Emerald Lake & Natural Bridge - From Lake Louise

Saturday - June 5.  Marilyn's brother-in-law (Mike) was released from the hospital but he didn't pass the stress test so he is scheduled for an angiogram on Tuesday.   Today was an awesome day.  Spectacular views, and the best animal-viewing count so far.  As we left the campground, after purchasing annual pass to the Canadian National Parks, we saw 4 bighorn sheep on the ridge.  We didn't get a very good pix of them, but here it is.  There was a mountain goat right beside the road right after we entered the National Park, but I was not camera-ready yet so I missed it.

 Then we stopped in the little town (Radium) to get gas, which was more exciting than it should have been, because our tow car was hanging out in the street for a few minutes until the truck in front of us moved.  But then we were on our way into the Kootenay National Park.  The views were immediately awesome.

We saw the goat by the road, then we saw our first bear.  Believe me, I was really excited about that!

Then we drove along beside the Kootenay River, which is turquoise in color, due to the melting glacier ice in the area.  We had snow-capped Rockies, and the river for miles.  It, of course, rained on us, and then it sleeted.  It may have snowed, not sure.  It was certainly snowing up in the mountaintops.

We were back and forth between British Columbia and Alberta on this road.  Then we got to the town of Lake Louise (after a missed turn), and set up camp for the next 3 nights.  Very nice national park campground.  The river, or at least a branch of it, is right behind us (walking distance).  Then we set out for Takkakaw Falls (the road to it was closed, I assume due to weather).  We were told this is the second largest waterfall in the country, Niagra Falls being the tallest).  This road has probably not been opened yet this spring, but we're hoping to see the falls before we leave the area.

They have animal overpasses here, and are building more, then they fence off the forest to force the animals to cross either at rivers or the overpasses.  There are lots of caution signs posted about animal crossings.  Another interesting thing, this was in Utah and Idaho, their signs often say "game crossing." Here they say "wildlife crossing."  So it's exciting to look for anything and everything.  However, there was never anything crossing at (or anywhere near) those crossing signs!

Anyway, we headed on up to Emerald Lake, which was absolutely beautiful.  The color is fascinating.  And the roofs of the buildings exactly matches the color of the lake.  Some boys were jumping off the bridge into the water, and they said it was very cold.  See me sporting my new rain jacket, with a hood.  Had to break down and buy one, since it rains on us every day.

We walked up to the lodge and had drinks.  Beautiful setting.  Just because Joe isn't in the pix, don't think for a minute he didn't have a beer!  He just happened to be the photographer on this one.

We next stopped at the "Natural Bridge."  What a sight that was!  The powerful force of the water, the turquoise color, and the rock formations were awesome.

Mazie and I decided to test the water with our toes.  It was like sticking our feet in a bucket of ice water.  Yoozzer!!

Our last stop was at the Spiral Train Tunnels, but we never got to see a train come through, and then, of course, it started raining again.  The trains stretch through these tunnels and you are supposed to be able to see the same train on two (or three) different levels as they wind through the tunnels.

We gave up on that finally, and headed back in.  We saw one elk on the way up this road, and 3 more on the way back.  After dinner, most of us walked down to the river but we didn't see any more wildlife.  But it was an awesome day.  This area is absolutely beautiful.