Wednesday, September 29, 2010

100924 Yoho National Park & Eagle's Eye


Yoho - I drove through Yoho National Park this morning. I was planning to see Takakkaw Falls ("takakkaw" means "magnificent" in the Cree language), but, I turned around when I couldn’t make the second curve on the switchbacks. The signs had said “no trailers” and “7 meter limit”, but I’m just a little over 6.7 meters so I wasn’t worried about it. Then I had to go forward and back, and forward and back, to make it around the turn, and that was only the second one, and I didn’t know how many more there were, so I turned back. That's the first time that's happened to me, that I haven't been able to make the turns on a switchback road. :-(

I stopped at Natural Bridge. The bridge wasn’t much – it was tiny, in the middle of the river [photo above]. But the river was that gorgeous glacier-melt azure blue, and the sun came out for just two minutes while I was taking pictures there. Very pretty.

I drove up to aptly-named Emerald Lake, another pretty little alpine lake. But the highlight of the day, without a doubt, was my lunch at the Eagle's Eye Restaurant outside of Golden, BC. Golden is an aptly-named city, as there are golden birches and aspen on the hills and golden cottonwoods in the valleys all around the town. I drove the 8 miles or so up to the Kicking Horse lodge, where I got on the gondola that took me up to the top of the mountain, and, boy!, was that a ride! It just kept going up and up. By far the highest ski lift/gondola ride I've been on. The brush was golden and orange and red and the birches were golden. The views at the top are touted as the "best views in British Columbia" and I can see why. It was sprinkling when I started out, and lightly snowing up on the mountain when I first got there. But it quit snowing, and the sun even came out for a few minutes before I left. They sat me at a window table, so I had a view of the mountains while I ate. The windows are all huge. The best views were from the "back deck", though - mountaintops as far as you can see. Incredible! I ordered their pasta special, beef mushroom stroganoff on wild rice, which was a treat (a little dry, though tasty). I’d gotten a coupon for $10 off from the Information Center, so I got a real good deal on it. The Eagle's Eye goes on my list of recommended restaurants, because the views are incomparable, and the ride to the top of the mountain is an unforgettable experience. From my seat, I could see the bikers starting off on their run down the mountain (they took the ski lift ride up). Amazing ride they had ahead of them! There were black bears on the mountain halfway down, they said, and I could see the group of people watching the bear, as my gondola whizzed by, but I couldn't see the bears.

CG – I stopped early (5 PM) because I was tired. I'm at a campground in a little town outside of Golden. The views here are great, with mountains in every direction. “sigh” I thought I was going to get WIFI at this cg tonight, but it wouldn't connect. :-(

Flicker n Jays - The first thing I noticed here in the campground is Stellar’s Jays hanging around the office and yard, then I noticed a Northern Flicker. First time I'd seen one. And I realized that it’s the one that sounds like a Star Wars laser gun that I've been hearing from time to time, ever since Oregon. The German-accented owner says that his daughter feeds the jays, and they follow her around as she’s working in the yard, which explains why they let me get so close. One jay got so close to me that my camera wouldn’t focus on him, and he was talking to me like crazy. I would enjoy having them around. The views here from the campground are fantastic, on all sides. The owner says that they winter in Arizona!

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