Monday 16th July 2012 ­ Homeward Bound! Don't Look Down!!

Don't look down!  627 feet below my feet!!

I have until mid-day before the transfer to the airport so having repacked everything – why did I buy that extra fleece jacket on the Seven seas Navigator and the usual half-hundred weight of fridge magnets – I make for the city centre and a wander round the shops actually looking for a belt.  I seem to have lost rather than gained weight on this trip!!  There are plenty of cowboy outfitters to choose from so avoiding the pink cowboy hats and the ‘made in China genuine leather belts’ I find a hand carved Canadian belt at one of the many stalls in the main shopping mal.

Lunch in an Irish Pub of – yes you guessed - Halibut & Chips and a pint of Guinness before I return to the hotel and bang on time a Jaguar sedan arrives for my transfer to the airport.  My driver points out the walkways – known as ‘15s’ because they are 15 feet off the ground that connect the various shopping malls and that I had tried in the morning, he tells me they are essentials since in the winter the city is permanently covered in 3 feet of snow!

The Air Canada direct flight to London Heathrow is more enjoyable than the flights to Anchorage but after 8 hours 40 minutes of trying to sleep I’m relieved to be back home.  Despite all the hoo-ha about immigration I had disembarked the aircraft, retrieved my baggage and exited immigration and customs in just over 20 minutes!!

A wonderful trip with many memorable moments, the best of which was watching surfacing Humpback Whales feeding off Hoonah, Icy Point Strait in Alaska.  Thewilderness of Alaska, the sheer beauty of the rivers and mountains on the Rocky Mountaineer will take a lot of beating on my next adventure – a cruise to Maritime Canada from 5^th September.  Another blog – sure thing!!

Sunset Over the Skyscrapers Calgary Sunday 15th July 2012

Calgary Tower Reflection Sunday 15th July 2012

Sunday 15th July 2012 ­ An Evening in Calgary: Tall Buildings and Tall Waitresses

By 6.00pm as we rolled into the skyscraper canyons of Calgary the sun had begun to shine again.  Everything is ‘big’ in Calgary, tall skyscrapers, the Calgary Tower – of which more below – the hats and even my waitress at over 6 foot tall – again of which more below.  Even my room on the 24^th floor of the International Hotel and Suites was huge.

Calgary was established in 1875 and is famous for hosting the Winter Olympics in 1988 – not that I noticed – and of course for the Calgary Stampede of which today is the last so the city was particularly full of cowboy outfits! It is a sophisticated city with skyscrapers, galleries and theatres but retains the air of a frontier town according to my DK Eyewitness Guide, well if you think pink cowboy hats, of which there were many, gives it this atmosphere. The modern skyline is courtesy of the 1960s oil boom.

I dithered whether to go to the Stampede but decided in the end that the weather didn’t look too promising and that I should really make use of the voucher I had to scale the Calgary Tower. This is the city’s third tallest building with two elevators that whisk you to top of the tower – 627 feet – in 62 seconds.  Luckily these were internal lifts not like the Harbour Tower in Vancouver that were wall climbers. The tower was built to for the Winter Olympics and as I later discovered a real gas flame lights its apex at night – I got some fabulous shots of the tower and flame reflected in the glass facades of nearby skyscrapers.

The views from the top were pretty incredible especially looking east towards the vast plains of the Canadian Prairies and looking down since unlike the Cliffwalk in Capilano Vancouver this tower does have a glass floor section!!

I could clearly see the Stampede grounds but as expected this mainly consisted of a vast funfair and souvenir stalls.  To get in would have not only cost money but there were no tickets for the rodeo events in the main arena and it was nowbucketing with rain so pleased I didn’t go along. On exiting the Tower the desk staff told me that if I would like to come back before 10.30pm – the last ascent lift – then I was welcome to return and watch the closing firework display of this the 100^th Stampede.

I had spotted a half decent restaurant on the way to the tower so to get out of the rain I go in for a meal and the tallest young women I have ever met in my life serves me!  Caitlin must have been well over 6ft 4ins but like so many Canadians I had met on this trip had a lovely personality and actually knelt down to take my order – talk about being served!  She was a performing arts student earning some money in the summer to return tocollege to take a linguistics degree. I have French onion soup, herb encrusted halibut and as a last treat a piece of carrot cake!

