Chateau Lake Louise - incredible view from the lobby
In a postscript to yesterday's page, I noted that I was updating the site from Chateau Lake Louise, a Canadian Pacific (CP) hotel.
Over the years, I've stayed at many of the world's
finest hotels, including the Chateau Frontenac, a CP hotel in Quebec City.
The Chateau Lake Louise is clearly in the same category of excellence. Oh
sure, it is very expensive, but once in a while a little pampering is good.
This would make a great place for a honeymoon or second honeymoon.
 luxurious lobby |
 Chandelier |
 zither player |
 shopping promenade |
After I finished my uploading, I was invited to lunch in the
hotel's sandwich shop by the hotel's Communication and Information Systems
Director. The food was excellent.
Then I jumped on the saddle of my trusty Cannondale and headed to the Village
of Banff. I'd said I wasn't going to Banff, but decided it was silly to
miss one of the primary attractions in the area. Since when was I one to
listen to "conventional wisdom?" I had to see Banff for myself.
There are two routes from Lake Louise to Banff: the Trans-Canada Highway
(#1) and the Bow Valley Parkway. The Trans-Canada is a busy four lane highway
with lots of big trucks and busses, and all the hustle of an urban expressway.
The shoulders are huge (20+ feet), but the hustle-bustle, noise and pollution
make it a poor choice for bicycling. The Bow Valley Parkway, on the other
hand is the scenic route. It has NO shoulders and probably more hills. Traffic
is moderate to low in volume and, though there are plenty of those infernal
motorhomes or campers and tour busses, there are no trucks (commercial vehicles
are prohibited). It is 29 km from Lake Louise to the point where Hwy. 93
cuts south toward Radium Hot Springs, my next destination. Then its another
29 km down the Bow Valley Parkway to Banff. Going to Banff, I'll need to
come back that 29 km to head south, so I'm going 58 (or more) km out of
my way. Oh well. I think it is important to report on Banff for the website
and more important to see what Banff is like for myself.
A couple of miles south of Lake Louise, I came upon a complex of nice "bungalows"
-- Baker Creek -- that would seemingly make an interesting alternative to
staying in the Lake Louise village.
I was real impressed with Chateau Lake Louise and the lake itself,
but not at all with the village. Other than a couple of hotels, the campground
and youth hostel, there's almost nothing there. There are only about a dozen
stores (grocery, bike/clothing, book, bakery (looked real good), camera,
etc) and they're all overpriced. I expected far more.
The Bow Valley Parkway ride is pleasant. It feels far less wild than what
I'm used to on this trip, more like one of the parkways in New England.
There are numerous bicyclists going both ways. I didn't talk to any because
the traffic was too heavy to allow an easy cross-over and there were usually
hills making a stop complex for the person climbing. For the most part,
it is all downhill from Lake Louise to Banff (the road parallels the Bow
River). At a couple of points, the Bow River Parkway separated the northbound
and southbound lanes into two separate roadways through the hills and woods.
Doing so made the experience more relaxed. The Bow Valley Parkway is designated
as a bicycle route. There are road signs advising motorists to expect bicycles.
Most understood; some didn't. At one point, I was forced to leave the road
when a northbound tour bus passed a car directly at me. I shook my head
"no" and yelled at him, but didn't catch the name of the bus line
to report his dangerous behavior.
I've noticed that the Casio does a poor job with a lot of the scenery. There
just isn't enough detail. I took some shots of the whitewater creeks around
Lake Louise, but decided not to upload them because the detail wasn't adequate
to show the incredible speed of the water flow. All the streams and rivers
around here seem to be very very fast flowing, cold and clear.
I tried photographing some of the vegetation also without much success.
Between the Bow Valley Parkway and the Trans-Canada Highway are
the Bow River and the railroad tracks.
