The Canadian Riviera

While nobody would call Vancouver a tropical or even subtropical city, by Canadian standards it's quite a banana belt by virtue of the average midwinter temperature being above freezing...about 38 F in January. As a result it is a popular winter vacation spot for Canadians who want to stay incountry but don't want to deal with the subzero weather found in most of the Great White North. A guy across the strait on Vancouver Island was telling me that a lot of the locals there go to Mexico, Hawaii, or Arizona for the winter and rent their places out to folks from the prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) who are happy enough trading 20 below zero for 40 above. Incidentially, the sculpture to the right of the palm trees has been there for a long time; I took a picture of it over 30 years ago.

The Tree

I had to take a picture of this tree. I've noticed it on my last several visits to Vancouver. It sits atop a posh highrise apartment building across the street from English Bay in the West End of Vancouver. It's about 20 feet high, as you can see by its size in relation to the nearby apartments. I've never seen a tree anywhere near this big on top of a skyscraper!

A World Class city

Vancouver BC is one of the world's great cities. It's extremely cosmopolitan; less than half the people here speak English as their first language. It hums with youthful energy; high powered business people and techies abound. The women are gorgeous! Always have been; I've been coming here since 1966. The restaurant scene is unsurpassed north of San Francisco. And the city is wedded to nature. It's surrounded by water on three sides, like San Francisco. Go just a few miles...less than 20...to the north, and you're enveloped in pure mountain wilderness. There are many fine beaches and parks. The weather tends to be cool and gray, so when it does warm up, the locals celebrate. They flock to the outdoor cafes, swim in English Bay, kayak on it, hike, bike, rollerblade, and revel in their glorious natural setting.

Oh, and they sail too. Vancouver is a very affluent city; I read today where the average house in the city costs over $800,000. That's in Canadian dollars, but the Loonie is up almost to par with our dollar now...about 93 cents. Last time I was here in 2003 it was about 65 cents.

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A gem on Vancouver Island

This picture looks like it could have been taken in one of the coastal fjords of BC...or maybe on an inland lake, like Chelan or something in the Alps. But in fact, this scene is on an island. This is Buttle Lake in Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. The lake is actually artificial...a dam was built in the 1950s to create it as a source of hydro power. It is not often that humans improve a natural setting, but this may be one of the rare cases. Strathcona is a great place. There are mountains over 7000 feet high with loads of beautiful alpine wilderness, including many natural lakes. There are waterfalls, rushing streams, and, most of the time, not many people. At almost 1000 square miles, the park occupies about 8 percent of the island.

Vancouver Island is kind of a neat mini-continent. In 12,000 square miles, you have lush coastal forests; rugged, snowy mountains in the middle of the island; and a drier, sunny eastern shore with fantastic views of the massive mountains on the mainland. There are bustling cities and howling wilderness. Rainfall ranges from less than 30 inches a year to over 150. Snow is rare in the lowlands, but copious in the high country. It's a great place to explore. Yes, much of the island is one big tree farm, but Strathcona represents a large chunk of it that is preserved. The trees grow like mad here; they harvest a new batch every 30 years or so.

Hangin' with the Eagles

From the deck of my motel in Port Hardy, I enjoyed watching the bald eagles hang out.

They would perch in the trees and watch for prey, or cruise around just above the water, searching for fish. One morning one eagle brought a catch onto the tide flat, and they all showed up to try to get a share of the spoils, or maybe just to chat. What do eagles talk about, anyway? Do they root for their favorite teams? One eagle to the next..." I hear they're bringing McNabb back...think he'll last the whole season?" "nah, he gets hurt just falling out of bed." Or maybe..."how do you think BC will do this year?" "they haven't been the same since Flutie left!" Of course the eagles are referring to the Philadelphia and Boston College football teams, both teams named the eagles. Who else would an eagle root for anyway?

