Drove by the fire again and it was still increasing but slowly.
It was just a short drive through beautiful mountain and water scenery to Yoho. We checked into the campground and got a nice spot by the stream in the tenting section.
We stopped at the Spiral Tunnel stop and that was fascinating. When the railroad first came through this section there was high loss of like due to avalanches and a very steep grade on the railsroad here. They came up with this ingenious spiral loops through the mountain to drop the grade to an acceptable level. We got lucky and got to see a train going through the tunnel on the upper left of the diagram - the lower one.
The train going down the hill comes under the highway from the other side having just gone through one spiral tunnel that dropped the train 45’ and then circles around into another tunnel and spirals around inside the mountain and comes out another tunnel exit. Not sure of the elevation drop on that one. The lower cars just visible through the tree are the end of the train...then go around and go into the tunnel at the top and spiral around inside the mountain and then come out the tunnel (not visible) in the middle. The trains here are unbelievably long!
This is the engine coming out of the middle tunnel at the lower elevation. It was fascinating!
Then on to Natural Bridge and the wonderful falls it creates.
Then down the road to Emerald Lake. It was delightful. The sun was out and we had a nice late picnic and then walked around the lake.
A blue heron flew in at the end of the lake and John got some good pictures. Fun to watch.
The Lodge there looked wonderful. As we walked through the grounds a bride and groom were just signing papers. What a lovely day for a wedding.
Headed home as the clouds began to set in. This passenger train had just arrived in the station when we drove by. There are trains around here constantly! Had dinner with some in and out showers and cleaned up fast and into the tent and the rain came and went most of the night. Lots of thunder and lightning and trains—with very squeaky wheels—but no whistles after 8 pm.
