Kootenay National Park

Trip Start Sep 17, 2007
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Trip End Nov 15, 2007


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Flag of Canada  , British Columbia,
Thursday, October 18, 2007

Today, I spent an amazing day in Kootenay National Park, which lies to the South-West of Banff National Park. I picked up a hire car yesterday, which I have for a week and a half. I was pretty nervous about driving by myself for the first time, but I soon got into the swing of things. Getting lost and spending over an hour trying to find my way back from the airport yesterday evening helped!
    I left Calgary at about 8am and after a much needed coffee stop in Banff at 10am arrived into Kootenay at about 11am. The first point of interest was the Continental Divide, which is the dividing line between the Pacific and Atlantic Watersheds. The next stop just a few minutes down the road was the lovely Marble Canyon. Unfortunately the area is still regenerating from a wildfire, but the river and canyon were still beautiful. Another few km's down the road are the Paint Pots, which is an area where there are mineral rich springs, which result in the earth being a deep ochre color Black Bear 1, Kootnenay NP
Black Bear 1, Kootnenay NP
 . Pretty but be prepared to get muddy!
     It was then a long but still very scenic drive down to the next stopping point. However, I wasn't expecting an surprise stop along the way. I couldn't believe my luck, when there were a couple of cars stopped along the opposite side of the road, and I realized that there was a Black Bear grazing by the road-side. I pulled over and watched for about 20mins, before the bear slowly wandered off back into the forest. It was a a really unexpected bonus to the day, as my wildlife sightings have been pretty abysmal so far. The last few stops were the lovely Kootenay Valley Viewpoint, and the absolutely stunning olive Lake. I then headed North to Golden to my hotel for the night.
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