Kicking Horse Gondola

On one of our "outing" days we bought tickets for the gondola ride to the peaks at the Kicking Horse Resort.   The days were continually getting colder but this was a bit of a warmer day so we thought it would be a good day to go up for a ride and see the views and do one of the hikes.  We were mistaken in how far up we were going as it was extremely cold up at the top of the mountain!  Close to freezing!  What a view though, it was really amazing being level with the tops of all the mountains in the area and seeing the valleys below.  Incredible.  And almost scarily high.  There were some really neat trails we could do but found out quickly that Marla and Abby were going to freeze on us and Rowan was a bit clumsy and I could just imagine him tumbling down the side of the mountain (!!) so I decided to return to the condo and let Andy "quickly" do a hike with Seth.  I'm glad we had the opportunity on a clear day to go to the summit, as the views were really worth it.  Next time - more clothing required.  :)

We started a trail, then turned around. :)

See how high we were - all the peaks behind us.

Myself and the four kids watching Andy and Seth continue hiking from the Gondola.

And Andy also took one of us in the Gondola! :) Seriously, look at that ridge though! Beautiful.

Below are the pictures from the ridge walk Andy and Seth did.  Seth loved it and was such a good sport.  It makes my heart happy that Andy can do these things with a son now.  How special is that?

Incredible views. And incredible danger to my eyes ;)

This final picture below is one Seth loves.  He thought a snowboard bench was the neatest thing ever.  Till he found out the reason it was there was in memory of someone who died there in a snowboarding accident.  Still, he asked I put it up :) 

Glacier and Revelstoke National Parks

Red chairs at Hemlock Grove!

 Another full day was spent traveling west this time, thru Glacier National park all the way to Revelstoke thru the Rogers Pass.  This was a very interesting and beautiful drive, unique and different from Yoho.  Glacier National Park is huge, but even more remote than Yoho. The valley which the Rogers Pass cuts thru is narrow and so the scenery is different also because this is where the warmer pacific air meets the colder dryer continental systems.  You can tell the difference by the huge evergreens and the jumbo foliage on the floor of the forest.
We followed the parks map and picked out the boardwalk trails along the way. First was Hemlock Grove. 

Next was the Giant Cedars Boardwalk, in Mount Revelstoke National Park. Another short walk but enjoyable and we were amazed and awed at the changes in scenery only miles apart.   We had many things to research and discuss about geography and science from this!  

The last boardwalk was the Skunk Cabbage boardwalk.  This also was in Mount Revelstoke National Park. Many of the longer trails  was closed because of roaming bears hunting for berries, but these hikes were open and well used but even so, we were cautious and bear aware.  A new favorite saying for the boys ... "Be Bear Aware!" 

These final two pictures are for my own interest as most people are not as fascinated in old deserted buildings as I am 😉 The Rogers Pass is intriguing to me as it is the main artery between BC and Alberta yet virtually undeveloped.  There are no gas stations, no bathroom breaks etc. for miles and miles.  Just steep mountains on either side of a well maintained highway and many snow sheds/tunnels on avalanche paths.  This area receives so much snow (10 metres on average per winter!!) it can be a dangerous place to drive in the winter so this makes it much safer as the snow can travel over the road.  In the pass there is a discovery centre to stop at with interactive displays and lessons on being wildlife aware. There are also these deserted buildings. They are the old Glacier Park Lodge hotel buildings for back country skiers.   They are quite famous for their unique shape and obviously location. You'll see them featured in magazines etc. about the area, which is, obviously how I first heard about and saw pictures, of them.  So one of the things I wanted to do was see them as it blows my mind how something so big, unique and in such an ideal location would be closed down!  There is much shrouding the story of these buildings but apparently they are full and were left as is, one day being locked up and closed. There are chairs and dishes and beds unmade... all deserted.  They have been like that for several years now and are probably going to be torn down next year. Anyways, intrigue aside, I managed to see them, and snap a picture or two. 😊

Yoho National Park

Along the TransCanada Highway #1, past Banff and before Golden is Yoho National Park.  We spent one day going thru the main stops at that park. It was one of the places I'd wanted to go to for a long time, as it's astoundingly gorgeous and seriously, who doesn't want to hit up as many National Parks as possible on Canada's birthday year! 
Yoho is unlike Banff in that it is not nearly as touristy and it does not have copious campgrounds or places to stop - there is a little place called "Field" but other than that, no place to get gas, groceries or even a coffee.  Yoho, along with Glacier Glacier National Park are very rugged and wild, undeveloped. It's bear territory, so I was slightly on edge ;)  There are some well known and well marked stopping points - waterfalls and such - but not days and days worth of stuff to do unless you do back country hiking or hiking which is not suitable for small children.  But we had a very enjoyable day seeing the highlights of the park. First up was the Natural Bridge.

We had to hang on to all the kids here as we felt a little nervous about the water!

Beautiful views!

Our big van was put to the travel test and it passed with shining colours! We took four seats out and had tons of room in the back for all our gear. 

Next stop was further down the road, Emerald Lake, which is kind of like an... emerald coloured lake and is the largest of Yoho's lakes.   There was a trail that went all the way around but since it was difficult to take the stroller (for some reason we had decided to take the stroller instead of the backpack carriers) on parts of it I turned around with Abby, Rowan and Marla while Andy continued around it with Seth and Tristan.
There is a tiny holiday village at the base of the lake and it is so cute I'd like to stay there someday:) 

We like to read all the signs and pull over at the viewpoints to learn as much as possible about the area so here we pulled over at a viewpoint for the spiral railway tunnel.  It was difficult to see, but thankfully Seth had his trusty telescope along.
Spiral tunnels are a little hard to discribe but are essentially a tunnel built into a mountain which is circular to overcome a steep incline. They are quite remarkable (called an engineering marvel!) and were built in 1907 copying Swiss designs.  It's in the Kicking Horse Pass which is the most impoertant Pass in the Canadian Rockies.

The final stop and stroll for the day was the Takakkaw Falls, which are about 900 ft. of gushing water. "Takakkaw" loosely translated from Cree means "It is magnificent" and it was a magnificient, we could hear it thundering from the parking lot already which was a good km away.
Parks Canada had set up red adirondak chairs through out Canada for the 150th birthday celebrations and encouraged people to take pictures and share with the hashtag #sharethechair.  Andy and I got right in on the fun and posed at as many chairs as we could find.  😁  It looks so calm and peaceful but don't be fooled... the kids were having a hoot and half behind us and we were saying between smiles "Quick! Are you done yet Tristan??"  |Photo credit to Tristan.

Same chairs. Different persepective/direction.