Our flight from Ottawa to Calgary was painless and went like
clockwork.
Flying over the prairies though, we could see the fields
still covered with snow. That was unexpected, but it may have been just left
over from the night before. However, as we drove from Calgary into the
foothills and then into the mountains, the snow cover continued to build. By
the time we reached Banff, the secondary roads were still partially snow
covered, and the well worn all season tires on our rental AWD vehicle felt
quite inadequate.
At Lake Louise, there were 4 foot snow banks along the road.
After checking into Deer Lodge, the first thing I checked was the weather forecast
for the next few days in our direction of travel. Fortunately, there was no
more snow in sight and above zero daytime temperatures. It left us hopeful we'd be able to get across BC
without getting delayed.
Being in the mountains has led to other unforeseen
situations though. Yesterday, while taking the more scenic road from Banff to
Lake Louise, a section of road was closed due to reconstruction of an
embankment which had slid into the river. As a result, we were detoured back
onto the main highway after only a few kilometer misstep. Initially, we found the
road closure signage unclear and beyond our understanding of the area. However
a Google search turned up Skier Bob reporting that the section at Morant's
Curve was closed and explained clearly what we needed to do to get to Lake Louise.
He went on to say that skiers should not be concerned though as track setting
of the trail would not be interrupted. Of course, there's nothing like local
knowledge.
Even though it's the beginning of the second week of April,
there's other signs winter is not quite done here. When we looked up some of
the ski runs on Mount Norquay, we saw skiers making their way down.
Lesson learned, there's still lots of snow in the Rockies at
this time of year, and in a blink, we could get delayed or maybe even stranded.
Click here for the next story in this series:http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2018/04/ranches-on-bcs-interior-plateau.html
