We postponed our annual trip to Golden, BC due to a major snow storm that hit Calgary last weekend but this past Saturday, we awoke to clear skies and a forecast of flurries later in the day.
We left the house at 8:30 a.m. and joined the ski bunnies driving to the mountains. At the Nakiska exit, the traffic dwindled with more leaving us at Mt. Norquay in Banff and Sunshine Village west of the town. The road between Banff and Lake Louise was once a death trap but now the highway is twinned so it should have been smooth sailing. It was, except for the black ice. We saw one accident where the car had spun around and another where the SUV became stranded on top of a snow drift. Both vehicles had careened past us at high speeds. They'd hit the black ice and that was it.
Slow down folks! Just because you have 4 wheel drive, it doesn't mean you can drive as if it were summer.
There is a viewpoint at Castle Mountain, east of Lake Louise, that has pit toilets. We usually stop here when driving to Victoria. Even though it was cold, the smell is a lot better in the winter. Besides, the view was spectacular as you can see from my photo.
There were at least 100 cars waiting on the highway to exit to the Lake Louise ski area so I was glad we weren't skiing. We had another hour to go before reaching Golden but the road conditions grew worse so travel was slow. This meant I could take photographs from the car window. The new span across the Kicking Horse River has an incredible rock cut that I was able to capture.
After renewing the insurance on the van, we went to our favourite restaurant, the Whitetooth Bistro. I had carrot & zucchini soup with sour cream and dill--it was a fantastic burst of flavour and the Veggie Press sandwich which has become my 'usual'. Glen had the Daily Deli which consisted of a bun stacked high with barbecue beef and red and banana peppers. He had to resort to using a knife and fork to eat it. We enjoyed Okanagan Spring's 1516 then good strong coffee.
The day was sunny in Golden so we walked down to the Columbia River. The snow was deep powder. Apparently, they had new snow late in the week and on Friday, the highway to Calgary was closed due to avalanche control. I did mention to Glen as we drove under the high cliffs that we should be alert to avalanches.
The drive home was uneventful until we left the mountains and ran smack into a blizzard. Visibility fell instantly to about two car lengths and everyone, except the idiots, slowed down. Scott Lake Hill is the highest point on the TransCanada Highway and the storm was worse there. However, once we dropped down onto the grasslands, the snow vanished and it was good winter driving into Calgary.
This will be the last trip we make to Golden as our insurance renewal will now come due in the summer when we're usually in Victoria.
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