Sept 20, Zion National Park

Tuesday dawned another beautiful day and we were off to Zion National Park again.
Today we are headed to the Temple of Sinawava and the Riverside Walk. This is a 2.2 mile trail with minor drop-offs, however the trail is paved and follows the Virgin River along the bottom of a narrow canyon. I think that was the most beautiful walk in the park!! Such a lovely and peaceful place.
From here we went to the weeping rock.. see photos below

Candy and Johnny

Sept 21, Zion National Park

The top two photos are at Weeping Rock. Weeping Rock is one of several famous springs located in Zion
Canyon, all of which owe their origin to the contact line between the Navajo Sandstone and the underlying Kayenta Formation, The Navajo is very porous and contains a large amount of water that is pulled downward by gravity. When this flowing water finally reaches the less permeable Kayenta layer, it is forced out laterally to form springs and seeps. Kayenta word is a Navajo word that means "place of the springs."
To connect Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park, the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway was completed in 1930. This roadway, with its series of steep switchbacks and two tunnels, was an engineering marvel of the time. Visitors are delighted by the 1.1 mile long tunnel, with its unusual "galleries." These openings, or windows,in the tunnel will reveal the deep canyon below. To travel through the tunnel with an RV there is a charge to allow for a one lane travel down the middle of the tunnel. We decided not to take the tunnel to the each but instead went the round about route.
The east side of the park the patterns on the rock are very different from the rest of the park. The crossbedding in the rock reveals the pattern of the ancient windblown sand dunes.
What an awesome place!!! From here we are heading to Williams, Arizona.

More later,

Candy and Johnny

Sept 2011 Great Falls

Early on Sept 10, we left Banff and headed east to Calgary and then turned south toward the United States. We crossed the border at Coutts and had no problem with only about a 15 minutes wait. As we continued south on I-15 through the wheat fields of Montana we finally stopped at Great Falls for several nights.
Once again the weather was wonderful with clear blue skies and warm days!
The campground is not far from the Missouri River, so off to see the falls we ventured!
The Great Falls of the Missouri River are a series of waterfalls.  The five falls, which are located in a 10-mile area
of the river are:
Black Eagle Falls (26 feet 5 inches) top photo.
Colter Falls (6 feet 7 inches)
Rainbow Falls ( 44 feet 6 inches) second photo
Crooked Falls (19 feet ) third photo
The Great Falls 87 feet)

Only one of the waterfalls that comprise the Great Falls of the Missouri River exist in their natural state today,  Dams built on the falls beginning in the 1880's, have significantly altered and even submerged the five waterfalls.  Black Eagle Dam was built in 1890, and half of Black Eagle Falls are now submerged in the reservoir behind them.  This structure was the first hydroelectric dam built in the state.
Rainbow falls was dammed in 1910 when Rainbow Dam was built.  The reservoir behind the dam submerged Colter Falls.
Crooked Falls is the only waterfall in the area which is in its original state as of 2009.

Volta Dam (later renamed Ryan Dan) was built on top of the Great Falls (further down river) in 1915.
The Missouri River drops a total of 612 feet from the first of the falls to the last, which includes 187 feet of waterfalls and 425 feet of riverbed descent.  The Great Falls have been described as "spectacular", one of the "scenic wonders of America", and a major geographic discovery.  Meriwether Lewis said they were the grandest sight he'd beheld thus far in the journey of the Corps of Discovery.
The Great Falls of the Missouri River were depicted on the Montana Territory territorial seal, and became part of the State of Montana's state seal in 1893.
The United States purchased the area around the Great Falls of the Missouri from France in 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase.  Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United States, had long desired to send an expedition into the area,  Jefferson sought and won permission and funding for an expedition from Congress in January 1803.  On May 14, 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition departed St. Louis, Missouri, to map the course of the Missouri River;establish whether a river route to the Pacific Ocean existed.  The Lewis and Clark Expedition discovered the Great Falls of the Missouri River on June 13, 1805.  Meriwether Lewis was the first white person to see the falls.