Since leaving Fairbanks, I've seen very few trains. These tracks
seemed quite busy. I gather the freight trains are going between Calgary
and Prince George or the Pacific at Prince Rupert. Someday, I'd like to
ride the Yellowhead Highway between Jasper and Prince Rupert. I've driven
the segment between Prince Rupert and the Cassiar Highway heading north
toward Whitehorse. It was gorgeous and I caught a real nice silver salmon
in the river just a few miles out of Prince Rupert. The road was real good.
I hear there is a 75 mile segment with no services between Jasper and Prince
George, and a serious pass to climb if heading east, but I'm used to such
hardships now. I was originally planning to ride from Dawson Creek to Prince
George to Jasper, but chose to go to Jasper via Grande Prairie, Grande Cache
and Hinton instead because of major road construction between Dawson Creek
and Prince George.
At Castle Mountain, I passed a monument to thousands of Ukrainians
that were held in an internment camp here as enemy aliens during World War
I. I never knew of such a camp or even about concern about Ukrainians.
I arrived at Banff at around 5:00. Banff is a serious resort
town. Don't ask me why, but I felt a bit silly riding into town with a bear
bell on my handlebars, so I removed it and stowed it in the handlebar bag
where it wouldn't jingle.
I rode all through town looking for a place to stay. The folks
at the Youth Hostel in Lake Louise had told me that there were no vacancies
at the hostel in Banff and had given me a list of "el cheapo"
hotels in Banff. From what I could tell, all the hotels on the list had
"no vacancy" signs posted. In fact, riding around town for about
45 minutes, I saw only one vacancy sign; and, though it looked more expensive
than I wanted to pay, I decided to go for it. I immediately realized that
a car was homing in on the same vacancy. I pedaled furiously, but he beat
me. Luckily, there were two rooms. We each got one and the "NO"
light was turned on. The bad news was the price: $150 night CDN. Oh sure
there was a jacuzzi, two queen sized beds and a cable TV. I didn't use the
hot tub, used only one bed and have learned not to watch TV (hopefully--never
again--yea sure).
I showered and hauled my laundry (one small bag) to a laundromat in town
(about 3 blocks away). Then shopped for a while. This is clearly a resort
town. There are hundreds of upscale shops and a good selection of outdoor
clothing stores. I looked, but didn't buy anything. I ate a burger, fries
and 2 milkshakes ($17.91--a bit steep, ay?).
When I called home, my wife said there was a news item in the Lansing
State Journal at home in Michigan about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
"selling out" to Disney and that the RCMP store at Banff was at
the center of the controversy, so I went there. At the RCMP store, I got
the real scoop--as expected, a lot more innocuous than the press made it
out to be. The RCMP store specializes in RCMP merchandise (like an angel
store or heart store or cow store, etc). Wanting to be sure that its image
was never denigrated by RCMP merchandise, the RCMP hired Disney Canada (a
wholly Canadian company) to act as censor. No big deal. The RCMP merchandise
is all tasteful. The RCMP image is upheld. Canadians were outraged that
Disney--an American giant--got a hand in their business. Much ado about
nothing.
[I wonder if I should reconsider my position. Disney
World's attitude about my bicycle adventure and website when I contacted
them in Florida was that it was all insignificant. They were too big to
care about what people were doing with their lives. Most of the people I
talked to in Central Florida told me that Disney is not the "good guy"
company the media would have them be. Can Disney Canada be trusted with
the RCMP's image?]
Tomorrow, I head back up the Bow River Parkway ("up"
is the operative word; it is quite a climb) to the Highway 93 junction and
then probably to a campground on 93. I'll probably be out of touch for a
few days.
From here on, I should be picking up speed. Most of the sightseeing is behind
me as are all but a couple of tough passes. Once I get to Missoula, Montana
and start my ride east, my daily mileage should increase dramatically. I
still hope to be home in Michigan by August 10, then to ride to Florida
in October.
I didn't go to Missoula, but thought that
was my destination then. As a matter of fact, one of my biggest errors of
judgment was backtracking to Highway 93. I should have headed south from
Banff down Hwy. 40 (the Kananaskis Country road). I would have saved several
days of tough riding.
41 miles.
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© Ed Noonan 1996, 1997