After spinning out the meal for an hour or so I emerged into a bright sunset and head back up the Calgary Tower for some pretty sunset shots across the skyscrapers and to await the fireworks which turned out to be a bit of a damp squib – appropriate really for the weather over the last few days.  Anyway at long last I get a chance to try out the video on the camera with some pleasing results.

Sunday 15th July 2012 ­ Banff to Calgary: Daisy the Cowgirl and A White Buffalo!

Probably the worst night’s stay of the entire trip in a very hot hotel room decorated in sad green and brown and with a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude of hotel staff which jarred with the friendly welcome of Canadians so far. Banff is set up for international tourism to the Banff National Park and for skiing. It was noisy, brash and had a downtown main street that lacked character and was just full of restaurants and shops you could find anywhere in the world.  So not my favourite place and I was relieved only to be staying overnight.

Today was billed as a ‘Sightseeing Tour’ by bus to Calgary.  Despite heavy rain the day was not without its merits.

Waving a not so fond farewell to the soulless hotel I boarded the bus to be greeted by David the driver and tour guide for the day – an ex Royal Canadian Mounty.  The first part of the tour was to Banff!

The town grew up around the hot springs that were discovered in 1880s.  The Canadian Pacific Railroad Manager – Cornelius Van Horne realised that the springs would attract visitors so he built the Grand Banff Springs Hotel – today the Fairmont Springs Hotel – styled after the baronial castles of Scotland.  With over 700 rooms it certainly looked more inviting than my lodging for the last night but then it probably cost three times as much.

The next stop on the tour was a cable car ascent of the 7,484 feet above sea level Sulphur Mountain. Unfortunately the spectacular views from the summit were not to be had today – just rain!

The Bow River Falls (See Photo) below the Banff Springs Hotel were however spectacular.  As with all the rivers I had seen over the last two days the Bow was in full flood requiring the rare use of flood barriers.

Next came lunch in Banff and I took Dave’s recommendation to try a Buffalo Burger in Wild Bill’s Restaurant.  With more depth of taste the burger went down well and replete I climbed aboard the bus to continue our tour.

Since both the next two scenic stops were invisible in the rain Dave took us on a wildlife circuit and yes you guessed we spotted nothing.! It was also pretty obvious by now that the scheduled and much looked forward to helicopter trip into the Rockies was not going to happen.  Instead Dave took as to Rafters Six Ranch.

The ranch is home to Stan Cowley and his family.  Stan is a horse whisperer, breaking and training animals thought to be un-rideable and then riding them on long trails in Canada and the USA.  I’m sure I have seen him on a TV programme but he and his family entertain us with coffee, lemon muffins and some trail songs before his younger daughter Daisy provides us with an entertaining – if rather cheesy joke ridden – tour of the carriage and First Nation Museum  at the ranch.  Daisy had such an engaging personality and was indeed an accomplished horse rider that everyone forgave her the cheesyjokes – but they were pretty awful!  The tour ended with a chance to see a one in a million white buffalo – not an albino but genuine white.

The Rafters Six Ranch had been the site of an old British and French Trading Post. Stan’s Father had been the Mounty stationed here and achieved much respect by the local First Nation indigenous population.  Today the ranch sits between a First Nation Reserve and he Banff National Park and the Cowley’s are proud of their connections with both communities.

Sunday 15th July 2012 ­ Banff to Calgary: Daisy the Cowgirl and A White Buffalo!

Probably the worst night’s stay of the entire trip in a very hot hotel room decorated in sad green and brown and with a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude of hotel staff which jarred with the friendly welcome of Canadians so far. Banff is set up for international tourism to the Banff National Park and for skiing. It was noisy, brash and had a downtown main street that lacked character and was just full of restaurants and shops you could find anywhere in the world.  So not my favourite place and I was relieved only to be staying overnight.

Today was billed as a ‘Sightseeing Tour’ by bus to Calgary.  Despite heavy rain the day was not without its merits.

Waving a not so fond farewell to the soulless hotel I boarded the bus to be greeted by David the driver and tour guide for the day – an ex Royal Canadian Mounty.  The first part of the tour was to Banff!

The town grew up around the hot springs that were discovered in 1880s.  The Canadian Pacific Railroad Manager – Cornelius Van Horne realised that the springs would attract visitors so he built the Grand Banff Springs Hotel – today the Fairmont Springs Hotel – styled after the baronial castles of Scotland.  With over 700 rooms it certainly looked more inviting than my lodging for the last night but then it probably cost three times as much.

