June 24th, Cranbrook to Calgary, Alberta - 265 miles

1. Gene at Columbia Lake........................................ 2. Radium Hot Springs Pool



3. Marble Canyon .................................. 4. Continental Divide



5. Banff Hot Springs Hotel

What a magnificent day! We stopped off at Fort Steele and then drove up the 1000 peak valley to Radium Hot Springs. We saw deer, elk and mountain goats enroute. The roads were deserted and there were beautiful farms, magnificent lakes flanked on both sides by the snow topped Purcells and Rockies. The number of gorgeous golf courses was unbelievable; you could play at a different course every day for two weeks along a 140 kilometers of highway.

It was interesting to see Radium Hot Springs, in Kootenay National Park, where I worked as a surveyor for the summer when I was a university student. The Invermere Valley and Radium Hot Springs have boomed with a plethora of accomidations. The park is still an unspoiled wilderness with the hot springs still a major attraction. In 2003 there was a major forest fire caused by lightening that burned 175 square kilometers of forest over 40 days. They are now doing controlled ground burns the way Indians previously did to compare the rejuvenation results from each.

We stopped at Marble Canyon and then visited Banff. The tourist traffic at Banff reminds me of traffic in Newport, Rhode Island during the summer. After lunch we drove to Calgary where I left my bike at Blackfoot Motosports for servicing on Thursday.