Radium and Lake Louise

John, Di and Debbie

In Radium

Our whole reason for stopping in Radium Hot Springs was not to take the waters but to visit our old friends from Tasmania, John and Debbie Gale. A more adventurous couple you'd be hard pressed to find. Originally from England, they left as young graduates and moved to Australia to start teaching. They spent fifteen years in Queensland before seeing the light and moving to Tasmania for the rest of their careers. After retiring, it looked like they would pass the of their days there but then about a decade ago they pulled up stumps and moved to the Rockies to take up ranching with their son and his young family. 

We hadn't seen John and Debbie since our last proper visit to Canada in 2012, when they hadn't long been settled here. That rendezvous was purely accidental and an absolute joy, but is a story for another time. (I'll happily retell it over a beer sometime.) This time we factored a couple of days of our trip to visit and normally we'd have stayed with them in the fine, roomy house they'd built with their son Steven and daughter-in-law Catty just north of Radium. However! Last year during the pandemic, Steven and Catty decided that they wanted a bigger spread and bought the property next door - 80 acres - which did not have a house on it. A makeshift cabin was quickly erected before the winter set in, and building is now underway for a proper new house.

So, instead we stayed in town at a motel. It was a smaller room than we'd been getting and we were wondering what to do with the bikes but came up with this solution ...

We needed somewhere to store bikes more than hang coats

It was handy being in town, because that is where John and Debbie spend a fair bit of time when the weather isn't particularly peachy. Steven has started a craft brewery in town with a mate of his and it has proved to be a handy place to hang out on a rainy day!

Out on the land

We had a wander around part of their block with Deb and John to check it out ...

Our walk on part of the property

The Purcell Mountains to the west are normally visible from the property but it wasn't a great day for photos. Here are a couple that give a bit of an idea of what the place is like ...

There is a small lake on the property

We saw plenty of bear and deer scat on our little perambulation. Quite a bit of the land is cleared but there are still some lovely sections of forest, with lots of scope for some nice mountain bike tracks. 

This shows the little barn that the Gales built on their previous property next door ...

The wee barn next door

To get a better idea of exactly where the property is situated I did this little map with the location of the map above inset. Radium is at the bottom. The lake inside the rectangle provides the water supply for the little town of Edgewater just to the northwest ...

The location of Gale Kingdom

For dinner we repaired to the brewery which was closed to punters that day, and enjoyed a fine ratatouille made by Deb and caught up with Catty and Deb and John's granddaughter Lily. A very fine finish to the day.

A Ride to the South

Before we left Tasmania I'd mapped out a ride that I thought Dianne and I might do together ...

A ride around Lake Windermere

The long, relatively wide valley in which Radium is situated is known as the Rocky Mountain Trench. I thought if we were lucky we'd have amazing vistas with mountains rearing either side. As it turned out the skies were pretty overcast early on, especially on the higher peaks. The Purcells were completely shrouded and only a few of the mountains to the east were partially visible, but here are three photos to show what I could see when the skies cleared ...

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Leaving the highway just south of Fairmont Hot Springs I passed close to this cliff which I think was probably formed by the same sort of geological processes that formed the cliffs I rode past alongside the South Thompson river ...

The skies continued to clear to the east revealing a few more mountains ...

The valley does get quite a lot of sun normally and I was impressed to see this magnificent

array of solar panels on one rural property ...

Although there wasn't as much to see as I'd hoped, the road north along the west side of Lake Windermere was very quiet and had a beautiful surface. 

Di and Deb Go Walking

Di had a rest for the first couple of hours of my ride then she and Deb had an eight kilometre stroll around the town and down onto the river flats ...

Deb and Di's walk

Di got a few photos while they were wandering about ...

A glimpse of the environment down on the flats below town

There is a very large sawmill in Radium that provides employment for a significant number of people. Here's a view of it below and to the south of town ...

Rock garden

Wetlands and mountains

Before Deb and Di finished their walk I had time to have a long chat - and a couple of glasses of the very fine Mad Angler IPA at the Radium Brewery. Later Dianne and I bid farewell to John and Deb with a meal at their favourite restaurant before we had an early night in preparation for our journey on to Lake Louise the next day ... 

Until next time ...

The Drive to Lake Louise

In 1920 Kootenay National Park was created as part of an agreement to create a new road crossing the Rocky Mountains. Much less well known than its siblings Banff, Yoho and Jasper National Parks, it is nonetheless very beautiful and, arguably more varied than the others. The drive from Radium to Lake Louise takes one largely through Kootenay National Park before transiting into Banff National Park at the Trans Canada Highway. Here is a map showing the area covered by KNP ...

... and another showing our drive from Radium to Lake Louise ...

This drive is famous for the high likelihood of seeing wildlife along the way. We've driven this road at least a couple of times before and had really been looking forward to doing our ride/drive relay thing through here; alas that was not to be. Almost as soon as we left Radium we got our first wildlife sighting: a Rocky Mountain Goat scampered across the road near the entrance to the park but it was too quick for a photo. 

There is a spectacular viewing point at the top of the first climb ...

Looking northward ...

... and southwards

In addition to the goat, we did see a Bighorn Sheep and what I think was a Grizzly Bear but they too were just brief glimpses.

Here's another spectacular view, this one most of the way through the drive ...

Right at the northern end of the park the iconic Canadian Rockies peak Castle Mountain looms into view ...

