Travelogue

We continued our journey east along the Trans-Canada Highway, which took us right through the southern section of Mount Revelstoke National Park in the Selkirk Mountain Range. Unfortunately, the most spectacular thing to do in this park is to drive the Meadows in the Sky Parkway to the summit of Mount Revelstoke, but this was not a possibility for us since RV's are prohibited on this steep and windy road. Not having the time, nor the desire at this point, to hike the 6 miles up to the summit, we continued east along Highway 1. Wanting to do something in this park, we stopped to hike the short Skunk Cabbage Trail along the Illecillewaet River. It was a nice hike, but certainly not the best that Revelstoke had to offer. The mountains were the real draw.

As we continued on our drive, I noticed that Andrew kept staring at me. "Has your nose gotten fatter?" he finally asked. I quickly looked in a mirror and to my horror I saw that the bridge of my nose was about a ½ inch wider than it should be. Apparently, the swelling from my head injury in Olympic 4 days ago was shifting down my face and settling in my nose. I looked ridiculous. Just looking at me made Andrew feel even worse, if that was possible, about what had happened.

When we got to Glacier National Park, we stopped at the Park Headquarters just east of Rogers Pass. We were quite high up in the Selkirk Range and the glacier-covered peaks surrounding us were spectacular. I was hesitant at first to go into the visitor center because of my rather strange looking nose, but I figured nobody knew me here so it really didn't matter. While I was contemplating whether it would make sense for us to buy a Canada National Parks Pass, I glanced down at my watch to see the date so that I could calculate how many days we would be spending in the park system. I let out a gasp when I saw July 26th. "We're supposed to be in Banff today!" I shrieked at Herb. "We're late for meeting the Kalchbrenners (our friends from New Jersey)." This was not one of my finer moments. I must have looked and sounded like a crazy woman. After calming me down, Herb informed me that it was the 25th and we were right on schedule. Apparently, when setting my watch to the proper time zone, Andrew had inadvertently moved the date forward. He looked quite sheepish realizing that he had gotten me again.

We got back in the RV and continued east to the town of Golden where we were planning to meet our friends that evening. "Let's pull ourselves together and get ready for company," I said while pressing on my nose trying to make it look smaller.

Description

Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks, which are located on the Alberta side of the Rocky Mountains, are much less crowded and touristy than Banff and Jasper National Parks to the east. The Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) passes through both of them.

Mount Revelstoke National Park

The park comprises 161 square miles of the glacier-clad peaks of the Selkirk Range. The most popular activity in the park is to drive along the 14-mile Meadows in the Sky Parkway to the summit of Mount Revelstoke, 6,000 feet above sea level (road open from July through September). Unfortunately, the road is so narrow, steep, and winding that RV’s and trailers are prohibited. For the more adventurous, hiking the very strenuous 6-mile Summit Trail is also an option.

The park has approximately 40 miles of marked trails ranging from short boardwalks to the very challenging Summit Trail. There are no services or campgrounds within the park.

Glacier National Park

The much larger Glacier National Park encompasses 837 square miles of the highest peaks of the Selkirk Range, 14% of which are covered by glaciers. The most popular activities in the park are viewing the glacier-clad peaks and hiking through the wildflower meadows and up to the base of the glaciers. Several trails start from the Rogers Pass Visitor Center. From the Illecillewaet Campground, there are several more strenuous hikes up into the mountain peaks.

The park headquarters, located just east of Rogers Pass, has displays and exhibits on the history and geology of the park as well as information on hiking trails.