Back to Canada

Monday, 20.06.2022

The Glacier National Park makes our farewell easier. After a few short showers or thunderstorms in the past few days, continuous rain started last night and won't stop. The temperature has dropped to 11 degrees.

Just before Eureka, the rain stops. Eureka reminds us of the Wild West with everything that goes with it, the houses, a saloon with a shooting range, and rodeo. At Cafe Jax, we order a late breakfast, corned beef, fried potatoes, hash browns, scrambled eggs, toast, and flat coffee - that's enough for two days. We refuel because gasoline in the US is cheaper at 1.28 € than in Canada at 1.58 €.

In Roosville, we want to cross the border into Canada. To enter, you need the ArriveCAN app, where you have to enter and prove your corona vaccination status and answer many questions. Afterwards, you will receive an approval code. Of course, we were aware of this, as we had already entered Vancouver. However, what we did not know was that the assigned code loses its validity after the first entry and a new one must be requested. Since we still had no mobile phone connection, our Wi-Fi in the car helped us to apply for the new code. Cheers to innovative technology. With the new approval code, we were allowed to enter. In Canada, you can buy cannabis on every corner. However, if you have it with you when entering, you will be rejected!?!

Our destination today is the city of Cranbrook. We go for a short walk at Elizabeth Lake and can observe a family of Canadian geese. In the evening, we have a flight of beer at 'The Heid Out & Fisher Peak Brewing Company'. The beer in Canada tastes excellent.

Tuesday, 20.06.2022

Our destination today is Radium Hot Springs. We take a small detour and visit Kimberley, a winter sports resort with Bavarian traditions. The center of the town is called Platzl and there is the yodeling woodcarver. However, the main attraction is the oversized cuckoo clock, Happy Hans Cuckoo Clock. At the bottom right of the building, there is a coin slot for dollar coins, but no description of what happens then. We throw in a coin and expect the door to open and the cuckoo to appear. But it doesn't, instead a yodel is heard.

Afterwards, we drive past Columbia Lake and across the Dutch Creek Bridge with its unusual rock formations, which remind us of Bryce Canyon in the USA, to Invermere. A beautiful small town on Windermere Lake. Here we visit the statue of the first settlers. At Kinsmen Beach, we have a picnic before continuing to Radium Hot Springs. After checking into our very cozy hotel, we drive to the hot spring and spend a relaxed afternoon there.

Wednesday, 21.06.2022

Today we have the whole day at our disposal, quite unusual after the last fully organized days. We go hiking in Radium Hot Springs. The first hike takes us to Sinclair Waterfall, which is downhill all the time. At the bottom, we find no indication of how to proceed, so we walk back up the mountain and walk along the road to the next parking lot. Here we find the entrance to the Sinclair Trail, and at the end, we return to the waterfall and have to climb the entire mountain again. What an effort. Afterwards, we return to town. Here we look for the parking lot where the hike starts in Sinclair Creek. The nice lady from the tourist information told us that the creek is probably flooded in some places and we cannot park in the designated parking lot. Nevertheless, we go there, past a huge timber yard. The parking lot is no longer flooded. So we hike along the creek, a very beautiful level path. The river has overflowed in some places, but the path is still accessible. Now we have earned a delicious ice cream. In the evening, we enjoy another bath in the hot pools.