The end of this epic road trip! Banff Downtown/driving to Calgary Airport

(My solo road trip of western Canada – Saturday 3rd/Sunday 4th October)

Well, this is the end of a truly enthralling adventure.  I am so thankful that I had this opportunity and I fully appreciate how fortunate I was to be able to take this on.  Continue reading “The end of this epic road trip! Banff Downtown/driving to Calgary Airport”

Glacier National Park, another scary mountain drive!

(My solo road trip of western Canada – Friday 2nd October)

The night before, I was reading about Glacier National Park and from what I read, the drive was going to be spectacular but keeping an eye on the weather was advised as it sometimes changes quite rapidly depending on the conditions.  In addition to this, there were some parts of the drive where avalanche activity was very common, particularly in harsher and wetter conditions.   Nonetheless, I was also aware that passing by huge mountains, there was always a chance that rocks could fall in the drier conditions too, I had already experienced this several time so far, you can simply not underestimate this rugged, magnificent and awe-inspiring landscape.  Although I had really enjoyed my mountain drives so far, I was a little nervous about this one. The weather was due to be fine, my nerves were currently not…

The history of the park is very interesting, especially when you travel through this area, you really do have to admire what has been achieved.   Historically, there are two primary Canadian transportation routes, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), completed in 1885, and the Trans Canada Highway, completed in 1963.   Until 1881, the centre of this park eluded brave explorers.  The valleys of the park are prone to avalanche activity, especially during the heavy winter snows.   As a result, traversing through this area had been challenging to say the least, however, I take my hat off to the extraordinary engineering feats that have taken place here.

The park is astonishingly wonderful, there are parts of the drive which literally took my breath away.  Fascinating high peaks,  glaciers which are large and active, and interesting to note is that it has one of Canada’s largest cave systems.  This was quite a demanding drive at times, there was so much I saw but due to the nature of the landscape, it was too dangerous for me to take too many photos.  One of the highlights which really got my heart beating.  I was leaving a tunnel and there was a road sign stating to slow down as there was a bear on the road, I really wanted to see this but after a couple of kms of driving, I realised it must have come off the road.  I was hope that the photos below give some idea of what the drive was like.

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/glacier/visit.aspx