Rockies Tour 18/03/11
Day 1
The Departure at Waterfront Station is at 7:35 a.m. The first thing we get in the trip is the Rockies Tour schedule and later on all the travelers need to sign the waiver. At 9:45 we do the first stop and at 11:30 we stop again for lunch in Kamloops for 1 hour.
At 14:30 we stop in a place called ‘the Last Spike’, this was the meeting point for the final step in the Canadian Pacific Railway construction in 1885. In this stop we were lucky to meet a guy who is walking around the world for 11 years and his final stage is Canada. His goal is to walk around the planet to promote "Peace and non-violence for the profit of the children of the world". An amazing journey you can see in his website http://wwwalk.org/.
Around 4 pm all the traffic in the highway must stop on the road because we are in an avalanche area. We wait there for 40 minutes till the road is totally safe.
The arrival to Golden is at 6:50 pm and our hotel is the Sportsman Lodge. Is not bad, typical road hotel and for skiers accommodation but with nice indoor pool.
After have dinner we go to the campfire in front of the hotel at 9.00 pm and we also enjoy the hot tub and the great slide.
Day 2
The departure time from Golden is at 8:30 am. With the bus we cross the Yoho National Park where we can start to enjoy the amazing Rocky Mountains views.
At 10:15 am we arrive to Lake Louise and we have 1 hour to enjoy the views, ice skating and even walk over the frozen lake. The weather was not bad but we couldn’t see all the mountains around the lake.
The next stage is Johnston Canyon where we arrive at 12:30 and we have 1 hour to do a short trekking. In the trail you can find a snowy path, bridges, frozen waterfalls and an awesome winter landscape. You need to wear appropriate shoes if you don’t want to fall down with the ice.
We arrive to Banff at 14:00 and we go right away to the Fairmount Hot Springs and the Bow falls to take pictures before doing the check in for tonight.
Our accommodation in Banff is the Mount Royal Hotel. This is a really nice hotel in the downtown. At 15:15 we have free time to walk down Banff and we go to Buffalo museum, the Bow River, Railway station.
At 18:00 all the group meet up in the paddock restaurant, where our guides arranged a group dinner for 13$. Later on we go to have party in several clubs in Banff such as HooDoo.
Day 3
We have the departure time at 9.00 am but it was snowing and our guide decides to change the time to 10:15. We go to the Banff Gondola ($25 fee) to rise the Sulphur Mountain, is cloudy and snowing a bit but it’s a good experience and something to repeat in summer time. At 12:30 we are again downhill and we have the opportunity to go to the Hot Springs ($11 entrance fee) or free time till 3 pm.
We decide to make a small trail to the ‘Surprise Corner’ in Banff where you can have nice views of the Fairmont Hotel and the Bow Falls. The trail with the snow and the river frozen is amazing and we were very lucky because we could watch 4 elks besides the river shore.
The departure from Banff is at 3 pm, the landscapes are still awesome, you can see the Castle Mountain, Yoho National Park, and many snowed mountains. Close to Golden we could watch plenty of deers and even we saw one crossing the road.
At 5:45 we stop for the washroom in the Roger Pass where you can see the Glacier National Park. This is an avalanche area and soon we have to stop again for 1 hour in the highway.
Our last stage is Revesltoke where we arrive at 7 pm and we stay in the Spring Powder Hotel. This is a typical west coast village, very small but a charming place.
Day 4
The departure time from Revelstoke is at 8:30 am. The fisrt stop is in farm fresh products in the Salmon arm village where you can buy farm and hand made products.
The stop for lunch is in Merritt in the Nicola Valley at 12:30 pm where an important country festival takes place in summer.
The arrival to waterfront station in Vancouver downtown is at 4:15 pm.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario