

After breakfast, we packed the Honda and cleared off the snow, all 3 inches of it and set off along Hwy 3. The roads in Taber were very much slush covered but once we got out of town, the road was just wet. The scenery was nothing to write about since the clouds were hanging so low you could almost touch them. Once we got past Lethbridge, the sleet turned to rain and we started to enjoy the scenery more. After stopping for a coffee in Pincher Creek, we st
arted to leave the prairies behind us, we were definitely getting into the Rocky Mountain Foothills. It didn't take too long before we well into the mountains and crossed Crowsnest Pass. The scenery is getting absolutely gorgeous now, even though the mountain tops are hidden in the clouds. At one point we crossed the Kootenay river which is a major river flowing south to cross into the US and then back into British Columbia into Kootenay Lake and from there it flows into the Columbia river at Castlegar, BC.

We motored steadily on to Cranbrook where we stopped for lunch at the local Timmy's. By now the rain had stopped and the temperature had started to climb to a balmy 6 deg C. Note that it was 0 deg C when we left Taber this morning! We now turned onto Hwy 95N and continued on to our stop over for this weekend, Golden. The road follows the Columbia river valley basically. The Columbia flows north here and if you look at the map above, the Kootenay flows south, parallel to the Columbia. However, there is a mountain chain between them. The interesting point is that at Canal Flats, the Kootenay actually comes very close to the Columbia river (I told you, I'm a trivia nut). Because the two major ri
vers are so close together here, there used to be a portage where you could get from one river to the next if you were a voyageur.

By now the temperature has risen to 10 deg C, whoo hoo! We are really enjoying the sights of the mountains. Some have quite a bit of snow on their peaks yet. I'm guessing that the mountain ranges we see here are between 1500 and 3000m. Unfortunately, the BC government didn't think of putting signs up touting the natural beauty and provide information on points of interest here in BC. As far as that goes, the various states in the US are much more on the ball, posting signs that show elevations, mountain peak names, river names and other trivia. I'm having to do the BC government's work here tonight finding all this stuff on the Internet (are you feeling sorry for me yet?). This stretch of highway 95 follows the Valley of a Thousand Peaks in which the might Columbia river flows. The river begins in this valley which is a mix of lakes, marshes and river. On the west side of the valley are the Purcell Mountains and on the east is the Kootenay Range of mountains. The temperature kept going up and the sun showed it's face at times, things are really looking up. When we got to our hotel in Golden, it was a nice 16 deg C, cold snowy Taber was almost forgotten.

We have a very nice motel room here in Golden. The view from our room is gorgeous. We can see the Columbia river and mountains from our room (see picture). We decided to stay an extra day here in Golden tomorrow. We'll find a church to worship in, there is a Baptist, Lutheran and Alliance church here so we have some choice. Also, after travelling every day for almost a week, we need a bit of a break to relax and do laundry.
Well that about covers our travel adventures for today. Talk to you again tomorrow or Monday.
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