Rockies - May 2005
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Day 2
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Day 2 began early, we were tired but excited by the thought of finally
having a chance to check out some of the trails and other areas in the park
instead of just driving for hours and hours to get someplace.
Our
traditional camping breakfast was had (two packs of apple/cinnamon instant
oatmeal, followed by coffee with a little hot chocolate and Bailey's for me, and
hot chocolate with a little coffee and Baileys for Kathy). After making sure our
chairs and such were put away, we filled a water bottle, packed up all the
camera gear and made for the Dog Lake trailhead. Kathy, being the wonderfully
intuitive person she is, convinced me to take my whole camera bag (3 lenses,
including the big telephoto, two cameras, filters and cleaning supplies) and
thank goodness as it all came in handy! When we got to the bridge crossing the
Kootenay River, there were two ladies packing up a river raft and a couple
canoes. They were going on a journey down the river...we were most envious.
We had brought out our 700 fill down North Face jackets within 10
minutes of parking at the campsite the day previously, as temperatures were
hovering around 10 in the day and dropping down the low single digits at night,
so we decided to wear them out today. The weather was indecisive, cloudy, but
the sun sometimes peeked through. It was actually the perfect weather and
temperature for the surroundings, thick thick moss as far as the eye could see
through the trees, nice damp soil, green everywhere. The moss was so spongy, if
you stepped on it you'd sink down 3 or 4 inches, once you brought your foot up
again you could watch the moss slowly spring back to it's previous shape. Don't
get lost in these woods, you won't be able to retrace your steps!
About a 45 minute walk into the trail we caught our first sight of the
lake, not a big one by any means but it was the first perfect little Rockies
glacier fed lake we'd seen so far. The clouds were moving south now and we
could see bigger and bigger patches of blue sky coming in, giving us tantalizing
peeks at the mountain tops we had yet to see. The trail petered out into a
bit of a river, likely just from the recent rains (see picture at right), so we decided to take a walk down the
lakeshore on what looked like an animal trail. Very little sign of human
presence here, which was welcome, besides one small fire pit and an old bottle.
This was such a nice lake, no sounds around except what nature gave
us, wildlife everywhere: the school of fish that hid in the debris from downed
trees from the eagle soaring above. We could easily see them, the water was so
unspoiled and clear. One scared us when we were snapping pictures off and it
jumped out of the water right beside us. We tried to point that out to the bald
eagle that was in the area, but he must have been blind. One of the
unexpected things to see were freshwater snails, or their shells at least.
Loads of them at the edge of the lake, and more in the shallows, it practically
looked like a tidal pool!
The following group of shots are mine from the early part of the day at Dog
Lake, I just couldn't stop clicking pictures off as the clouds moved around
showing more and more of the mountains, the sun bringing out the bright green
color of the lake:
And the next set here are from Kathy's camera, the last is a panorama
shot comprised of three pictures Kathy took, all blended together:
Two loons were fishing as well, which was amazing as with the water being so
clear you could see their dark bodies beneath it when they dove down, cruising
tens of yards at a time, they seemed faster underwater than above! We walked
over what looked like an old beaver dam, and sure enough a few minutes later a
beaver left from it's secret underwater entrance, swam to the middle of the
lake, lay on his back and basked in the sun that now graced the area. Then
across the lake we caught sight of three dear bounding around, and munching on
grasses. A lively little sandpiper, numerous "ordinary" birds and a family of
geese complete with fuzzy yellow babies rounded out our wildlife viewing. It was
now approaching noon and our water had run out, so we had to say goodbye to Dog
Lake, but we will return someday!
On the walk back to camp we got our first glimpse of the mountains on the other
side of the valley Kootenay National Park consists of. Back at camp, we had
another batch of new neighbors in the area, and oh good, they had pellet rifles,
a giant gas powered grill, two large Ford trucks, and coolers full of beer.
Great...the irony of seeing a "This is what your campsite should NOT look like"
pictures, showing coolers lying out, food in the open and such, then seeing that
almost exactly in their campsite after they'd left for the day, that was
humorous. At least if there were any bears in the area they'd be drawn to that
site and would perhaps take care of any issues we might have with those people.
We'd decided that the rest of the day would be spent exploring the opening
section of the park, which we'd driven past yesterday in the rain. So it was
back to Radium to fill up the gas tank and start exploring! On our way back to
the park entrance we came across a pack of bike riders, which let me tell you
the hills
here
are steep! We talked with the gas station attendant and she said they do this
every May long weekend, a loop from Golden to Lake Loise and down to Radium,
then back to Golden. Insane...but what a great place to do it if you can handle
it physically! The side of the road back was lined with yellow dandelions,
in places they covered the slopes, and we saw a baby black bear munching away on
some as bicyclists sped past him down the hills. At right is a shot of the
entrance to the park, from the car, hastily taken but still...
