A day in Golden, British Columbia

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Had a lazy morning, then went into Golden to check things out. We are early for the summer season; things don’t start kicking around here until after the next weekend. That’s a little disappointing because we wanted to ride the Gondola up to the top of the mountain where there is a restaurant and the views are suppose to be fantastic!

So, we walked through a little of the historical section and then had a late lunch out on the patio overlooking the Kicking Horse River. The most outstanding thing we saw in Golden was the pedestrian bridge over the Kicking Horse River.

During the bleak days of 9/11 the entire community of Golden, along with other volunteers joined forces and built this bridge, completely of wood.

The bridge is the longest free standing timber framed bridge in Canada, spanning 151’. The bridge weighs about 210,000 pounds and was constructed of 72,000 board feet of Douglas-Fir timbers.

The bridge connects the Rotary walking/biking trails that surround the town, and at one end of the bridge is a lovely pavilion bursting with the color of spring flowers,

which is also carried out into the town where there are baskets full of flowers hanging all over town.

After lunch, we drove up to the Kicking Horse Resort where Fran went horseback riding today. I met the lady who gives the rides and she believes they have a horse I can ride, so we are both going riding tomorrow…if it doesn’t rain. We have an alert that this area is suppose to receive heavy rains tomorrow, so we will see.

Ft Steele to Donald, BC, Canada

Monday, June 17, 2013

We left Ft Steele this morning around 11:00am, heading north on Highway 93, which for the most part travels through several valleys sandwiched between snow capped mountains on the east and west.

Several glacier fed rivers wind their way through these valley’s, coming and going, merging and splitting.

Wetlands abound and are preserved, providing shelter for a variety of wildlife. There are several herds of Big Horn Sheep, Elk, Deer and Bears, although we didn’t see any of them today.

Highway 93 eventually branched off and headed for Banff National Park and we continued north on Highway 95. Tonight we are camped at the Campers Haven RV Park in Donald, BC, about 25 kilometers north of Golden. The campground has views of the snow capped peaks of Canada’s Glacier Park

to the west and Yoho National Park on the east, all of which we want to explore. We are looking forward to our time here.

Golden is open all year to tourist and looks like a fun town to explore. You can do it all here! On Kicking Horse Mountain, as near as I can tell from the map, there are about 126 different ski slopes and several lifts to get you there. The highest peak is at 8,033’ and there is a ski slope from the top of that. Yikes!!

During this time of the year there is river rafting, mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding to name a few.

Fort Steele, BC, Canada

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Slept in this morning and that felt really good!

The thing to see in this area is the Fort Steele Heritage Town, which just happens to be right across the highway from the RV Park.

The origin of Fort Steele is closely linked to the discovery of gold on nearby Wild Horse Creek in the 1860’s. As more people arrived, tensions mounted between the First Nation tribe of the Ktunaxa and the settlers. Superintendent Samuel B. Steele and 75 members of the North West Mounted Police were sent to resolve the problems, and they established the first post west of the Rockies. This post was later to become Ft Steele.

Today, the Heritage Town represents a typical turn of the century town. Over 60 buildings and structures have been restored and reconstructed

since the site was designated a heritage property in 1961. There are several shops, such as the leather and blacksmith shops where demonstrations of how things were done in the 1890’s are given. You can take a wagon ride,

or ride on the train,

powered by an 1890’s steam engine. It was an interesting day.

Crossing into Canada

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Today we traveled from Kalispell, MT to Ft Steele, BC, Canada. When John and Fran went through the border last year going into Canada, they got stopped and inspected; plants, liquor and wine were confiscated because they were over the limit. So, we have all been stressing about the amount of wine we had.

When we got to the border today, the guys were just going to tell the agent how much they had and pay the duty on it. We went through the line first, the guy looks at our passports and ID, they ask us when the last time we came into Canada was, we answered, and then he wanted to know if we had any weapons. Phil said no, and the guy says not even a .45 under the seat? Phil says no again, so the guy says ok, you can go. Whew! One down, one to go. John pulls up and the guy ask him the same type of questions, but instead of the under the seat question, he says to John, “Not even a little, itsy bitsy gun??” It took everything John and Fran had not to bust out laughing!! But, the guy let them go, and no questions about alcohol, pets or plants.

Tonight we are camped at the Fort Steele RV Park, just up from Cranbrook, BC. We have a couple of nights here, so this afternoon, we just relaxed, and took a nap.

Whitefish for dinner

Friday, June 14, 2013

Today was a down day, did some wash and cleaned house.

We went up to Whitefish this afternoon so Fran could check out a Dude Ranch where they have horseback riding. Then we went back into town to scout out a place to eat dinner. We walked up and down the main street looking at menu’s, then went back to the first place we had checked out and ate there. Before we left, the place was packed, so I guess we made a good choice, the food was really good anyway.

Then we headed back towards home, with a stop at Costco. Tomorrow we cross the border into British Columbia, Canada, and we are kind of anxious about the crossing.