We left Great Falls on Monday, Sept 12, and continued south on I-15, through Helena, Montana ( the capitol of Montana) to Dillon, Montana.  The sky
was hazy with smoke from the forest fires in the
area.  In Dillon we went to dinner at Sparkeys
Garage Restaurant.... John said it was the BEST
BBQ brisket that he had ever had!!!!  The restaurant had its beginnings as a garage but was later turned into a restaurant. Great food and a fun place.
On Tuesday, we continued our journey south to our next overnight in Pocatello, Idaho, we passed through the town of Spencer, Idaho, which I found our is the
Opal Capital of America.  No we did not stop for any Opals....maybe another time!
From Pocatello our next stop will be in Salt Lake City, Utah for several days.

In Utah we had dinner with Keeth and Kristy, who were there on vacation and Kristy's Mom and Dad.  We had a nice family dinner.
While in there we drove back to Park City where John lived for a while.  The place is about the same.  We drove by the old house and found that they had been painted a different color.... life goes on.  This the first place that we have begun to see the leaves changing color.  The hills around the town were bright yellow and red!

From here we are heading to Virgin, Utah and Zion National Park.

 Until then,   Candy and Johnny on the road!! 

Sept 9, 2011 Kootenay National Park

Located in British Columbia, south of Yoho, 543.7 square mile Kootenay National Park encompasses two river valleys, the Kootenay and Vermilion, amidst a stunning environment of the west side of the Rocky Mountains.
The word 'Kootenay' is the name the local natives applied to themselves and means 'river people.'
The crest of Vermilion Pass (5380 feet) marks the continental divide and the boundary between Banff National Park, Alberta, and Kootenay National Park, BC.  From the pass, waters flow east to Hudson's Bay and the Atlantic Ocean via Bow, Saskatchewan, and Nelson river systems; and west to the Pacific Ocean via the Vermilion, Kootenay, and Columbia rivers.

In terms of its recent forest fire history, Vermilion Pass is an oddity in the Canadian Rockies.  Much of it has burned twice in just 35 years.  The first fire was started on July 8, 1968,  by July 18 the fire was finally out with the help of many firefighers.  The summer of 2003 was a scorcher in western Canada - the third driest in the
in the Rockies on a record that goes back more than
a century.  That summer saw more forest fires in the
Rocky Mountain National Parks than in any other
year since 1936.  The two fires, fulled by some areas of forest that hadn't burned in 500 years, and fanned by high winds and high temperatures combines to burn 12.6 percent if the park's area.

At Marble Canyon (photo's right)  4 miles west of the continental divide, the glacially-fed waters of Tokumn Creek are eroding through the lip of a hanging valley to create a spectacular canyon in the dolomite bedrock.  From the photo's you can see the area that was burned in 2003.  There is a quarter of a mile pathway that criss-crosses the narrow gorge on bridges, providing excellent viewpoints of the canyon 

As we followed the Kootenay Parkway southeast along the Vermilion River, we came upon another short walk to Numa Falls.  Here the brilliantly turquoise Vermilion River has carved a picturesque limestone canyon.

The turquoise color of the water here if fantastic!   Each park was so beautiful and each had so many different vistas to view, I almost hate to leave this area as there still is so much to see... however, all good things must come to an end!  Tomorrow we pack up and head back to the States.  I hope that we will be able to return to this area again in the near future.  What a beautiful place!!!!

Tomorrow we head for Great Falls, Montana.  More from there..

Candy and Johnny

Sept 8, Banff - Day off

As we have been on the go since our arrival in Canada we decided to take the day off and stay in Banff for the day.

We decided to hike along the upper bank of the Bow River.  From here we had a nice view of the Bow Falls and the Banff Springs Hotel located along the bank above the falls.
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Construction of the Banff Springs Hotel began in late 1886.  In the summer of 1887, CPR General Manager, William Cornelius Van Horne visited the construction site and was shocked to see the building being constructed backwards.  The kitchen overlooked the rivers, and the guest rooms faced the forest.  He hastily sketched additions to correct the matter.  Amid much national interest, the $250,000 250-room hotel, complete with sulphur water piped from the Upper  Hot Springs, opened on June 1, 1888.  It was the hotel in the world at the time.  Room rates started at $3.50 a day.

We walked around town and found an internet cafe so that we could check our e-mail and catch up with the rest of the world.  With no phones and no internet
we were out of the loop.  It was good to be back in touch with everyone.

We headed back to our RV camp and it was like we had our own personal campground.  After the holiday weekend, we had the place to ourselves.  The mountain view from the campground was again spectacular!!

