to drive here. Everybody else did this day. By the time we left the park staff were blocking the entry road because there were no parking spaces left.

Sometimes I will add brightness to darker shots. Resisted the temptation to fool around with these pictures with the exception of blurring out faces.

 

Of course there were canoe rentals. The newbies zigzagged around the lake.

More fun to watch than do here since there is so much to see and there are lots of trails. And there are lessons:

Weather ain’t boring in the mountains. Bright sun succumbed to clouds and rain in almost a heartbeat as we neared the end of the lake. No big deal though – sun returned in 15 minutes.

Go to Lake Louise if you wish. Should be on every bucket list. But while you’re in the area do not miss this spectacular body of water – the colours you see here are unfiltered and untouched – just as the camera saw them.

This is called the rockpile

Looking down from the rockpile

I am the king of the rockpile. Big deal.

 This one might look familiar - a cousin of the blog's current header:

Feel free to copy photos for desktop image, coffee cup label, t-shirt, personal tattoo, or any other legal purpose. If you get rich in the process please keep it a secret.

OK back to your laundry – I think I heard the dryer buzz.