Kootenay National Park – Radium Hot Springs --Panarama Mountain Village

Warmer night my frozen toes!  All that clear blue sky just let that heat from yesterday radiate right out of here!  1C again!  Took down the tents (not easy with mittens :-) and are headed to warm beds tonight!

New Park today!  Kootenay National Park is shaped like a lightning bolt with Hwy 93 running through the middle of it.  It's 347,000 acres so much smaller than any of the surrounding parks.  It's on the western side of the Continental Divide in British Columbia. 

Kootenay has suffered three large fires so much of the scenery is regrowth forest.  This burn was in 1968 and the trees are about 2 1/2-3 feet high.  Incredible how long the regrowth takes. 

There have been two subsequent fires in the park in 2003 and 2008.  Lightening is the cause of most of the fires here.

 We did stop at the Marble Canyon Trail.  It follows the ice-carved, marble streaked canyon and wanders through the remains of the 2003 fire here.  

The Canyon has eroded to depths of 130' by the fast-flowing Tokumm Creek

It ends with a series of powerful falls.

That Shadow on the picture above it this photographer...

 This chippy wandered with us for awhile...looking for a handout perhaps?

It was a beautiful walk...very different because of the marble.  Back in the car and headed on.  The road turns very steep as we dropped down to Radium Hot Springs.  We went through a tunnel and then stopped at the viewing point for the Red Cliffs.  This is the high point of the Redwall Fault.  Mineral springs have been bubbling to the surface for thousands of years and in the process have stained the surface with red-colored iron oxide.  Just down the road and outside the park from here we passed the Radium Hot Springs - an odorless mineral water that gushes out of the Redwall Fault at 44C (111F).  There are several pools there.  In 1915 the springs' name was changed to Radium for the high level of radioactivity in the water. The pool colors are colored a milky blue by dissolved salts, which include calcium bicarbonate and sulfates of calcium, magnesium and sodium.  We decided to pass on that one.  On to town.  It's Saturday and there is great activity in little Radium Hot Springs today!  There is a huge farmer and craft market that is going up.  By the parking lot for that we noticed this..

There are almost life size carvings of the Stations of the Cross on the mountainside. This was a surprise as we've hardly seen evidence of much of a religious life in Canada.  Very few churches (with the exception of the Mormans) and most of those churches are in the larger towns.  Very moving walk through along the path. 

On the other side of the parking lot was the visitor's center with this nice mountain sheep bronze.  There are supposed to be sheep wandering the town but this is the closest we got to any here.  After a stop at the Farmers Market and a purchase of some fresh veggies and homemade bread, we headed up the hill to Panorama.

 

Home sweet home for the next few days--a warm bed,, shower and kitchen!

Repack time for Gretchen and a little relaxation before she heads back to work on Tuesday!