At the edge of town we drove to the Vermilion Lakes, an extensive region of montane wetlands.  Their name comes from ochre beds at the iron-rich mineral springs at the Vermilion River pass where the Black-foot and Kootenay tribes obtained materials for some of their ceremonial body paints.  The lakes are quite shallow and the surrounding region has begun to fill in with aquatic vegetation.
At 9673 feet, Mount Rundle stands proudly behind the Vermilion Lakes.  What a beautiful sight to see the mount reflected in the Vermilion Lake.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the last of the National Parks here in the Banff area.  Kootenay National Park.
Until then,

Candy and Johnny in Canada

Sept. 7, 2011 The Icefield Highway

Just as the sun was peaking over the mountain tops we
headed north to the Ice fields highway.  This road is considered by many to be the most spectacular drive in the planet.  The Ice fields Parkway follows the Bow, Mistaya, North Saskatchewan, Sunwapta and Athabasca valleys.  Twelve ice fields flank the road, five of them can be seen of a fair day. The road passes through remote, high elevation terrain, and the scenery takes your breath away at every turn.
A Canadian National Park pass is required.

Our first sight was this bear as he ran across the road in front of us.  We had seen several other bears and on the Park Radio station, they report sightings of bears in the area. If a bear has been seen in the area there is a "Group of Four Hiking"  rule.  It is felt that a
"tight" group of four is less likely to surprise a bear, or be attacked by a bear than an individual hiker.  There were many trails that we had seen the Hike with Four sighs. This guy ran across the road and into the bushes......

The scenery along the road was beautiful in every direction!  We came upon the Crowfoot Glacier.  A century ago, when this glacier was named, three "toes" of ice clung to the mountainside.  Since then, the lower toe has melted and the middle toe is also disappearing.  A glacial retreats go, that of the Crowfoot Glacier has been dramatic.  Photographs take in the early 20th century showed ice extending to the moraines at the base of the mountain.
The last photo is of the Weeping Wall.
  In the upper reach of the North Saskatchewan Valley, tremendous limestone cliffs sweep 1968 feet skyward, blocking the sun until midmorning.  These cliffs support many waterfalls - the product of melting snow. The greatest concentration is at the Weeping Wall.  The cascades are most prolific on hot days in late spring and early summer.  In winter, pillars and curtains of ice drape te Weeping Wall, creating a playground for waterfall ice climbing. 



From this point we have reached the Columbia Icefield.... more on that below.

Candy and Johnny

Sept. 7 Columbia Ice-Fields

With an area of 83 sq.mi., the Columbia Ice-Field is by far the largest ice-field in the
Canadian Rockies, and the most accessible.  The Columbia's Ice Field provides a window on the Earth's icy past.
What is an Ice-Field?
An Ice-Field is a body of ice from which glaciers flow in more than one direction.  Meltwaters from the Columbia Ice-field feed three of Canada's principal river systems, and three oceans:  the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia River;  the Artic Ocean via the Athabasca River, Slave River, and the Mackenzie River; and the Atlantic Ocean via the North Saskatchewan River, and Hudson Bay.  The summit Snow Dome on the Columbia Ice-field is the apex of this tri-oceanic watershed - the only one in North America.

The Athabasca Glacier (photos here) is the best know glacier that flows from the Columbia Ice-field.  From the ice-field rim (on skyline) to its terminus or ending point, the Athabasca Glacier descends 2689 feet in 3.84 miles.  The surface of the glacier is moving faster and is under less pressure then the ice beneath.   So the surface ice accelerates over the cliff and becomes heavily fissured.  These cracks are called crevasses.  There are more than 30,000 crevasses on the Athabasca Glacier.
The Athabasca Glacier occupies a U-shaped valley, scoured when the glacier was larger.  Because of the U-shape, the glacier is deeper along its mid line than at

its sides.  The deepest point is 1049 feet.
In 1890 the glacier reached over the point where the road and the information center is located today.
Have to admit that walking right up to the edge of a glacier was pretty impressive!  It is also startling to realize how much the glacier is receding.
From the photos it is difficult to see just how huge the glacier actually is, if you look closely you can see that those are cars parked by the trail leading to the toe of the glacier.
From here we continued north along the ice-field.
See below,
Candy and Johnny