Destination Circle: Day 7

May 20, 2016

It was overcast and chilly when I left the motel and I had to go find Andy at the Verizon store. I needed more advice on traveling in Canada and how to put data usage controls on Virginia's cell phone. Plus, I had other Verizon-related issues.

As he promised, he was in the store on Main Street. He said that usually only one woman works there and she never has a break and the store is open all day, six days a week. Andy said that she told him it would be easy as she sometimes has only three customers all day, but he already had had five and it was early in the day. I could tell he was a bit apprehensive about his ability to handle this demand, but he got my issues figured out and I was good to go.

Off to Sweetgrass, the US port of entry, 45 minutes north of Shelby. This is a 24-hour post; many of the Montana POEs are only open in the daytime. I waited about 20 minutes and went on through. One of the questions though was about pepper spray. I do have some which I bought when I lived in Montana many years ago and carry it with me but suspect it is outdated and probably ineffective. The customs agent said that was OK and that the little purse size sprays are what they are concerned about. After I went on through, I remembered that Esther had given me the smaller size for my year of roaming about, which was probably somewhere in my car.....oh well.

Lake Louise

I went north to Calgary (getting turning around in heavy traffic and going through one area three times as I kept missing my turn) and then west to Banff National Park and on to Lake Louise where I stayed the night. Again, because it was early in the season, I got a reasonable deal for the night at Deer Lodge, an older wooden structure. Of the two options for staying right at the lake itself, the not so reasonable rate at the grand Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise was several hundred dollars per night.

The Deer Lodge had a bar/lounge, a fine dining restaurant, a game room, little rooms tucked away for reading or computing, a great room with a piano and a nice cosy fire in the fireplace, huge windows and comfortable couches and chairs. There was an option for hikers or day-trippers to shower on the main floor and an open-air patio for clement weather and dining al fresco. My room was tucked under the eaves on the third floor; no elevator. I felt a bit like Heidi as the mountains were very close. This is a stunningly beautiful area...the whole length of the Rockies in Canada...with several hundred miles of good road traversing the east side and minimal commerce. In the lower section, there are overpasses for wildlife with fencing for miles on both sides of the highway in an effort to facilitate safe crossings for the animals.

www.pc.gc.ca
Do highway fencing and wildlife crossing structures work and do they reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions?

"It took up to five years for some wary species, like grizzly bears, to start using wildlife crossing structures; however, most species are now using them to safely cross the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH). Since fencing and crossing structures were first constructed, wildlife-vehicle collisions have dropped by more than 80%."

Lake Louise, Banff National Park - Alberta

After checking in, I walked a trail along Lake Louise to the head of the lake. The scent in the air was that wonderful north woods piney smell. It was cool but not cold. The lake was blue and aqua. Everyone was taking photos and more than half the hikers were foreigners. One heavy-set lady was sitting on a log talking on her cell as I passed and was still there and still taking when I came back. A few teenagers, older couples, experienced guy hikers, families with exuberant young kids, an occasional jogger...This was an easy hike but with warnings about avalanches and grizzly bears. 

Dinner was bison flank steak and roasted veggies and a scrumptious apple walnut crumble with rum raisin ice cream. Again, I heard more French and Japanese than English from adjacent diners. 

I hoped to find some northern birds but saw very few and when I checked eBird, I learned that the bird population here is almost exactly what we have in Michigan, except for Boreal Chickadees (which I haven't seen...so far). 

My room was small but had a heavy quilt and a wine glass along with the water glasses....real glass. There was an understated old-world sense of simple comfort in this place, not pretentious, with gracious, efficient staff. It was perfectly quiet all night except for the rushing stream below. 

very tame Black-billed Magpie at Lake Louise