We set out yesterday to make a 5000 km road trip to San Francisco taking in a few of the sights of the US along the way. On Thursday we just made the short hop from Cochrane, Alberta to St Mary, Montana where we had booked a hotel at the entrance to the "Going to the Sun" road. We were robbed of sunset owing to storm clouds blowing through (main pic below) but still enjoyed our short stay. We were up and out by 7am after breakfast at 06:30. and took the beautiful scenic highway twisting slowly through Glacier National Park.
The whole route was stunning and we really enjoyed it, we stopped off in a small town for coffee and a bacon sandwich before heading south on US-93 (another scenic byway) we stayed with US-93 for the rest of the day, making good time so passing our 'pencilled in' stop over and taking in the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho before continuing to Twin Falls and the comfort of the Hampton Inn there. We are well ahead of schedule and have already seen some wonderful scenery along the way. Tomorrow should be a nice steady wander south to Nevada before turning west for California and a dip in Lake Tahoe later in the week before hitting San Francisco on Monday. As usual click small images below for captioned gallery.
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I made this difficult and hard earned summit yesterday which I've been eyeing up for some time. It is reknown for a section of very dangerous rock with death virtually guaranteed if you fall, as a result I've put it off until I got more experience of the rockies. It turned out to be a great scramble dodging the rain all day, it was hard going in places but the views and a sighting of a hoary marmot made it all worthwhile. The hike was a last blowout before we head out for our long awaited trip to San Francisco this afternoon. As always there is a small gallery below or you can Click here for the whole hike report and pics.
Just one shot of the sunset tonight as the thunderstorms cleared away to the east, click image for larger version.
For a week or two now Sarah and I have watched a trio of Great Horned Owls learning to fly in the meadow behind the house, frustratingly they were always flapping about in the dark or near dark and any images I could get were very poor. But tonight I got lucky and saw them at dusk and even though they were a long way off across the meadow and I needed to use an ISO between 1600 and 8000 to get them, the 600mm lens picked them out of the darkness. There are three fledglings continually flapping around including an epic 'battle for the stick' which surprisingly saw the small chick come out on top. I watched them until it was too dark (which was only about 15 minutes) but it was fantastic to see as always and even better to get a few shots to accompany the memory. Click the gallery below for a slideshow of the meadow activities tonight.
I had a fantastic hike to West Wind Pass and The Windtower yesterday, it certainly lived up to its name with a cold wind howling over the top but it also provided some spectacular views over Kananaskis. There are a few teasers in the gallery below or you can Click here for full report and pics.
With showers promised for the day, we decided to get out locally and explore Bearspaw Farmers Market. it's only a short ride (about 15 minutes) from home and we have repeatedly driven past and thought about calling in. Today we called in and and looked around at the usual fare you would expect at such an event and were back in the car just as the rain started.Click small images below and find Sarah out shopping in one of them.
Sarah and I took off to the South Ghost Wilderness today to hike a canyon there, the temperature hit 30 degrees again but the canyon acted like a wind tunnel keeping a cooling breeze blowing for the whole time we were in there. But getting to and from the canyon was a scorcher and even the shade of the forest couldn't cool us much. It was a really fantastic day and the hike was a nice gentle 10k in a previously unexplored canyon. Click gallery below for larger captioned pics.
After enjoying Canada Day together in Cochrane yesterday it was nice to have Sarah still around on a weekday to join me in the mountains. We made a nice steady hike along Evan Thomas Creek in temperatures around 30 degrees so a hard slog was never on the cards, but we had a really enjoyable 10k beside the creek clambering over the destruction wrought by the 2013 floods. Click images below for larger captions versions.
Our first Canada Day in Cochrane was really enjoyable with the celebrations being much more intimate than those in the city as a result of the 'small town' set up at the 'Cochrane Ranche' park in town. We saw a country and western singer called Sydney Mae who really has a great voice, Japanese Drumming and some of those 'Old guys making a rock band' fellas. Lot's of stuff for kids and of course hot dogs, burgers and ice cream. Click gallery below for slideshow.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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January 2024
The Shaman, West Texas
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