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.

Saturday 14th July 2012 ­ Rocky Mountaineer ­ Day 2 Kamloops to Banff

Spot on 7.15am and the train now split into two 9-car trains – one bound for Jasper and the other Banff – rolled out of Kamloops.  Over breakfast and with a long straight stretch ahead the train crew decided to see what “their babies” could do as David put it and we certainly did rolling along at 55 to 60mph!  They clearly wanted a good start to the day’s journey of 309 miles and knowing that the last stretch into Banff involved climbing to over 5,300feet through the Rockies.

The first part of the route this morning took us to the mouth of the Adams River – noted as the site of the world’s largest salmon run – and then along the Shuswap Lake and Salmon Arm.  Today this town has a population of 16,000 and its name refers to the days when spawning salmon were so abundant that the settlers could pitchfork them out of the water to use as fertiliser on their fields. 

On past the Mara Lake known as the “Houseboat Capital of Canada”, today heavily flooded along its banks, and then across the Shuswap River on a spectacular trestle bridge.  Another 20 miles brought us to Craigmichelle the site of the “Last Spike of CP Rail”. Donald Smith on the 7^th November 1885 drove in the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railroad finally linking Canada by rail from coast to coast.  Lots of locals at this famous site to wave us through.

For the next 30 miles the train follows the Eagle River – a gushing torrent like all the rivers the previous day – before joining the Columbia River and beyond Revelstoke criss-crossing the Illecillewaet River - a First Nation word meaning ‘running’ or ‘swift’ water, a word to which today you could add the word ‘super’ so swollen were the rivers with the recent rains. This area is known for its very heavy snowfalls and frequent avalanches as we pass through numerous tunnels and snow sheds built along this 65-mile riverroute.

Stoney Creek Bridge was the next spectacle on our route. The original bridge was built in wood but was replaced in 1893 with a steel, arch shaped structure. By 1929 the weight of locomotives had doubled and CP Rail was forced to replace this structure.  Because of the terrain the original foundations had to be used so the new bridge was built directly over the old one but without placing any pressure on it.  This beautiful bridge spans 484 feet and towers 325 feet above the creek bed.

Another major bridge on this part of the journey took us 416 feet across the unexpected Surprise Creek.  Some 40 miles on we began to travel through the Kicking Horse Canyon – so named because the geologist who mapped this area was kicked in the chest by a packhorse he was trying to rescue that had slipped into the river.  Again the traincrisscrossed this river some 7 times but very difficult to get good photos even in the open-air vestibules between the carriages especially with a few selfish people hogging the prime positions.

Friday 13th July 2012 ­ Rocky Mountaineer ­ Kamloops, The Noble Pig Pub, Deep Fried Pickles and the lovely Nikki!

We drew into Kamloops at 8.30pm after a very hard day’s scenery gazing!  Derived from the Shuswap First Nation word “T’Kemlups” meaning “meeting of the waters”, it refers to the junction of the North & South Thompson Rivers. Despite an elevation of 1,000 feet it was stinking hot with high humidity so it was a relief to get into and air-conditioned room with a wet room bigger than my lounge, take a shower and search out some food. 

Kamloops is not huge and lies at the crossroads of the TransCanada Highways 5 and 97 as well the Canadian Pacific and National Railroads. Laid out in typical rectangular fashion the main street is dominated by the Casino!  Although the stay in the hotel in the late evening heat seemed inviting the bus driver on the way from the station hadpointed out the Noble Pig Pub as the best place to eat ‘deep fried pickles’. Well how could one resist?  So I braved the heat – it must have been in the late 20s C to struggle the 200 metres to the Pub!

Inside it was large and cool but not as busy as I had thought but as usual I was greeted with a smile and sat at a table in introduced to my waitress for the evening the lovely Nikki.  Having chosen a burger I plucked up courage and asked Nikki about the deep fried pickles.  They turned out to be 6 inch gherkins sliced lengthways, individually breaded and then deep fried and served with a dill and mustard relish.  They were delicious although Nikki was somewhat incredulous that I was going to eat the pickles, burger and fries!  Well I did apart from one-half of the bun, all that scenery and camera button pressing appears to have made me ravenous!

When I was paying my bill I happened to notice that Nikki was wearing an engagement ring and casually asked when the wedding was to be.  The answer was – June 22^nd next year.  Well as many of you will know this is my Birthday so I said what a good choice and that it was bound to be a good day.  Another of life’s little coincidences that greatly pleased Nikki.  Replete with deep fried pickles, burger and 2 pints of traditional ale I perspired my way back to the hotel for a short rest before another early start to Day Two of the Rocky Mountaineer.

Osprey Nest On the Thompson River 13th July 2012

Ospreys often build their nests on telegraphic or electric poles.  At the end of the breeding season another pole is placed alongside leaving the nest on its original pole for the returning birds next season. Notice the orange twine in the base of the nest – its taken from the trackside and used for marking.

The Rocky Mountaineer Negotiates Another Crossing of the Thompson River 13th July 2012

Pictures from moving trains are never a success and in any case there were so many photo opportunities that it is impossible to show them all.  I have selected one or two for blogging separately but believe me by the end of day one I had lots of pictures of trees and telegraph poles but had still immensely enjoyed the majesty of the BC Coastal and Cascade Mountain ranges and the raging Fraser & Thompson rivers.