It appeared to me that the eagles were fairly generous among themselves; the biggest senior eagle ate first, but when he was done he let the other eagles join in, even the young ones...they're the ones without white head and tail feathers. Incidentially, bald eagles don't sound too majestic; they chirp rather than squawk or hoot, kind of a wimpy, high pitched sound. But they're very vocal...they were carrying on much of the time I was at the motel.

A Magnificent Cruise

I spent the night of June 23 in Prince Rupert. The highway dead ends there...the only way out of town without retracing your steps is to fly or sail. So, I took the BC Ferry down to Port Hardy. This is a 15 hour trip. This time of year, it's all in daylight...it leaves Prince Rupert at 730 AM and arrives in Port Hardy at 1030 PM, when dusk is just getting deep. I reflected that the length of the cruise is just about the same as the flight between San Francisco and Sydney. But, as you'll see, the ferry ride is MUCH more scenic. Also, there's the matter of being able to roam around the ship...you can get all the exercise you want. Plus, three good meals...they even have a lunchtime barbeque on the Sun Deck. And, I reserved a cozy stateroom, so I was able to effect horizontal slotation on my bunk, take two siestas, and I had my own private bathroom. All good. It was a very comfortable cruise. Here we are, leaving Prince Rupert. The Old Sloat appreciated hitching a ride on a ship rather than having to exercise his flippers for over 200 miles. It would have been a long swim south!

This ferry runs year round, though more often in summer than in other seasons. I imagine it can be a rough trip during winter, when there's only six hours of daylight instead of eighteen, and the massive storms roll in off the Gulf of Alaska. Most of the route is sheltered in the inside passage, but I reckon it still gets pretty windy and choppy, and there are a couple of short stretches where the ferry is exposed to the open ocean to the west. But on this day, June 24, wind and waves were not a factor. There were only light breezes, and just a very small swell when we hit the ocean parts of the voyage.

A Dramatic Ocean Passage

A couple hours south of Prince Rupert, the ferry entered the Grenville Channel. This is a remarkable slot in the coastal mountains, about 25 miles inland from the open ocean. In its narrowest place, it's only 1400 feet wide, but it's many hundreds of feet deep. My ferry, the MV Northern Adventure, is a large ship...117 meters long, displacing almost 10 thousand tons, but it cruised through the channel easily. Mountains tower 2 to 4 thousand feet almost straight up from the water; U shaped glaciated valleys plunge almost to sea level. On the north sides of the mountains, the snow came down fairly close to the sea, only about a thousand feet up in some places. Waterfalls were everywhere.

The Northern Adventure cruised smoothly through the channel, creating surf along both banks. This was the most spectacular part of the cruise and it was awesome! Pictures don't do it justice...you simply have to come aboard!

Features of the Cruise

With snowcapped mountains towering above both sides of the channels in the northern part of the cruise, there were dozens of waterfalls cascading gracefully down the cliffs. Just another breathtaking aspect of the scenery.

For some reason, The Old Sloat found this mountain interesting.

A Downturn in the Weather

Around the midpoint of the cruise, we entered an area of showers. The rain stayed mostly to the east, while the sun continued to shine in the west, creating dramatic effects of glowering skies shrouding the coastal mountains.

With the sun in the west, it was only a matter of time before a rainbow appeared.

End of a Marvelous Cruise

Late in the day darkness finally began to gather. The moon was high in the sky before the sun went down. The cool shape at the bottom is the smokestack of the ferry.

The sunset was gorgeous, marking the end of a superb cruise. We landed in Port Hardy about half an hour later.

A Fine B&B in Smithers

I'm staying at a B&B tonight just outside the town of Smithers in northern BC. It's run by a friendly family from Germany, who are of course acquainted with the Alps, and the view from the lodge looks Alpine...it's a stunning sweep of forest and farmland, backed by snowcapped mountains on every side. Breathtaking! There are cool birds and, the proprietors say, bears and moose on occasion. Also cows in the adjacent pastures. It's absolutely beautiful and peaceful, yet only about 10K from town.

