Kootenay National Park

Since we were in the area, we thought we'd take a drive through Kootenay National Park, and visit the hot springs at Radium Hot Springs.

We headed out on the morning of Sept. 19, 2018.  Here is that mountain across from our hotel:

Here it is from another angle as we head off up the highway towards the turnoff for Kootenay National Park:

Highway 1 between Banff and Lake Louise has many of these landscaped wildlife bridges.  The highway itself is fenced off, but these bridges provide a corridor for wildlife to cross, and supposedly they work well.  There are also tunnels, as some animals prefer the openness of a bridge, and others prefer the shelter of tunnels.

This is Castle Mountain:

I forget what lake this is, it's around the continental divide:

Here is Ed at the continental divide, with one foot in Banff National Park in Alberta, and the other in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia.  It's his first time visiting BC:

Heading down the road towards the Marble Canyon hiking trail:

These next photos are of the Marble Canyon trail.  This area marks the eastern edge of a massive fire that burned out the Kootenay valley in 2003.

An upstream portion of the Kootenay river just below Marble Canyon:

You can see the burned trees from the 2003 fire still standing upright, with the new trees growing up below them:

The Kootenay River going through the narrow Marble Canyon below, with a natural bridge over it.  The hiking trail crosses back and forth over the river several times:

Our shadows on one of the hiking bridges:

Waterfall at the top of the hiking trail:

I found the juxtaposition of the old dead trees still standing, and the new green trees growing up among them, to be really cool:

The Kootenay River again, about halfway to Radium Hot Springs:

More burned landscape as we drove by:

Just a couple more mountains, the scenery is fantastic:

Kootenay Valley Viewpoint:

Sinclair Canyon is right near the Hot Springs:

We went for a swim at the pools at Radium Hot Springs, and then did another short hike on the drive back to Banff, near the Crooks Meadow Group Campground.  Here is Ed on a suspension bridge over the Kootenay River:

River pictures from the bridge:

Here he is again:

We saw a black bear on the drive back, just before we got back to highway 1, but I wasn't quick enough on the draw with the camera to get a photo of it.