Banff and Kootenay national Parks

We left Waterton NP on Wednesday morning.  Made a stop in Pincher Creek at a Walmart to restock on a few groceries.  From there It was a short drive to Chain Lakes Provencial Park,  South of Calgary.  Not much to say for it other than it was a huge park with three loops.  Two with electric and one without.  We took the loop without for $23.00 Canadian for the night.

We were traveling Hwy. 22, through a number of small towns.  Cattle and oil seemed to be the driving economic forces.  We stopped for breakfast in the small town of Black Diamond, where we found an old time restaurant full of stuff.  The food was good and the atmosphere was fun.

We connected with Hwy. 1 West of Calgary, passed through Banff, and arrived at Johnston Canyon CG around 4 PM.  Had a great site reserved on the Bow River.  This is behind our site.

                            

It was cloudy with a threat of rain as we drove to Lake Louise on Friday morning.  I took a few pictures, but the clouds and the crowds made for some disappointing shots.

Not many red canoes out.

From Lake Louise, we made our way to Morraine Lake.  Much the same story there.

Saturday, we did a drive over to Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia.  The drive took us through Kootenay National Park.  We had some great scenery.

And, got lucky on some wildlife.  First a wolf.  Kind of blurry, but just seeing it was a real treat.

Then a couple of Black Bears. 

Sally was in attack mode from the back seat of the truck.  Neither bear paid her any mind.

The Canadian National Parks handle the transportation of firewood from other areas a bit different than the US.  Where the US parks expect folks not to transport wood, but buy a bundle of five sticks for $10.00, the Canadian parks provide free firewood.

There are numerous differences between our parks and the Canadian ones.  So far, theirs beat ours in every way when it comes to service, amenities, and employee courtesy….jc