Kootenay, All the Way

Location: Premier Lake Provincial Campground, Skookumchuck, British Columbia

Ned here again, filling in for Debi. We really appreciated our campsite at Wapiti campground for what an authentic camping experience it had to offer. We had the bear sighting last night across the creek, and then today several female elk (no horns) wandered through the campground. We headed south through the park, intent on seeing the Columbia Ice Fields that we had missed out on several days ago when the road was closed. On our way there we detoured for a bit to see the Athabasca Falls, which were really phenomenal. They are very dramatic in the way they suddenly plunge down into a tiny canyon of dramatic craggy rocks, creating a monstrous, roaring caldron of white water. I couldn't help but speculate if some poor fool might have first approached these falls from upstream in a small canoe, without any prior knowledge of what was before him, and decided that he would run the rapids that he could hear in the distance because they sounded like a good challenge. Poor fool indeed... Further down the road we encountered the Columbia Ice Fields and were very impressed with the number of huge glaciers hanging up on the sides of mountains here. Debi was particularly impressed with their size and bluish tint along their broken edges, saying that the small ones in Glacier National Park are even hard to identify by comparison. Next we made a return visit to Lake Louise, since the sun was shining this time. The lake was beautiful, but the sun was high enough is the sky to shadow some of the mountain across the lake, so we decided that maybe our first visit in light rain was even more dramatic. Our next destination was a drive through Kootenay National Park, which is on the west side of the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies. We didn't know what to expect, and we were delighted with the heavily forested park with many beautiful mountain peaks. Rather than the craggy, barren peaks of Jasper and Banff, Kootenay's mountains have densely wooded and grass-covered slopes which offer their own kind of beauty. Best of all, this park is like Rodney Dangerfield "I don't get no respect", compared to it's popular neighbors. As a result, we drove through the park with very few other cars on the road, and virtually no monster motor homes, which seem to be everywhere in Banff and Jasper. We were still intent on finding a natural hot springs in the area to soak in tonight. We had located a hot springs on the map that was associated with White Swan Lake Provincial Park. But alas, when we arrived at the entry gate, a sign explained that the campground was open, but the hot springs were closed because of recent heavy rainfall. :-( So we headed further south and after a suspenseful side trip of 14 kilometers (about 8 miles) down a gravel road we were delighted to find an absolutely beautiful little campground named Premier Lake. The lake we are camped above is a gorgeous turquoise color, and the vibe in the campground is very mellow. Thank you British Columbia for providing such a sweet place for people to camp.