Radium

Photos - The obligatory Lake Louise shot, the PT Cruiser that we took from Calgary to Vancouver, Erith and her friend Ellie on the whitewater raft and a bighorn sheep by the side of the road.

Marcus says:

We set off from Banff pretty early and headed to Lake Louise for the mandatory photo shoot - you can't go to Canada and not get a shot of that scene. Despite the fact that we hadn't been able to find a single place to stay through Wotif in Radium, we decided that we'd go there anyway and hope for the best, as every gamble so far has paid off. (Either that or I've repressed them - dunno...) Anyway, we got a nice place without any problem at all - there were vacancies everywhere. As we pulled up to the motel we had chosen, we noticed two deer grazing on a lawn, totally unconcerned by us pulling up close and snapping some photos. (I know, we'd look like American tourists snapping shots of kangaroos - too bad!)

Radium was just like I remembered it, which was good in the sense that it hasn't been overbuilt, but bad in the sense that it really seemed quite badly under-developed. There was no internet cafe and even the tourist-related activities such as horseback riding were poor. Also, there were no hotels with the possible exception of the Lodge sitting just across the highway from the hot springs, but even if it is a hotel, it seems unlikely that it would be expensive or popular. There's a big timber mill in sight from much of the strip and the strip feels like the intersection of two highways, which in fact it is. It seems that someone should swoop in with a pot of money and turn it into something more like Banff - I'm sure there's plenty to be made of it as it's a good place and not really out of the way.

One interesting thing - the highway leading into Radium from the north is downhill for about 5 km. Just as we were passing a truck pull-off on the crest, we saw a guy setting out on a skateboard, with his mates in the car behind him, videoing the whole thing. He must have hit 80 kph at least - we passed him when he slowed down to 60 on a flat and then pulled over to watch him streak past on another steep stretch. Twice he wobbled, but he held on. He had all the right gear on, but I'd still class him as both brave and stupid.

We went for a long drive into the semi-mountainous wilderness the next morning, no doubt subjecting our brand new PT Cruiser to the first gravel road it had ever seen. We went about 30 km down a very small road, but only saw a few deer and coyotes aside from gophers and chipmunks. It was fun driving on gravel -I haven't done that for years. We only saw about 2 other vehicles on the road, possibly because it was Sunday morning, but also because it was that sort of road.

Once we got back, we checked out a trail riding outfit. Yep, we were both still walking like cowboys from the ride a couple of days before so I don't know how we even contemplated it, but we'd had such a good time in Banff that we decided to do it. We were foiled by the operators though - they couldn't fit us in unless we burnt up another day, but we just didn't have it as we had to get to Vancouver to catch our flight to Los Angeles. We were very glad that we'd done the trail ride in Banff, as it was surely more scenic and the outfit in Radium seemed a bit dodgey anyway. They were probably okay, but they were small and seemed unorganised - I'm sure they wouldn't have matched the time we had in Banff.

We decided to check out white water rafting instead. At first, Erith wasn't that keen, but when she heard that there was a family-friendly trip and that there were other kids booked in already, she decided we should do it. I was looking very forward to it - I'd never done it before and even if it was going to be scaled back, it was just the sort of activity I love. Sun, water and exercise - what's not to love? We booked a three hour tour with the intention of jumping into the car afterwards and getting to Kelowna, hopefully catching up with Bernie Wilson before heading to Vancouver the next morning.

As per our directives, the morning was gorgeous - sunny and warm enough that I knew I wouldn't need anything except shorts and a T-shirt for the day. We got on the bus for the 1/2 hour drive to the river, doing the last 12 km down a gravel logging road, eventually arriving in the middle of nowhere. The bridge that we had just crossed to get there was the last sign of humans we would see for 40 km, until the bus at the other end of the trip. (Is that a banjo I'm hearing?)

The rafting was a lot of fun. Nothing too challenging, but plenty of rapids that splashed into the raft, evoking squeals out of Erith and Ellie - an eight year old Albertan girl on holidays with her mother. The water was cold, so the squeals were genuine - the guide told us that 10 hours and 120 km before, the water would have thawed off the glacier as the Columbia River is totally glacial-fed. Our three hours came to an end and the guide suggested that anyone who wanted to extend could, as the afternoon group was light on. Ellie and Erith both sprang into action - it's remarkable that two kids from opposite sides of the planet instinctively use identical tactics. I wasn't that hard to convince especially after Ellie had success, as Erith hadn't had a kid her own age to play with for a long time and they got on well.

The afternoon was more of the same. Where the water was slow and deep we would jump in for an icy dip - I'll have you know that my front flips were scored well by the rest of the rafties. We saw a bit of wildlife - a couple of deer, but not much else.

As the afternoon wore on, it was obvious that I was getting a sunburn on my thighs. I was pretty surprised as (kids, cover your eyes) I hadn't used sunscreen since Thailand, or maybe the first day in Italy. I thought I was tanned enough not to worry, but I ended up pretty red. The sun was hot and we were out for 7 hours, but it still took me by surprise. Erith had been covered and was wearing a wetsuit anyway, so she was fine. The other annoyance was the horse flies, though they were big, stupid and slow, so even the kids made sport of ending their miserable lives. They especially loved me, which was odd given that no other bugs are ever interested in me - perhaps it was because I didn't have bug spray on either.

We finished up at about 5:00 pm, with everyone totally exhausted. Erith snoozed during the 45 minute trip back, but as we had checked out of our hotel and it was obvious that we weren't driving anywhere, we had to check into another and get some dinner. We went to a restaurant just down the street that specialised in nothing but served almost everything. We got fortune cookies at the end of the meal, but I felt that there was a reasonable chance that I had been given the wrong one - it said "Need some adventure and enjoyment? Take a vacation." There were what looked like lotto numbers on the back, but I didn't bother investing in them.

We conked out early - tomorrow was going to be a tough drive.