The Lizard also enjoys the view. You'd have to do a panning video to capture the whole sweep of the mountains...it's a good 180 degree arc in front with more peaks behind the inn.

A Milestone for The Vehicle

Yesterday, promptly upon leaving Patricia Lake and heading toward Jasper, The Vehicle achieved a milestone. It's the first car I have driven that far. Kudos to The Vehicle! For the first 8 1/2 years I had it, I only averaged about 14,000 miles a year, but I've put 27,000 on it in the nine months since I retired.

Classic Jasper

Here's a scene of what the Canadian Rockies are all about...a rugged, majestic mountain...Mt Edith Cavell...fronted by a pristine, green hued lake...Lake Cavell. Is this gorgeous or not?

And another classic shot...right from the pier at the resort where I stayed! I was at the Patricia Lake Bungalows. I had a cozy cabin right near the lake...loons serenaded us during the evenings with their high pitched, eerie, wild calls...wonderful! It was totally quiet at night, virtually in the wilderness, but only three miles from downtown Jasper with all the modcons. A perfect location! Highly recommended. Also, from the spot where this pic was taken there is a perfect echo chamber. Some Australian kids were talking to the loons last night...the loons would go ooooo-weeee and the kids would reply, hearing their echo a second or two later from across the lake. Then, the loons would add their response. Very cool.

Glacier on the edge

The two main glaciers on Mt Edith Cavell are described in the previous post; but the most remarkable of the three is Ghost glacier, a small chunk of ice suspended on a very steep slope, perhaps 60-70 degrees. How the ice keeps from plunging into the depths below, down to the lake, I don't know. A piece of the glacier, visible on the left edge, appears to be detaching from the rest; maybe it'll come down this summer. One has to think that, with global warming, this glacier will come tumbling down in its entirety within a decade or two. In the meantime, it defies gravity. You can see this glacier from downtown Jasper, 20-30 miles away, if you look closely.

Mount Edith

I journeyed up high into the Rockies to the base of Mount Edith Cavell yesterday, and was blown away by the Alpine landscape. From the end of the trail leading from the car park, you look a mile straight up at a wall of rock. It faces north, so retains snow the year round, but the snow constantly slides off the mountain in mini-avalanches, which you hear every few minutes. It's a very active landscape.

There are three glaciers on the mountain. Here's the largest, Angel glacier, named for the outstretched arms radiating away from the body. The arms are walls of ice poised on a precipice, while the body is an icefall tumbling down a steep slope. Water roars constantly from underneath the glacier in summer, and occasionally a chunk of ice breaks off from the snout of the glacier and tumbles down to the lakeshore below.

While ice from Angel glacier tumbles down to the lake at the base of Mount Edith, another glacier...Cavell...lies at the base adjacent to the lake. Ice from this glacier simply calves into the lake, forming icebergs...later in the summer than June 20...as you can see, the lake was still mostly frozen over when I took this picture.

Meteorological Drama

During the four full days I spent in Jasper, the weather was mediocre; more clouds than sun, showers from time to time, daytime temps in the 60s. (15-20C). However, some times you get the best pictures when the weather is a little sketchy. Good examples are these two shots I took of the mountains and clouds east of Jasper on the way back from a trip to Miette Hot Springs, where the Old Sloat soaked his tired flippers for an hour and felt absolutely clean and refreshed afterward.

It almost looks like this pic is backlit in a romantic art tradition...Albert Bierstadt would have enjoyed it! I've said it before, but Jasper is SOOOO fantastic!!

Sketchy Mountain Goats

I came upon these mountain goats on the Icefields Highway yesterday. For a couple hours they were on the east side of the road at a salt lick, as advertised in the brochures, and tourons had been coming within a few feet of them to take some photos. The goats seemed relaxed; check out the young 'un lounging on the hillside. I took this picture from the other side of the road, on a rise a good 40-50 yards from the goats; a discreet distance, I thought.

