Final Chapter!

LET'S END ON A HIGH NOTE - LITERALLY!

The kids figured we should show this picture to our dealer and ask them if our warranty is still in effect! It was decent roads all the way up - honest! Can you see me doing the wild stuff off-roading? Not! The most I've done is go through a creek and up an embankment - and not with this truck!

You must admit without the drive on logging roads up the incredible view would have been missed! And what a view it was!

This was the back road into our hidden mine I alluded to in the last chapter. The short and easy road in was now blocked by an "adventure" company that charges big bucks to take people in on ATV's. So guess what? They blocked the road with their business so people won't think twice about paying when they see others in there in vehicles. We question their tactics - works for them - but can they really block off public access? Whatever the case it caused us to scan the backroad maps and find the back way in. Twice we missed the actual road in (remember these are old abandoned roadways or logging roads) but had an adventure trying to get in! Later we realize there was still a long way to go and our truck probably wouldn't have made it. We are a truck with fairly high clearance and four-wheel drive - but I like my truck too! Unscathed!



FIRST TIME WE MISSED THE CORRECT ROAD!



SECOND TIME WE MISSED THE CORRECT ROAD!



BUT WHAT A VIEW!



WHERE WE HAD COME FROM



WHERE WE WERE TRYING TO GO

There's only one other picture left in my Annual BC Vacation 2008 album and that's snow in the Banff/Canmore area. We won't look at it again! Snow will come soon enough. In the meantime we have treasured memories of our adventures this past year and look forward to many more to come!

Another Chapter!

I should finish up our BC trip shouldn't I?! Another summer-y exciting adventure we had while in BC was to take a train trip into an old abandoned mine. Now mind you we didn't go far under ground, but enough to feel the air turn cool and damp. And there was a retired miner in there explaining the mining operations to us on staged apparatus. BUT, to add to the adventure, our train did de-rail leaving the station. How many people can say they came out of a de-railment unscathed? We did! As you look at the pictures you will realize why this wasn't really as spectacular as it sounds.



OUR TRAIN INTO THE MINE!



VIEW ALONG THE WAY

As we circled around and went up the other side of the valley from the station, we looked back across and could see the Power House still standing, but of course abandoned (for now). The white building up the hill was the original entrance to the mine built in 1915. Much of the actual mine can no longer be entered since they have allowed it to flood with ground water. There are also a variety of original mine cars along side the mainline. Everything from the emergency "ambulance" cars to ones that took the former men of the deep to their place in the workings of the mine. Just looking at those cars gave me the shudders. You couldn't be claustrophobic or mind rubbing shoulders closely with your neighbor. I also could not picture the tall men of our family squeezing (literally) themselves into these cars! I guess you do what you have to do to work!



INSIDE THE MINE

As part of the mine tour we were taken into what they called a _________ Room. (Someone reading this blog can fill in the blank for me!) This room was sealed off for miners to retreat to in the event of a fire or emergency of some sort. As many as 30 men could be packed in one of these designated areas for anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days! They stayed sealed behind the door until they got the all clear to come out.

How do you get a fire in a mine? In the case of this mine and what they were searching for, the rock itself could ignite. Certain quality of rock when unearthed and exposed to oxygen would ignite, but only a certain portion of the mine had to contend with this.

The end of the road was the base of the ski hill. We had a choice to get off and have lunch up there, we kept right on going!

In order to fill in the blanks and numerous questions stirred up in our minds from this little tour, we bought a book in the handy train station gift shop. It also shares the stories the miners tell of their experiences. A good read I would say!

The final result of our mining excursion was a renewed interest to find more of the abandoned mines that scatter the landscape in our vacation area. But that is the next and final chaper yet to come!

More BC Vacation Time

No matter what the weather threw at us, we managed to get in some adventures we haven't in the winter months. As well as our "Teddy Bear Picnic Day" we went up to the top of the Hoodoos with Kevin and Kels. Guess what Brent & Kirstin? The Geocache is still there!! On the way back down we walked the cliff edge this time and worked our way through the tops of the hoodoos and all the sand dunes created by the prevailing winds!



STILL THERE!



KEV AND KELSEY ENJOYING THE VIEW



RESTING ON THE EDGE OF THE HOODOO CLIFF



INTERESTING HOODOO FORMATIONS!



HOODOO HOLE!



GROW WHERE YOU CAN!



AGAIN, A BEAUTIFUL VIEW DOWN THE VALLEY!

Our Annual Vacation in BC

Another yearly vacation in BC at our home away from home has come and gone. This was the first time we went during summer months - anticipating warm weather and lots of sunshine! Good thing we weren't counting on that to make or break the vacation! In fact this is what we drove home through (once back in Alberta though).



THE DRIVE HOME!

Back to our time in BC!

One day Peter took me on a romantic picnic in the woods. It turned out to be either more, or maybe less, than we bargained for! We are pretty sure we saw bear tracks along the way to our destination. No person in their right mind would go around with "bare" feet sliding down the drying rained on pathway! And driving out later we did see a black bear cross the roadway! So I do believe our romantic picnic had the potential of being a teddy bears' picnic.

Teddy Bears' Picnic by J. W. Bratton & J. Kennedy

If you go down to the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today
You better go in disguise.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

No matter what, while watching over our shoulders we were able to have a hurried picnic lunch along the river bank looking upstream to the Lower Bugaboo Falls. They were gorgeous! Especially when the sun peeked through the clouds to brighten them up!



LOWER BUGABOO FALLS



STILL SMILING!

On our way to Bugaboo Falls we made one other side trip earlier that day. Our oldest son would be so proud of us! We drove up Swansea Mountain until the Forestry Service Road came to an end and we had to hike the last half a kilometer or so to the top. There are two hang-gliding ramps up there. I cannot imagine running and leaping off, trusting the airwaves to take you upwards and not plunging down into the valley below! But for those who enjoy such adventure what a beautiful place to soar with the birds!



TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN - HANG GLIDING RAMP!



INCREDIBLE VIEWS FROM THE TOP!



"OUR" MOUNTAIN