Blog

Monday was the end of the Civic Holiday weekend and the campground was busy with people leaving to go home. We decided to take a day trip towards Banff. Highway 93 goes east from Radium through Kootenay National Park for about 140 km to join with the Trans Canada highway #1 south to Banff. We noted a number of scenic stops along the way and the sun was out so off we went!

We followed the Kootenay River for much of the trip (until we got to the Continental Divide). The colour is amazing – nice turquoise like many of the glacial rivers and lakes.

We stopped along the road at several scenic places. A short half hike from the parking lot brought us to Numa Falls.

Next stop was Marble Canyon. We took time here to eat the lunch I packed before heading out on the hike to see the canyon. Once again the colour of the water was amazing. The trail was .7 km one way with some elevation gain. There were a number of bridges crisscrossing the river.

It was a beautiful hike and our timing was perfect. Just as we got within sight of the parking lot, it started to rain. We drove the last 18 km to Castle Junction in Banff National Park where we could get cell signal and check weather. Since it showed showers in the area for the next few hours, we turned around and headed back to our campsite. As we approached Radium, we had our first viewing of a big horn sheep. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get a picture of it.

Saturday was a day at camp. There had been a bit of shower activity during the night and we had laundry to do as well. Two loads of laundry and $22.50 poorer, that chore was done. Time to catch up on reading and Paul took a little bicycle ride from the campground.

On Sunday we decided to try a bicycle trail we had found. Called the Marken-MacPhail Westside Legacy trail, it is a paved, 24 km trail between Fairmont Hot Springs and Invermere. We drove to the south end near Fairmont Hot Springs and headed out for a ride. This trail, although paved, is not like the rail trails we often ride. Although it followed the road for much of it, it had a lot of rolling hills. We rode a total of 26 km round trip. It was a pleasant afternoon.

After stopping for a few groceries, we headed to the trailer for supper. The plan was a trip back to Fairmont Hot Springs for a dip in the pool. Although we had a heavy rain shower along with a bit of a thunderstorm when it was time to leave. We checked radar and it looked like the storm would stay north so we decided to head out.

Other than the lineup of people to get in (the pool had been cleared because they had had a thunderstorm too), and how crowded the pool was (due to the long weekend), we enjoyed these springs better than Radium. The temperature of the hot pool was a bit cooler than at Radium which made it more enjoyable.