Calgary to Lake Louise

When we woke up it was 45 this morning and cloudy.

We left Symon’s Valley RV Park at 10:00 and headed west on Hwy 201 to TC-1 then west out of Calgary. We passed by the Canada Olympic Park.

From Calgary to Lake Louise

We stopped at a roadside stop at 10:30 for about 15 minutes and saw this pile of grain and a lot of Columbian ground squirrels. We don’t know if the grain was left there on purpose or by accident.

From Calgary to Lake Louise

From Calgary to Lake Louise

We drove through the Stony Indian Reserve and saw this billboard for the Lake Louise Gondola (which we’re going on tomorrow)

From Calgary to Lake Louise

and then this billboard for the Columbia Icefield which we’re going to after Lake Louise.

From Calgary to Lake Louise

At 11:15 we stopped for lunch at the Lac des Arcs roadside stop, which is a resting area for swans, geese and ducks in their migrations in the spring and autumn.

Then we saw this sign warning of wildlife on the highway and hoped we would see some, but they must have been hiding.

From Calgary to Lake Louise

We stopped at a Petro-Canada in Canmore to get gas in the RV. We got 128.314 L (33.901 gal) and paid $1.169 a liter (abt $4.884 a gal).

We arrived at the entrance to Banff National Park at 12:30 and paid $49.80 CAD (senior rate) for the 3 days that we’re staying in the park. The park charges a daily fee per person which for seniors is $8.30 CAD.

We arrived at the entrance to the Lake Louise Trailer Campground and paid $64.60 CAD for a campsite for 2 nights. They aren’t taking reservations until June 17th, so you’re assigned a site when you get here.

We are in site #77 with 30 amp electric hook-up, but no water or sewer hook-ups. The site is a long gravel site with grass on each side. A lot of the campsites are double occupancy (2 RVs), but the ranger at the entrance assigned us a single site.

From Lake Louise

We have nice view of the Bow River out our front windows. The weather was cloudy most of the day, but it is supposed to clear up tomorrow. The temperature stayed around 49 for most of today, but did get up to 51 for a little bit.

From Lake Louise

After setting up the RV, we took Tinker and went for a walk along the Bow River.

From Lake Louise

From Lake Louise

Then we drove into town to go to the Visitor Center and the Samson Mall. We bought some postcards and got stamps at the Post Office. When we were in Canada in 2009 the postage for postcards to the U.S. cost $.99 and now they cost $1.03.

When we returned to the campground, we drove around to see how many RVs were here and stopped to look at the Bow River again.

From Lake Louise

It is now 9:30 and still quite light outside and the temp is 45. I think the temp in the morning is supposed to be in the mid-30’s.