We chose to cross the Trans Canada Highway and head west along the Bow Valley Parkway (aka Highway  1A). The speed limit along here is 60 kms/hour and makes for a serene experience and a greater chance of seeing wildlife, but there wasn't any about this particular morning.

Lake Louise

The weather for our stay at Lake Louise was a bit indifferent but we made the most of it nonetheless despite Di's continuing discomfort. The first thing we did upon arrival was to take ourselves off to the lake for a gentle walk on the tourist track. It was pretty overcast but still quite good for an easy outing: at least there was no chance of getting sunburnt. Photos turned out quite good ...

Flat conditions on the lake make for good paddling

Wild strawberries along the track

Paddlers on front of an impressive wall across the lake

I've done a couple of climbs on the wall directly behind the canoe. More on that later

Chateau Lake Louise

Yet another of the gorgeous views at Lake Louise

I've included the following image from a guidebook of climbing in the Bow Valley for a couple of reasons. The first is bragging rights: the last time Dianne and I were in Canada I did the two routes with green ticks next to them with our great friend Jon Jones. There are some fantastic climbs on the other side of the lake from the tourist track where most of the action is, and a bit more commitment is required to get there so it is not often visited. It was a fantastic day with a great mate: one that I will never forget. The second reason is that I wanted to highlight the contribution that Jon has made in the area. If you look closely you will notice that he has made the first ascent of all the climbs on this page bar one. Almost all of the routes are regarded as quite high quality. An aside: further along from this section of cliff is another buttress called "Goblin Wall", which has two absolute classic climbs. One is called "Love at First Sight" and was also put up by Jon Jones. The other equally stunning route immediately adjacent is "Goblin Arête", established by Jon's great mate Andy Genereux who has probably established more rock climbs in the Rockies than anyone else.

After our stroll around the lake reliving excellent times past Dianne and I took ourselves off to Deer Lodge for some lunch. It is a fine historic building but without the grandness of the Chateau next door. We had a fine meal including some great local brews. Here's a photo of Di with her choice of beverage ...

Rutting Elk Red from the Grizzly Bear Brewery in Canmore

A Ride to Banff

The next day I did one of the rides in the area that Dianne and I had planned to do together: to Banff and back from Lake Louise along the Bow Valley Parkway. Here are some images from the ride ...

 

With blue skies appearing after the heavy overnight rain and the cloud apparently lifting I thought I was in for a beautiful day. Unfortunately it was mostly overcast and stayed quite cool. I was very glad I wore my long sleeved jersey and full length knicks. 

These are the conditions that generally prevailed throughout the day ...

Peaks were still mostly visible, they just didn't stand out as much as they do when the sky is blue ...

About a third of the way to Banff I caught up with a Trans Canada cyclist who I'd met in the Lake Louise youth hostel, who had stopped to admire the view ...

There wasn't a lot of wildlife out but I did see this scruffy-looking young mule deer which was in the process of shedding its winter coat ...

About the halfway point of the ride to Banff I started seeing lots of cyclists, including family groups. I soon discovered that the section of parkway between Johnston Canyon and Banff was closed to vehicular traffic so perhaps that had brought more people out. I reckon there was at least a couple hundred cyclists on the road - and quite a few of them were at the cafe at Johnston Canyon when I was on my way back to Lake Louise!

Here's a lady enjoying the ride in the company of her daughter, son and partner ...

Not far from Banff a bus had gotten itself stranded trying to turn around because it couldn't proceed on the parkway ...

Whoops!

It was still there on my return journey, but at least a tow truck with a winch had arrived and was in the process of extracting it from its predicament.

As one nears Banff the landmark Mount Rundle comes into view ...

My turnaround point was the famous Banff Springs Hotel but it was so gloomy that the photos I did take weren't worth sharing. 

Just before I arrived back at the stranded bus I saw a mama Bighorn Sheep and its three offspring crossing the road ...

I didn't bother with any more photos until quite close to Lake Louise when I got a couple  of quite good ones ...

To finish my ride I thought I'd take a closer look at the old Lake Louise train station ...

It was very quiet and I thought, 'Hmm. Maybe I ought take a little spin along the platform beside the train.' So I did ...

A fun way to finish off a fine ride despite the weather not being very flash.

Dinner with Konrad and Izabela

When we had our glorious year off work in 1992 Dianne and I did some back country skiing in Banff and Yoho National Parks. One trip we did was on the Wapta Traverse, where we met Konrad and Izabela Terlecki at the Bow Hut. We became friends and have met up every time that Dianne and I have come to Canada together since then. 

This trip was no exception. We saw Izabela at their home on Quadra Island but Konrad was working in Calgary and we thought we'd miss seeing him. However he'd been back to Quadra to go on a previously planned sea kayaking trip with Iza who was then going to travel back to Calgary with him. We arranged to meet in Lake Louise as they came through.

Dianne and I are not sure if or when we'll be back in Canada so we decided to make our rendezvous with Konrad and Izabela a bit of an event and booked one of the flashier restaurants in the area. I took this photo in the lobby ...

... and then we had a group photo at table ...

Iza has a thing about collecting corks from bottles of wine and she sent this photo as a memento for the blog ...

It was a fitting way to spend perhaps our last night in the Rockies, and that brings to a conclusion this instalment of the blog!