CANADA II: FROM WINTER TO SUMMER IN 24 HOURS
- coupkovasvatava
- May 5, 2018
- 3 min read
If you want to warm up by 22 degrees within 24 hours, you can either take a flight from winter Czech (or New Zealand) to tropical Asia or if you are in Canada – like me – drive 100 kilometres. One day I was walking in three-feet-deep snow, taking pictures of frozen waterfalls, the next day I was picking blooming flowers in my shorts. The flower day was today when we arrived in Okanagan Valley.
It has been a week since we left Calgary and started travelling. Our first destination was Banff, beautiful town in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. Banff is pretty touristy but you can still do a few things that help you avoid the crowds. You can for example hike up Sulphur Mountain (2300 m) in one-, two- and finally at the top three-feet-deep snow, 700 metres of elevation gain over 6 kilometres, destination that “normal” people achieve by a pleasant gondola ride. It took us 2 hours to get up there but at least I got to sit high in my new proper backpack where I can see everything. I liked the views and even better playing in the snow. On the top we waited for our friends Mira and Xavi, who were hiking the mountain as well, and took the gondola down. At least something.
The next day I went skiing for the first time in my life. At the rental´s they didn´t have ski boots in my size and I think that it makes perfect sense because no one – NO ONE! – skis when they are year and a half. Mum said it was going to be like riding my “caa caa” but it was not. The shoes and skis were heavy and snow slippery… I may try again next season.
After my ski lesson the weather got worse and we spent the next days exploring the town and hiking. There is a nice marsh walk in Banff as well and there I got to see my first elk in nature.
The side road to the Johnston Canyon is absolutely beautiful. It is narrow and winding and when we were driving it there was almost no one. You can only go 60 kilometres per hour because of the wildlife and the truth is that the landscape was very bear-like. It was snowing when we were leaving the town and it was still snowing when we were walking the slippery track to the frozen Upper Falls that I never saw because I was so nice and warm in my ten layers that I fell asleep. Oh well, next time.
In summer Lake Louise is turquoise blue, which was not the case when we arrived there. At first we were not able to see it at all because it was snowing again and the visibility was zero. The lake was all frozen and I don´t know why the weather didn´t stop us from the walk around it but it didn´t and it was good because the clouds were blown away and we got to get some breathtaking views of snowy peaks all around.
That day we left the Banff National Park and drove down to Golden where I slept in a real bed for the last time. Mum decided that we spent more than enough money for hotels and it was warm enough to start camping properly. (What my van life looks like I will tell you in the next post – it deserves a detailed description.)
On the way to Revelstoke we passed the Glacier National Park buried in metres of snow. Avalanches everywhere and no hiking for the next two months. Revelstoke is an awesome small town in the middle of mountains and I loved riding its main street in my “caa caa”.
From there mum decided to take a longer but worse route along the Arrow Lakes. The “advantage” was that there were no bridges and we had to take a river ferry. Great adventure! In the tiny little town of Nakusp in the middle of nowhere we hiked up Vicky´s View and then took a dip in awesome hot pools. Back on “our” side of the river we realized we were in mountains again, the temperature dropped to 4 degrees, there were metres of snow everywhere and no campsites open. Instead of having a chilled afternoon we had to drive forever only to camp at a scary beary spot by the river next to a half-eaten elk.
Now it is the beginning of May, I am in the Okanagan Valley in 400 metres above sea level, it is 26 degrees and I am looking forward to enjoying all the benefits that come with this altitude and temperature. Not sure what they are so far, but I bet I will get to know pretty soon.
Your Annie
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