A Rocky vacation

Ken and Peggy Drellishak

In August 2002, we cruised to Alaska and were amazed at the beautiful

natural terrain and sea life. After that trip, we decided it was time

to see some more local natural beauty, so we toured the Grand Canyon

and surrounding national parks, which are even more beautiful and

remarkable than Alaska. We were sorry we had waited so long to visit

these natural wonders.

So this April, we spent a few days in Yosemite (last seen when I

was 8 years old.) When you exit the tunnel into the valley, you can’t

help but think of the James Hilton’s hero’s feeling on seeing

Shangri-La. It was the height of snowmelt, so all the famous

waterfalls, plus seasonal waterfalls, were abundant and dramatic.

There was snow on Half Dome, and our room at the classic Awahanee

Hotel opened to its vista. Yosemite Falls was thundering and you can

walk up a dramatic trail to its base.

It was inspiring. We were hooked, and with the current political

climate, we decided to visit more of these natural wonders in North

America.

Calgary was our start of a Tauck bus tour of the Northern Rockies.

Calgary is a pristine city with very modern and dramatic architecture

reflecting the wealth of oil and gas country. Buildings are connected

with what resembles a habitat trail. It was mid-June, and weather was

clear and temperatures were in the 80s.

As we began our tour, we learned that because of the severe acute

respiratory syndrome, or SARS, many Asian tourists were staying home.

Since this business usually represented half of their tours, we

learned it was bad for them, but lucky for us, because what is

usually a heavy tour time, turned out to be very comfortable and less

crowded. As you leave Calgary, you realize the city is situated on

flat plains and becomes very striking at a distance.

We headed south and weren’t sure what to expect when our first

stop was “Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump.” It turned out to be an

amazing museum carefully built into a miles-long escarpment. Here,

Indians hunted buffalo by stampeding herds over the cliff to their

death at the base. Apparently, one Indian was too curious and wanted

to see from the bottom what the buffalo looked like falling over the

edge. It must have been a Darwinian story of the tribe.

Many tours of this area are prevalent, but we chose the one that

included Glacier National Park in northern Montana. Dramatic old

hotels were visited and thoroughly enjoyed. Their history is so much

a part of the parks. Many Glacier Lodge on Swiftcurrent Lake was our

first close look at glaciers.

All the lakes we visited were deep turquoise blue with a milky

quality from the very fine silt from glaciers. It was so beautiful. A

special treat was touring the area in renovated red 1920 tour buses.

We traversed Logan Pass in these wonderful buses with the top open on

a glorious warm day. Spectacular sights led to a feeling of total

immersion into the one-time glacier-covered scenery.

This, of course, was before the forest fires of this summer. So we

were lucky to miss the fire, but many times the tour operator talked

of how important forest fires are to the environment. Many times he

would show areas burned 50 years ago and point out the lodgepole pine

trees that are the first to recover the area. Then spruce trees choke

out the lodgepole pines creating a renewed spruce tree forest.

From Glacier National Park, we traveled north to the eastern

foothills of the Canadian Rockies and stopped at beautiful Lake

Louise. Personally, I found this to be the highlight of the trip. We

enjoyed a peaceful stay at the Chateau Lake Louise Hotel with a view

right in the middle of this lake. Although they were building a

convention center adjacent to the hotel, the charm and beauty is

intact for all to enjoy.

You may walk on a paved path around the lake that is fed by

glaciers. We even had a bear scare on our trek. Apparently a tourist

was taking pictures of a mamma grizzly bear and got between the

mother and the two cubs, so we respected Mother Nature and cut our

hike short.

We continued north from Lake Louise, on the Icefields Parkway, and

into the area of the Columbia Icefield, the largest body of ice in

the Rocky Mountains, at 130 miles square. Our picture here on the

2.5-mile square of the Athabasca Glacier was exciting. As they took

this picture, someone announced a tiny avalanche had started.

Apparently, the glaciers are moving all the time (like California)

and caught our attention. These huge snow coaches move just a few

miles per hour and go down a very steep hill to maneuver onto the

ice. We are standing on 1,000 feet of ice and grateful for it.

We proceeded farther north to Jasper Lake and surrounding areas, a

totally different feel of a more level terrain mountain resort.

Low-lying buildings with groups of cabins surround a lake. This was

in contrast to the very formal chateau decor of the other hotels on

tour. It rained that day, but we still enjoyed the beauty of the area

from our room by the lake and got to rest and read. Many side trips

were available at levels of adventure for everyone.

After Jasper, we turned south to Calgary with a final stop at

Banff. We took a side road to Banff and saw some elk and bears in

this area. We were greeted with bagpipes at the Banff Springs Hotel,

an amazingly beautiful historic structure surrounded by rugged peaks.

Weather had turned cold by now with rain, but it added to the snow

covered mountains. Ansel Adams would have had a field day. Fog would

clear to reveal gigantic rugged mountains.

Again, we were so rewarded by another visit to the beauty of North

America. I can understand why so many Europeans visit and camp in

these amazing parks. We are fortunate that our forefathers had the

vision to save and protect these magnificent natural wonders. Now on

to Yellowstone and points east.

Fellow tourists hated to see the tour end and return home to daily

routines. When asked our final destination, we said we would still be

on vacation because we are retired and live in Newport Beach.

* TRAVEL TALES runs on Thursdays. Have you, or someone you know,

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