Day 4: Oh Canada! Road Trip

Lake Louise to Kamloops

Well sadly we are leaving one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I have recently visited.  I think we hit all the places we wanted to see and today we will make stops in three more National Parks!  It is hard to believe there are five National Parks (Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Glacier, and Mount Revelstoke) in such a small area . . . where one ends another one begins.  

It will be one of the longest days of driving of this trip so I am ready to start so can get it behind me!  So we packed the car and said good bye to the raven that so lovingly woke us up pecking on the window wanting food, true story!  I am sure it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact Colin and my dad were feeding it last night.

Yoho National Park . . . since it is still considered early in the season several places we wanted to stop were closed due to snow still covering the road so we continued on our way.  We did stop at Natural Bridge . . .

. . . and Emerald Lake . . .

We said good bye to Yoho National Park and headed towards Glacier National Park of Canada.  Let’s just say there was a ton of road construction and most of the viewpoints were closed, unmarked, or signs covered up so was a bit of a disappointment, but we did stop at Rockgarden Trail . . .

You guessed it at the end was a big pile of rocks.  Then on to Hemlock Grove Boardwalk Trail which was a bunch of hemlocks . . .

We laughed at the simple names but they both provided a nice stop to get out of the car and stretch our legs!  Our final park of the day was Mount Revelstoke National Park.  First up was Giant Cedar Trail . . . as Colin said, "more trees!"

We did notice a lot of these plants with big leaves . . .

They are called Devil’s Club or Devil's Walking Stick.  I picked up a leaf on the boardwalk and was immediately stuck with a huge thorn.  The entire plant is covered in stickers/thorns and they can grow very large.  The stalk has razor sharp thorns the entire length so wouldn't want to hike across a field of them.  Back on the road . . . Colin was thrilled when I told him this was the last official stop of the day . . . Skunk Cabbage Trail . . .

As the name suggests it smells like skunk.  The skunk cabbage were not in bloom yet but the smell was there.  When the flower's bloom they remind me of a lily.  It was back on the road to what seems like a day of never ending driving!  I already miss the peace and seclusion of where we just left.  We are headed to more populated towns which aren't so relaxing!

Wildlife Today:  slug