Today we had to meet in the hotel lobby at 6 am to catch our coach back to the train. However, once we were all on board, the driver was told that the train was not ready and to give us a driving tour of Kamloops. Guess what? There is NOT much to see in Kamloops!
Rocky is ready for his train ride already:
We finally boarded at 7:30 and the train was off at 8 am. The reason we were late was because a freight train broke down at the station, blocking our tracks. They had to get another engine in to pull the freight train off. Today our Rocky Mountaineer has 3 engines.
They started us off with breakfast right away. No one on our car got cinnamon on their french toast because of Frankie.
Today we travelled past 7 rivers and 2 mountain ranges.
There is one small town called Chase, where a woman named Doris has trained her dog to tell her when the Rocky Mountaineer is coming. He can tell it apart from other trains. So every time it comes by, she stands on her back porch and waves both arms at the train. Last year she actually took the train, so the train sent some crew members on ahead and they stood on her back porch and waved at her as she went by.
Last year the wildfires were so bad that Rocky Mountaineer passengers had to be bused through some sections, the fires were right at the tracks.
The shoreline of Lake Shuswap is longer than 1000 kms.
The Last Spike was laid in 1885, joining the railway across all of Canada. But don't be fooled. The first spike did not actually go in, and the second one was removed right away to go into a museum. So the Last Spike that you see here is actually the THIRD Last Spike.
We went through Eagle's Pass where there were large snow guards. We were starting to see snow.
We passed the Columbia River into Revelstoke. This was our animal sighting for today:
Rogers Pass is known for having the largest number of avalanches in Canada. The snow can be 15 meters deep.
We went through Connaught Tunnel through Mt Avalanche which was 8 kms long. When the train exited the tunnel, everyone went "OH!!!!!" because all of a sudden there was ALOT of snow! People started singing Christmas songs.
However, since we were now experiencing the first snow storm of the season, this meant a 2 hour delay as we sat at the top of the mountain waiting for the tracks to be cleared. A Canadian Pacific pilot car had to go ahead of us to clear the way. Lucky for us, we stopped next to a cell tower.
Our favourite river was Kicking Horse River. It was named because some guy's horse got spooked and kicked him. The other guys thought he was dead, and since he was the doctor, he could not tell them otherwise. He came to just as they were about to lower him into a grave.
Well, we were now about 3 hours behind schedule. so they not only fed us lots of snacks, but dinner as well, which was not originally planned.
We got in to the Rockies at last, and it was almost dark. So we only saw a bit of them from the train.
We went through the Spiral Tunnels. This is where the train tracks loop back over themselves so you can see the front of the train as well as the back travelling in a different direction.
We finally made it into Banff at 10:30 pm. Frankie threw a snowball at our new Texan friend because he had been wanting to see snow. We had been planning to pick up our luggage and walk ourselves to our hotel, but the snow was too deep to walk in with our running shoes. We lined up for a taxi to our hotel and decided to share with the couple who had been behind us on the train, since they were also staying at the Banff Inn. However, it seemed that people who were just 2 in their party were being given taxis much faster, so we split up. We ended up being given a ride in a pickup truck by one of the Mountaineer workers. Apparently Banff only has about a dozen taxis, and they were not prepared for the storm. So the workers of the Mountaineer were told to get their personal vehicles and shuttle people. Lucky for us, this guy had 4 wheel drive!
Apparently Calgary was hit by a record snowfall today, and there were some major accidents on the Trans Canada Highway.
The Banff Inn was very nice, great room that they kept the temperature of a refrigerator. The washroom was a freezer. Brrr!
Banff is named after Banffshire in Scotland, because 2 major financial contributors to the CP Railway were born there.
Since Banff is located within a national park (as are Lake Louise and Jasper), all development is highly regulated. Banff National Park is home to 57 species of mammals, 265 species of birds, and almost 300 species of butterflies.
Maybe that is why Banff does not allow road salt????? They use gravel pellets instead. Which is why the roads are so icy!
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