Glacier NP - Marion Lake Hike

Up and out by 7 and off to Glacier. We took a brief stop at the Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk. It was an interesting walk. The skunk Caggage are pretty much finished but they are huge in there. Guess the bears really love the flowers in the spring. It’s a big bird study area with lots of warblers flying through. Then on to Glacier. We arrived at the Campground and there were a lot of folks heading out so we found a nice spot and put out the tent to dry—it was sopped from the night before even without rain!

Then to the Visitor’s Center where they graciously let us backup pictures with their electricity while we watched the bear video—taught you more than you ever wanted to know about bear etiquette and how to react when attacked.

Same glacier - different lenses.

We continued down the road east for awhile to see what was there and ran into a wildfire about 10 km down the road. We drove down as far as the Bear Creek turnoff and found that area was closed due to bear activity. So back up to the campground for lunch

and then we headed out off to the Marion Lake hike. It was lush forest along the way but a real killer trail! It was only 2.2 km to the lake so looked easy….wrong! When we finally found the trailhead it started out steep and never ended! When we did the conversion it came up with 1395’ in 1.35 miles.

Tiny dogwood plants.

We finally huffed and puffed our way to the top and it was very pretty!!

We had been told there was a viewpoint just beyond with a stunning view of the whole valley and they were correct!

Worth the extra climb.

We were pooped puppies from that hike!! Got back and had dinner and hit the sack!

Revelstoke Farmer's Market - Railroad Museum - Revelstoke Dam Tour

We’re heading up 23 to see what’s there. We just passed the dam.

GREAT views!

Passed a bunch of cars at “Sale Mtn” – looks like a caribou area. We started up the road but two people were sitting there and not moving so we backed down the short distance we had come. Weird. Back in town we stopped at the Farmer’s Market and bought some freestone peaches – YUMM). They had a wonderful variety of veggies, fruits, baked goods (got a scone from one) and some crafters.

Then we headed to the Railroad Museum. It was fascinating.

They had a number of old preserved cars.

It really reminded me of the trip we took on the California Zephyr when we were little.

Snow Plow!

After a good wander inside and outside at the rolling stock collection we headed back up 23 to the Revelstoke Dam Tour.

It was interesting and you got to ride up to the top of the dam and look down, but we didn’t get to see how it really worked…disappointing.

Then back to the campsite for an afternoon of blogging and picture processing. Ran into town after dinner to enjoy the free music on the mall (where the Farmer’s Market had been in the am). The band and singer were quite good. Went to McDonalds for ice cream and stopped at the grocery store for some ice and then headed home and to bed. Lovely day.

We're alive and well at Mt. Revelstoke National Park

We finally got to a place where we have some internet access and some time to take advantage of it. Will try to catch up as much as we can. We just don't have internet access and power access at the same time so that is slowing us down somewhat.

The trip has been fabulous so far...the weather great and campsites available where we wanted them! Today was the first day we got some cool weather and a few showers...might need to zip up the sleeping bag tonight.

Mt. Revelstoke National Park is located west of Banff on Hwy 1 at Hwy23. It would probably take 4 hours to drive there so we're a ways west.

Anyway, check on the side panel for updates and hopefully we'll get caught up soon.

:-) Jean and John

Revelstoke National Park

Today was a catchup day…laundry, showers J, car wash, pictures, the start of the blog – finally! We took a quick trip into town for a few groceries and another can of gas, but mostly it was just a leisurely hangout day. We have internet from the campsite and a plug and no internet by the office. Couple of rain showers this morning, but not the 80% chance of rain storms they were forecasting. Got alot done today!

Wells Grey to Revelstoke National Park

Broke camp early to head to Revelstoke National Park but stopped on the way down the road at Bailey’s Chute to see if any salmon were jumping the chute.

It was another stunning example of power of water. The path of the water narrows due to a lava flow so it really roars through the chute area and the salmon have to go up that small but powerful falls to get to their spawning area. Also saw a dipper bird there—we had heard about them in the talk last night. They dip into the water and sometimes dive…not very big-fun to watch. But miles to travel so a gas stop in Clearwater and then we were off down to Mt. Revelstoke NP. It was a pretty ride. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center in the center of town and got some info and suggestion for a campground. We headed out to the Williamson’s Lake Campground and found a site. Put up the tent and then headed up the 25 KM road to the top of the mountain!

Pretty ride up and the higher up the more flowers. Parked at the lot and caught the shuttle to the top. Incredible. Because of heavy snowfall and a late melt off the flowers were also late and just spectacular!

There were three trails up at the top to wander so come with us...

The fire lookout...

Fauna too...

Wonderful! Headed back to camp and had dinner and hit the sack. Very quiet night.