The next day we were not so lucky with the weather. It was wet and cold and rained most of the way to Lake Louise. Unfortunately some of the beauty spots we could not see clearly because of the rain. We also kept the windows on the van as there was a very cold and strong wind blowing, especially in the valleys. The drive through the Columbian Icefields was amazing and we stopped wherever we could to take pictures. Even met 2 Aussie couples from South Australia at one of our stops who had travelled down from Alaska in a rented vehicle.
We saw quite a large number of cyclists on the road through the national park and they looked wet and miserable - not a good day to be on a bike on mountainous roads and under those conditions. We noted that most of the cyclists do not have lights on their bikes and they are difficult to see at times. Fortunately large trucks are not allowed through this section of the National Park.
We camped once again in a national park campground at Lake Louise and had another night of not being able to warm up even though the showers were piping hot. There were quite a few cyclists in the campground as well as hikers. The campground was surrounded by an electrified fence to keep the wild animals out of the camping area - comforting for us. This area provides essential habitat for female grizzly bears that must raise their young successfully to ensure the future of this threatened species. Hikers must hike in a group of 4 to reduce the likeliness of surprising a bear and being attacked!
The next day was very foggy so we did not go into Banff but instead drove to Revelstoke headed for Kamloops. It was difficult driving in the fog and on unknown mountainous roads with roadworks being carried out. Everywhere we have driven on this trip we seem to come across extensive roadworks. There must be a small window of opportunity in which they can do the roadworks.
The drive was once again a lovely drive through mountains and national parks and it turned out to be quite a warm day - especially in the van. Traffic was very busy and we had quite a build up of vehicles behind us at times. We moved to the side where it was safe to do so to let them pass. The road followed a lake for quite some time around the Salmon Arms area and we decided that we would stop at Chase which was near the end of the lake and on a river. From our campsite we had a million dollar view overlooking the river at campers' prices. The campground caretaker told us that the salmon come up from the Pacific Ocean along the Fraser River to sporn and that they were much sort after in this area.
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