Woke up at 0830 and pottered around till about 1130, watching TV and browsing the web, happy for a bit of down time. The weather had finally turned and it was raining and cloudy, visibility was very poor. We were very lucky with the weather yesterday.
Had a look on Tripadvisor and most of the activities are hikes and views of the mountains, but since it would be hard to see anything decided to visit a waterfall because it didn’t matter what the weather was like. The first stop was for brunch, although Song made herself some congee so didn’t want anything. We found a cafe that was popular and I had a roast beef, bacon and cheese sandwich which was very nice although had mustard that was very hot.
Drove the 24 km to the waterfall, passing the 4 deer we saw yesterday, through rain and low cloud.
We arrived at the Athabasca Falls and didn’t have to walk far from the car park.
The falls were very impressive – not too big, but very pretty. There were walk ways and viewing platforms all around, and we got very close to the falls. You could see where the water had carved out the channels over thousands of years, and there was also a walk through one of the old channels. Very interesting.
The next stop was back the way we came to the Malign Canyon, another gorge that had a river running through it that had carved a deep channel with multiple small waterfalls. Again there were paths and viewing places giving great views of the canyon that in some places was over 50 metres deep. The paths followed the river through the pine woods, and we only saw a few people, probably because of the weather. An old guy asked us if we saw the eagle’s nest. I said no, then suddenly through the trees we saw the eagle flying away, I just got a glimpse.
Left to go back to the hotel, keeping an eye out for other wildlife – apparently there are moose and grizzly bears around – but we didn’t spot anything.
Spent a few hours back at the hotel then went for dinner, walking 10 minutes into the town. As we walked the Rocky Mountaineer train pulled in – this is the train that travels through the mountains. We had considered booking it but decided to drive instead. Driving gives more flexibility, but also the train was very expensive and didn’t fit our time frame. Found a restaurant that looked decent, called Syrahs, and it turned out to be very good.
For starter I had roasted cauliflower puree cheese crust topped with baby tomatoes, walnut, and olives which was excellent. Song had bison sausage which she liked. For main I had bison steak on blue cheese mashed potato and spicy roasted vegetables. Again, excellent, although I wouldn’t have known it was bison if not told, it tasted like a steak.
Song had boar, which she enjoyed and said it was tender, but also said she would have guessed it was pork. We shared a goats cheese and white chocolate cheese cake. I also had a Yukon stout, Song had a cider which I had most of. A very nice meal, the best of the trip so far.
Walked back to the hotel, the temperature had dropped noticeably.
Tomorrow we’re driving to a place called Kamloops and another time change.
