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Kootenay National Park & Lake Louise Story & Photos by Jan Krause |
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This Day Tripper article is a continuation of the other day tripper about Radium Hot Springs with a little bit about Kootenay National Park in British Columbia. In this article I’m continuing our adventure—this time focusing in more detail on Kootenay NP and Lake Louis. |
Our original plan for Sunday was to spend the whole day in Kootenay NP, but because of the steady rain, and certain sections of the park that were still closed off from last year’s fires, we decided to drive the 60 miles of the well-maintained Banff-Windermere Highway (Hwy. 93) through the park, stopping when and where we wanted to for picture taking and short walks, before continuing on to Lake Louise. |
| Our first stop was Olive Lake at the summit of Sinclair Pass, about 15 minutes from the Radium Hot Springs entrance. It’s a tiny olive green lake with clear water and a nice reflection, and there are two very, very short, wheelchair accessible paths to a bubbling spring (the source of the lake) and to a fish-viewing platform. | |
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Viewpoints and historical markers are common
along the park road. At Hector Gorge (named for an early explorer) we saw
elk that were banded and tagged settled in the grass on the side of the
road. At Vermilion Crossing, 63 km from the start, we made a quick stop at the Kootenay Park Lodge Visitor Centre, which has a small gift shop, a snack bar and restroom facilities. |
| Eighty-five kilometers from Radium is the
easy 1.6 km (1 mile) round-trip Paint Pots and Ocher Beds trail (or ochre,
as the Canadians spell it), also wheelchair accessible most of the way.
After crossing a suspension bridge over the Vermilion River, the trail,
with its interpretive signs, led us past several ocher beds and abandoned
equipment from the area’s mining days. Ocher, according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, is an earthy clay colored by iron oxide, usually yellow or reddish brown, that is used as a pigment in paints. |
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At Kootenay NP, the ocher beds are startlingly yellow and look somewhat like burial mounds. According to guidebooks, ocher was dug up by hand at this site at the start of the 20th century, and then hauled to the nearest railroad, where it was shipped to Calgary for coloring paints. |
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Later, the use of machinery increased production. The clay in the ocher beds came from sediment deposited on the floor of an ancient glacial lake that mixed with the iron-rich water. At the end of the trail we arrived at the three paint pots, the two larger ones greenish in color, the smallest one almost clear. I had originally thought that we would take the easy 1.6 km (1 mile) hike to Marble Canyon, 85 km from Radium,which is one of the most popular spots in the park. Unfortunately, it is one of the areas still closed from last year’s fires due to obstructions, danger from falling trees, and damaged bridges. |
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| Instead, we crossed the border into Alberta
and continued on the Trans-Canada Highway (Hwy 1) to Lake Louise, which
is located within the boundaries of Banff National Park, the oldest national
park in Canada. Over the years I’ve heard and read a lot about Lake Louise but hadn’t realized how close it is to Kootenay NP (about 27 km). |
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This time of year it wasn’t packed with the summer crowds and we were able to stroll along the lakeshore (about half of the lake was still ice-covered and on that rainy day it didn’t have its trademark blue-green hue). It was still a stunning lake. |
| Sitting above the lake is the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, one of the premiere resort hotels in Canada. We had packed lunches for the trip, planning on eating them at a scenic outdoor location, but the weather had us eating in the car. To make up for our disappointment, and because we wanted to get a look inside, we decided to stop for tea and dessert at one of the hotelÕs restaurants. We ended up at the Poppy Brasserie, where the dessert menu included a treat I had to tryÑpartly because it was chocolate and everyone who knows me knows that IÕm a chocoholic, but also because of its nameÑÓwarm chocolate lava purse.Ó |  |
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The dessert was actually crafted to look like
a drawstring purse (the purse made out of some kind of rather stiff pastry)
filled with hot melted chocolate, with vanilla ice cream on the side. I
tried the “purse,” didn’t much care for it, but the “chocolate
lava” with the vanilla ice cream was sensational. Rick and Ina’s
desserts weren’t as creatively named, but they enjoyed them just the
same. The hotel lobby is elegant with quite a few shops selling everything from souvenirs to upscale clothing and jewelry—it was well worth the stop. Phone 403-522-3511, or visit their website at www.chateaulakelouise.com for more information. |
| On our way back through Kootenay NP we were surprised to see a small black bear on the side of the road—close enough to get some shots from the car. It was a delightful ending to our Canadian Rockies mini-vacation. |  |
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