Mon. 7th September ‘26
Today we are driving north up Hwy 93 into Kootenay National Park to see what delights that has for us. We head out to the furthest point first and slowly meander back hoping to get to back to town for lunch. There is a short queue through construction works but are soon heading up the pass and an hour later reach the Marble Canyon parking lot, which despite our early start is already almost full. Our notes say that the hike is only 1.6km return so not far. What they do not say is that it is up through the canyon by way of steps and a steepish slope. The canyon is a narrow but a spectacular deep gorge in the limestone rock with water gushing through.
When we return to the river we contemplate the 3km walk to the Paint Pots (6km return) but decide we did not have time. Instead, we drove to the lower car park where the walk was half the distance. Doing our research by reading the signs, we find the cultural significance of the bright orange stream/mud which we find ourselves walking beside. It is iron rich soil which the Ktunaxa people used for pigment. It also makes interesting compositions for our photographs. Good job Dave is good with Lightroom to remove a few people in bright yellow jackets!
Rushing on, we head to Numa Falls, only to find the trail closed due to a landslip. The river is pretty enough with a small waterfall, so we make do with that. It also helps with timing to get back to town. Just two short stops on our descent back to Radium Hot Springs Town. The Kootenay Valley viewpoint is actually on the left side of the road, which is a bit too busy to turn across the oncoming traffic so we park on the right side of the road and use the pedestrian crossing with a button to activate flashing lights to warn traffic. I love the fact the Canadians are very good at stopping when you approach a crossing, very much like the Spanish. I still scare Dave when I just start crossing before the cars are fully stopped.
The final stop of Olive Lake was pretty enough and indeed olive in colour but also on the wrong side of the road so this time we wimp out and continue back to town. The queues through the construction work coming towards us have grown tenfold, good job we are not just heading out now. It also means that we get to the golf club in time for lunch, as we have been told the views down the valley are worth a trip, and they are. The food was good, as was the Fernie Hazy IPA and the Fernie Red Ale. We will be heading through Fernie tomorrow so feel we must try their beers. We also get our first glimpse of the Big Horn sheep which the area is known for and see free to roam around. Not or best shots, but you get the idea.
I was hoping the return to our hotel meant that we could sign off for the day but no, Dave had other ideas. Across from the hotel is Sinclair Creek reached by a steep path downhill which means on returning there is a steep ascent! It is a possible place for sunset photography so we investigate before it gets dark. After the descent we see the creek with a bridge over to the far side. We are puzzled by the mural of salmon leaping painted on the bridge. It turns out that there used to be salmon in the creek which came upstream to spawn. Over time man has diverted the water downstream which means the salmon can no longer traverse. When we get to Vancouver Island, we’re hoping to see the leaping salmon for real.
When sunset came our legs said no, and I suggest an alternative viewpoint which was 4 minute drive south of town. Result, the view across the valley to the mountains gave rise to great sun reflections in a small lake, so I was very happy with this option. The scenery so far on this trip is amazing and changes again tomorrow but I am getting ahead of myself. We sat and watched the colours in the sky come and go, with the sun reflecting off the underside of the clouds, and I am one of my many happy places trying to get a great sunset image.