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Aug 9 -15 This last week was so very pleasant that we forgot about the blog – and you. Westward from Lake Louise takes you through Yoho and Revelstoke National Parks with the famous Rogers Pass in between. Before the pass we saw the section of CP tracks and the spiral tunnels with two loops – one about 270 deg. the other almost 360 deg. By building the tunnels, the straight line hill with 4.5% grade (dangerous for trains) was reduced to 2.2%. There is much freight traffic on this line and that was obvious at our campgrounds in Golden and Canyon Hot Springs Revelstoke. One location had constant shunting of cars 300 metres away. The other campground had rails on a hill along two sides. As the engine increased power, pulling the squealing wheels of the long trains around the curve it was difficult to have a normal conversation. Luckily they did not run this stretch during he night. You have probably heard about Golden and Revelstoke as famous ski centres.

At Revelstoke we turned south and the drive was unusual as the road paralleled the Upper Arrow and Slocan Lakes. The views reminded us of Norwegian fjords and we even had a ferry ride providing excellent water-view.

Nelson was our goal because my good friend from high school in Smiths Falls, Gordon Gray, lives here with his wife Moe. We sat on their veranda high above Nelson with a view over the Kootenay River, walked the steep streets and shopped. Several good meals and much good company completed the visit. Just south of the campground we also visited Mark Cochrane and Yvonne. With their family they live in Ymir (‘whymir’) with their children. The mountains almost too close for us but it is a beautiful place nonetheless and it was great to see Mark and meet Yvonne. These were good times and very relaxing for us, and being able to leave the trailer in one location for 5 nights is always special. Kline’s RV Park is one of the nicest campgrounds we have visited on the whole trip. Not modern, well laid out or full of conveniences - actually none of these. Instead we backed on to a bedroom view of a good sized creek with crystal clear water. Power and sewer connection plus the water from the tap was clean enough to drink and good-tasting. We also had free cable TV and Wi-Fi. All for $20.00 per night!

From here we shall complete the circle and drive east to Alberta.

21 Lake Louise to Nelson