Then a tour bus came by, belching diesel fumes and tourons. It was late in the afternoon, and apparently the goats decided they had had enough of tour buses for the day, and instantly about 30 of them galloped across the highway en masse straight toward where I was standing! Now mountain goats ain't grizzly bears when it comes to hostility factor, but they do have sharp horns, and I was nonplussed for a bit; thus I didn't get any video of the stampede which would have been cool. As it was, I edged to my left, and the goats edged to their left, and they missed me by 20-30 feet, after which I took this pic of the ol' goats hangin' right where I had been standing.

Bruddah Elk

This big ol' elk was hanging out just a couple miles from where I was staying. He was only a mile or so from downtown Jasper, but had apparently already ventured into town for his morning latte and was now back in the woods...looks like he's scratching an itch. Originally I thought (and hoped) he was a caribou, but after looking at wikipedia I'm pretty sure he's an elk. There are also caribou in the area, though they're rather scarce. I've never seen a caribou in the wild.

Rocky Grandeur

The mountains of the Canadian Rockies are mostly jagged piles of rock. They are for the most part completely wild, and grand. The ice age is not much of a distant memory here; it's still alive and well. It's downright breathtaking being here!

Here are some typical peaks looming over the majestic Athabasca River.

This is Patricia Lake, with mountains looming above. No matter where you are in Jasper, towering peaks are everywhere, on all sides. As the Old Sloat says in such situations, it doesn't suck! By the way, I'm staying right on Patricia Lake. And it doesn't suck. There are dozens of other pics that I could blog. The beauty never ends. I'll do some more later, but you simply have to come here and experience the majesty of the place for yourself!

Athabasca Glacier

Here's Athabasca Glacier, descending from the Columbia Icefield. Doesn't this scene look wild, primeval, and cold? I put my parka to good use here. This was my second visit to the glacier; the first was in 1972. It's just amazing for a Californian to behold the masses of ice here. It's majestic and awesome to see nature in its absolute raw state.

OK, geologists, here's a lateral moraine. The glacier has retreated about a mile in the past 150 years and left, frankly, a mess behind. There are

piles of rock debris over a vast area which used to be under ice. The rock ridge in the foreground is the lateral moraine, left behind on the side of the glacier as the ice retreated. Interpolating between the signs marking the position of the glacier's snout in 1948 and 1982, I took this picture from about where the snout was when I visited in 1972; it's retreated about 200-300 yards since then.

Here's the front of the glacier. A cold wind blows down from the icefield almost continuously, just like it does in Greenland and Antarctica. In '72 I took a snowcat tour out on the glacier and I remembered that cold wind. This time I had my parka.

Regardez l'our

I speak very little French, but Canadian national parks are a good place to learn since all signs are in English and French. Thus, all over there are signs warning of the ours as well as the bears. This one was causing a traffic jam during the evening and the tourons were out of their cars, gawking at him from close range. I usually stay in my car in such situations but couldn't get a good view of the bear because of the crowds, so I briefly hit the road to get this shot. Unfortunately he had his head in the bushes but I wasn't going to stay out of my car for long.

critters

Jasper is full of wildlife. I've seen black bears, bighorn sheep, elk, caribou, mountain goats. No moose or grizzlies yet. The best way to see wildlife is simply to look for a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road; usually it's a bunch of tourons gawking at a critter. The top pic here is of course a bighorn sheep. These are rather common in the Rockies. The best experience I ever had with these guys was back in 1998 when a herd of them strolled right up to my car in the motel parking lot at Radium Hot Springs one morning and started munching breakfast.

Here's a mountain goat. This ol' goat has not groomed himself for his photo appearance...he'll no doubt look more sartorial when he finishes shedding last winter's coast and grows a new one.

Azure Lakes

Lakes come in all colors in Jasper; this one is a bright light blue. Thc combination of gorgeous lakes, wild northern forest, and jagged mountains is fabulous!