Our first stop on the way back in was a trail that led to
the Redstreak campground, had a really nice little creek rushing past the
entrance, a weathered old bridge, looked promising,
however
when we parked there we saw three people coming back off the trail. We asked if
it's nice, they said it's boring once you cross the bridge and directed us up
the road a bit further saying we'd enjoy that one more. Ok, we'll take their
word on it...so further up we went, to Kipton creek, which now that I think
about it may have not been the one they recommended, I think they recommended
Kiniski pass or something along those lines. So half an hour into this trail we
ended up turning around, just wasn't interesting enough and having come across
an older couple who said it's another hour to the end and there's a decent
lookout there, but nothing spectacular...probably the right choice.
Again
this area was chocked full with blow down, you couldn't see the creek in some
places because of it. From here we stopped at Olive Lake, it's a 2 minute
walk from the car to the lake, and is well worth the very minimal effort.
Such a nice peaceful lake now, it was at one point stocked with these little
fish to enhance the enjoyment for campers and hunters here, but the fish were of
a variety that only grows to something like 4 inches long. We saw a couple
darting through the submerged logs, tiny little guys! The green of the
lake certain justifies the name.
Next stop was the Kootenay Valley Lookout, which in the
rain is nothing by a very cold, windy and unsheltered pullout on the highway. In
better weather it's a magnificent view of the valley, the shots only partly do
it justice.
We had one more stop at a random pullout to the edge of
the river, then were planning on driving back to camp for the night.
When we got to the turnoff for our campground, it was
such a nice day we couldn't stop, so just kept on driving another 10 km's or so
stopping
occasionally. We saw a few more deer, checked out Crooks Creek campground, which
is basically just a large field with a support structure near it for cooking in
presumably. It was pretty packed considering it was the most basic of
campgrounds we'd seen so far. That's as far up as we went though, turned back
towards camp and got busy lighting a fire. Tonight's meal would be hotdogs
roasted on our own sticks, of which Kathy's was the better by far, if it didn't
get gunked up with marshmallow we were going to keep it...I am now taking stick
making lessons from her.
When we got back, we had new neighbors on both sides, the
spot between us and the loud people had now been filled with a nice couple not
much older than ourselves, who couldn't start a fire for the life of them (wet
wood). We had decided that tomorrow morning we'd pack up early and drive up into
Banff or Yoho, stopping at every interesting spot along the way. So, all of our
extra small wood was offered to our new neighbors, which I think helped (along
with use of the axe). They turned in very early.
On the other side of us, the side we'd stolen the wood
from yesterday, we now had a couple younger than us. The guy was obsessed with
his satellite radio in his truck, and nearly killed his battery that night by
having his tunes on for so long. His girlfriend was more concerned with doing
nothing, possibly contemplating what they were doing here as he regaled her with
stories of his childhood camping trips. It was interesting to watch, in a way,
him trying so hard to look tough and to find things to talk about and her trying
to ignore him.
We had two or three visits from the loud campsite two
over from us (G6), one to ask if we wanted to come over and hangout around their
fire, they had lots of wood. No, no thanks...we're good. Then it was "We're
going to light fireworks, want to come watch?" Oh...my...lord. Are you kidding
me? You're lighting fireworks in the WOODS?! At least they were lighting them
off of the bridge, but still...insane. Then it was "Want to go play capture the
flag on the island?" No, for the last time, leave us alone you loud buggers!
They were off twisting their ankles in the dark until late, so a good nights
sleep was had by both of us. Kathy still has her cold, so Nyquil was her
friend that night...
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Our
traditional camping breakfast was had (two packs of apple/cinnamon instant
oatmeal, followed by coffee with a little hot chocolate and Bailey's for me, and
hot chocolate with a little coffee and Baileys for Kathy). After making sure our
chairs and such were put away, we filled a water bottle, packed up all the
camera gear and made for the Dog Lake trailhead. Kathy, being the wonderfully
intuitive person she is, convinced me to take my whole camera bag (3 lenses,
including the big telephoto, two cameras, filters and cleaning supplies) and
thank goodness as it all came in handy! When we got to the bridge crossing the
Kootenay River, there were two ladies packing up a river raft and a couple
canoes. They were going on a journey down the river...we were most envious.)
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