Vancouver to Calgary
Lake Louise to Banff
9.30.21 - 10.30.21
55 °F
We finally got a day to sleep in and explore the Lake Louise resort - one of the great properties in the world. Since we didn't leave until mid-afternoon, I took a walk almost to the end of the lake. Although cloudy, it is an amazingly beautiful place.
We then boarded the bus and headed to Banff, stopping at Yoho National Park Natural Bridge on the Kicking Horse River, the Spiral Tunnels and Emerald Lake.
The Big Hill on the Canadian Pacific Railway main line in British Columbia, Canada, was the most difficult piece of railway track on the Canadian Pacific Railway's route. It was situated in the rugged Canadian Rockies west of the Continental Divide of the Americas and Kicking Horse Pass. Even though the Big Hill was replaced by the Spiral Tunnels in 1909, the area has long been a challenge to the operation of trains and remains so to this day. The essential problem was that the railway had to ascend 1,070 feet (330 m) along a distance of 10 miles (16 km) from Field at 4,267 feet (1,301 m) climbing to the top of the Continental Divide at 5,340 feet (1,630 m). The narrow valleys and high mountains limited the space where the railway could stretch out and limit the grade (hence the later decisions to bore extra mileage under the mountains and lower the grades).
Emerald Lake is enclosed by mountains of the President Range, as well as Mount Burgess and Wapta Mountain. This basin traps storms, causing frequent rain in summer and heavy snowfalls in winter. Due to its high altitude, the lake is frozen from November until June. The vivid turquoise color of the water, caused by powdered limestone, is most spectacular in July as the snow melts from the surrounding mountains.
Posted by rpickett 20:48 Archived in Canada Tagged lake banff to louise Comments (1)
