Rockies the First

After a night on a parking lot right next to the highway, which was very noisy, we drove to Banff. There we walked up the absolute tourist mountain, Sulphur Mountain. The path up was very easy, but there was also a gondola that was eagerly used by many tourists. Since the mountain is so heavily populated, there are also many animals, such as goats or chipmunks, who have abandoned their shyness towards humans in order to search for food. Especially the chipmunks proved to be very cheeky. They even crawled on you if you held food in your hand. From the observation platform, there was a beautiful view of the entire surrounding area. After the descent, we continued to Johnston Canyon. There were two waterfalls - the smaller one 10 meters high and the larger one 30 meters high - in a beautiful gorge. Since the path to the waterfalls was not very challenging, this attraction was also completely crowded. Afterwards, we went on to Kootenay National Park to see the Paint Pots. The ground around the Paint Pots is reddish or ochre-colored due to iron oxide, which also colors the water streams. The actual Paint Pots are three different sized, but still relatively small, springs, which are even greenish in color. It was nice to have seen this natural spectacle, but we had expected something more.

Since we had to be in Invermere on Tuesdays so that Ramon could redeem his wedding gift, we continued to Radium Hot Springs, where we stayed at a campground. The next day, we went to the hot springs in Radium Hot Springs, of which there are several spread throughout the Rockies. There was a pool with 39 degrees and one with 29 degrees, which served as a cooling down for us. The warm water was very beneficial for the muscles, but after a while it also made us very tired. After the hot springs, we went on to sleep at Lake Enid in Invermere. This is a free "campground" at the lake maintained by the locals. They had already taken up most of the available space. The road to the lake is more of a gravel road, dotted with countless deep potholes. If you drove very slowly, our Trudy managed somewhat. The next day was the big day: Ramon was able to enjoy a 3.5-hour glider flight in the Rockies, during which even the 6000m mark was reached. In one flight, everything that gliding includes was covered: thermals, ridge lift, and wave. After this great experience, we drove through the Columbia Wetlands with a short stop in Golden towards Yoho National Park. Just before the park entrance, we spent the night in a small forest niche next to a service road. From there, we had an ideal view of the cloud-crowned and snow-covered mountains in the sunset. You could almost no longer distinguish between what was mountain and what was cloud.