The next stop on the tour was a cable car ascent of the 7,484 feet above sea level Sulphur Mountain. Unfortunately the spectacular views from the summit were not to be had today – just rain!

The Bow River Falls (See Photo) below the Banff Springs Hotel were however spectacular.  As with all the rivers I had seen over the last two days the Bow was in full flood requiring the rare use of flood barriers.

Next came lunch in Banff and I took Dave’s recommendation to try a Buffalo Burger in Wild Bill’s Restaurant.  With more depth of taste the burger went down well and replete I climbed aboard the bus to continue our tour.

Since both the next two scenic stops were invisible in the rain Dave took us on a wildlife circuit and yes you guessed we spotted nothing.! It was also pretty obvious by now that the scheduled and much looked forward to helicopter trip into the Rockies was not going to happen.  Instead Dave took as to Rafters Six Ranch.

The ranch is home to Stan Crowley and his family.  Stan is a horse whisperer, breaking and training animals thought to be un-rideable and then riding them on long trails in Canada and the USA.  I’m sure I have seen him on a TV programme but he and his family entertain us with coffee, lemon muffins and some trail songs before his younger daughter Daisy provides us with an entertaining – if rather cheesy joke ridden – tour of the carriage and First Nation Museum  at the ranch.  Daisy had such an engaging personality and was indeed an accomplished horse rider that everyone forgave her the cheesyjokes – but they were pretty awful!  The tour ended with a chance to see a one in a million white buffalo – not an albino but genuine white.

The Rafters Six Ranch had been the site of an old British and French Trading Post. Stan’s Father had been the Mounty stationed here and achieved much respect by the local First Nation indigenous population.  Today the ranch sits between a First Nation Reserve and he Banff National Park and the Crowleys’ are proud of their connections with both communities.    

Saturday 14th July 2012 ­ Rocky Mountaineer ­ Day 2 PM Spiralling to Banff Through the Rockies

Unfortunately by lunchtime the weather had broken and heavy rain clouded our climb through the Rockies.  This was also supposed to be the section of the route where we couldspot the most wildlife.  Sadly that also proved to be wrong, in fact it became quite a joke with ‘pink elephants being spotted to the left and right’!  In fairness, however, what bear or elk in their right mind was going to stand by the railway in torrential rain for our benefit!!

To keep us amused, however, we had the Spiral Tunnels to look forward to, built to overcome one of the weakest links in the CanadianPacific (CP) Rail line, “Big Hill” – an 8-mile stretch between Field and Hector British Columbia (BC).  The original line was built in 1884 and intended to be temporary until an alternative could be found. Not only was it dangerous at 4.5% incline but cost a fortune in repairs, wages and operational expenses.

In 1907, construction began on the Spiral Tunnels, modelled after a similar system in Switzerland – and I have also travelled through a similar system on the Flam Line in Norway.  It took 1,000 men, 20 months to complete and necessitated the excavation of 750,000 cubic yards of rock and cost over $1m to build but importantly it allowed the incline to be reduced to 2.2%. 

The Lower Spiral is tunnelled through Mt Ogden and is 2,922 feet in length and turns through 230 degrees to the left, emerging 56 feet higher then its entrance (See photo).  The Upper Spiral travels through Cathedral Mountain and is 3,255 feet long and turns 250 degrees to the right emerging 50 feet higher than its entrance.

The tunnels were described in the railway timetables of the day as: “The whole thing is a perfect maze, the railway doubling back on itself twice, tunnelling under mountains and crossing the Kicking Horse River twice in order to cut down the grade.”

Some 3 miles on and we were passing Wapta Lake – Wapta being the Stoney First Nation word for ‘river’.  At 5,203 feet above sea level this lake is the source of the KickingHorse River.

A few miles later and we were at the highest point of our journey – 5,332 feet above sea level and at the ‘Continental Divide’ – the boundary between the Banff National Park in Alberta that we were about to enter and the Yoho National Park in British Columbia. It is also the point that marks the divide between the Pacific and Atlantic watersheds.

Unfortunately the torrential rain shrouded the emerald green waters of the Lake Louise and the Mount Victoria Glacier as we began our descent to Banff and sadly to the end of this magnificent journey.