This is Horsheshoe Lake, about 25 km south of Jasper. This particular lake has some fine patches of flat rock surrounding it which made granitic slotation possible, and quite enjoyable. The color of the water resembles Crater Lake.

Phenomena of the Northland

Being this far north in mid June, the days are looooonnnng. This picture was taken at 10:05 PM. The sun was off to the left of the pic, still above the horizon...actual sunset was 10:21. There was still significant twilight at 11:30.

OK you weather freaks, and you know who you are...we had some good convection here today. Actually it was much like a day in Denver...clear in the morning, then rapidly developing thunderstorms in the afternoon. As of now...about 330 PM...I haven't had any rain fall on my head but thunder has been rumbling in the hiills for hours. I reckon the atmosphere has indigestion.

By midafternoon the storms had set up just north of the lake and were looking ominous. It was almost time for happy hour anyway so I headed for the motel.

Northernmost Point

I have reached the northernmost point of my trip, at Lesser Slave Lake. It's above the 55th parallel, about 700 miles from the arctic circle.

It's definitely a little wild and rough hewn here. Most of the vehicles are dirty pickup trucks...except for some (not all) of the main highways, most roads are dirt or gravel. Yesterday I saw a coyote cross the road a few miles out of town with a critter in his mouth...right at dinnertime! Good hunting! And this morning, right in front of my motel in the middle of town, I saw what sure looked like a wolf cross the road. The lake has sandy beaches! It's vast...about 70 miles long and 10-20 miles wide.

Here's a view of the lake from Marten Mountain, about 1000 feet above the water. By the way, this is prime insect season...mid June. Legions of mosquitoes and, near the lake, black flies. However, Deep Woods Off is doing a good job of keeping them at bay. Without repellent, though, I'd quickly be devoured by the rapacious beasts. There are many birds hereabouts but not enough to do away with the insects.

Doing the Mall

Well, geez, gag me with a spoon, I totally did the mall, fer sure! The West Edmonton Mall, to be specific. This is the world's largest shopping center. In addition to about 800 stores, there's an amusement park; a waterpark; a pirate ship and submarine; an ice rink; a casino; a gym; a bowling alley; and the list goes on and on.

Here's a shot of the waterpark at the mall; there's a wave generator, a whole bunch of slides, and a tiki bar. Not only that, it feels like Florida or Hawaii inside; temp close to 85, humidity around 60-70 percent. Must be quite a nice shock for the locals in the winter. It gets a little cold here that time of year...20 below zero F is not uncommon at all. I drove around with the top down all afternoon; never saw another convertible. The days are really long. Sunset is at 10:03 PM tonight, and there's good twilight until eleven. We're north of latitude 53 here.

A Pleasant River City

I'm currently in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. Like Portland and Sacramento, Edmonton has a large river running through it...the North Saskatchewan. The city has preserved parkland on both sides of the river in most of the urban area. The city lies on bluffs above the river for the most part, and the slopes are covered in boreal forest, so you can be in the middle of the city and see almost nothing but woods. Outdoor recreation is unlimited...hiking, cycling, kayaking, and picnicking in summer, and cross country skiing and ice skating in winter.

Elk Island National Park

The national parks in the Canadian Rockies get most of the publicity, but Alberta also has another cool park just 50 kilometers east of downtown Edmonton...Elk Island National Park. The park is located where the open prairie meets the northern forest, and is home to over 800 bison. These guys used to live here, were killed off in the 19th century, and reintroduced in 1906. The herd has been quite successful; this spring there are many new calves, and buffalo from this herd have been introduced into many other areas all over North America. They tend to be ornery critters, so I stayed in my car to take pictures. Yes, they're that close to the road!

There are many other animals in the park. Beaver are plentiful; you don't see them much, but their lodges and dams are certainly in evidence, as well as large open areas where the beavers have gnawed down all the trees. There are also many birds; in particular, I saw several loons, so the park has the Canadian 5 cent and 1 dollar coins covered. There are also elk and moose, but I didn't see any.