Trail to Crowsnest Pass to Lethbridge, Alberta by Margaret Ullrich

The Frank Slide 

One day down… Three more to go...

The paint fumes combined with the stress of driving through mountains got to us.

We asked the motel clerk where we could get something for our stomachs.

He pointed out the drug store, and we got some gravol.

After we paid our bill, the clerk said there had been an avalanche the week before.

We really didn't need to know that.

Driving up the hill to get out of Trail was a killer.

And we still had to do lots more driving up and down snow capped mountains.

After Trail the road was more winding, and mostly two lane.

It wasn't too bad, and there was very little traffic.

In retrospect it might have been better if we were on a busier road.

If anything had happened we could've ended up like the Donner Party.

The drive was uneventful.

For which we were grateful.

We finally reached Crowsnest Pass.

Crowsnest Pass, elevation of 1358 meters (4453 feet), is a mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the British Columbia/Alberta border.  

A bit of Geography and History about Crowsnest:

At this continental divide, North America's water systems flow in opposite directions: to the East the Crowsnest River carries water toward Hudson's Bay while water flows west toward the Pacific Ocean. 

These water systems were not illustrated on many maps until the Palliser Expedition in 1860. Michael Phillips was the first white man to cross the Canadian Rockies from the West to East when he blazed a trail in 1873 through an unexplored area. 

Now you know…

Crowsnest Pass has a fantastic view of rolling hills.

We could see forever. 

We could also see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

We were almost out of the mountains.

After we passed the Crowsnest Pass we drove past Frank Slide and Turtle Mountain.

It was a peculiar sight.

There is just a certain look to a regular healthy mountain.

They usually have a bit of vegetation on them.

There are also grooves along the surface.

They look lived in and wrinkled, like an old shoe.

Frank Slide was just that - a bare bald mountainside that looked like a kiddie slide.

It was scraped smooth, littered with tiny crumbled crushed rocks.

There was a mound of rubble at the base of the mountain.  

Thankfully we didn't know anything about its history:

The Indians of the area avoided Turtle Mountain. 

To them, it was the 'mountain that walked'. 

Their legend would soon become all too real.

In the early morning hours of April 29, 1903, Turtle Mountain collapsed, resulting in the greatest landslide in North American history. In 100 seconds: at least 76 people were buried alive under tons of massive limestone boulders; three-quarters of the homes in Frank were crushed like balsa wood; over a mile of the Canadian Pacific Railroad was completely destroyed; and a river became a lake.

Mercifully ignorant, we just drove on to Lethbridge.

After Crowsnest Pass it was downhill all the way.

Driving through Alberta was a really easy drive.

We arrived at 6 pm, as per schedule.

Lethbridge, just south east of Calgary, is the largest city in southern Alberta. 

As Lethbridge was laid out in a grid it was easy to get around.

We found our motel within minutes.

Compared to our accommodations the first night, our suite was luxurious.

It had a separate bedroom and a kitchenette.

Instead of heading for a diner, we went out for groceries.

The biggest attraction in Lethbridge at the time was the High Level Bridge.

Compared to the day before we had arrived early, so we took a look.

The High Level Bridge, built in 1907 - 1909, is the longest and highest steel trestle bridge in the world.  It is 5,327 feet (1,623 meters) in length and 314 feet (95.7 meters) above the bed of the river.  It was finished on June 22, 1909.  At the time it was described as one of the "wonders of the world." 

So, yes, it was hard to miss.

After seeing that the bridge was still up, we went back to our motel.

Along with a home cooked dinner we watched a bit of television.

Because of the energy crisis, the United States had cut Daylight Savings Time.

Shows were on an hour earlier in Canada.

Paul was asleep by 9:00 pm.

I watched Johnny Carson at 9:30 pm!

Vancouver to Lethbridge in two days - roughly 1057 kilometers.

Lethbridge to Winnipeg in two days - roughly 1335 kilometers.

A longer distance to go in the same time, but we slept better.

We were out of the mountains!

 

 

 

Day 1: Surrey to Hope to Osoyoos to Trail by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/surrey-to-hope-to-osoyoos-to-trail-by.html

Day 2 Trail to Crowsnest Pass to Lethbridge, Alberta by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/trail-to-crowsnest-pass-to-lethbridge.html

Day 3 Lethbridge to Medicine Hat to Moose Jaw to Regina by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/lethbridge-to-medicine-hat-to-moose-jaw.html

Day 4 Regina - Qu'Appelle - Moosomin - Brandon - Portage la Prairie - Winnipeg by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/regina-quappelle-moosomin-brandon.html

Surrey to Hope to Osoyoos to Trail by Margaret Ullrich

Trail

Tomorrow is the second full moon of 2013.

In 2011 and 2012 we were having mild winters.

Well, mild for Winnipeg winters.

There wasn't much snow.

We had thought that was due to global warming.

Nope, just a fluke.

This year we're having a more normal Winnipeg winter.

An exposed skin freezes in a matter of seconds winter.

We had replaced our windows last year.

Now, thanks to the improvement, there's more moisture in our house.

Good in that our skin doesn't feel like dried out raisins.

Bad in that, due to a thin film of ice, our doors keep freezing shut.

We keep having to break out of our house.

In 1975 we were getting ready to move to Winnipeg.

We had explained to our parents that we were leaving British Columbia.

Pop was not pleased.

He had grown to like British Columbia.

Warmer weather, cheap land and houses… what wasn't there to like?

He had been thinking of moving there, too.

Maybe the economy would've gotten better and we would've gotten jobs.

Maybe it wouldn't and we would've stayed unemployed.

We knew there were jobs in Winnipeg.

So it goes.

We had sold our mattress and arranged for the sale of our house.
We were packed and ready to go.
Everything we owned was packed in our Datsun Sport Truck and a 4 x 6 U Haul.
The U Haul was 5 feet high.
I could barely stand up in it.

We had driven across the TransCanada when we moved to British Columbia in 1972.

During the western part the TransCanada hugged the Frasier, giving some rather dramatic views of the river far below.

When we had been near Hell's Gate Bridge our car had overheated.

Not much risk of overheating when driving in February.

But, we also had travelled the TransCanada during our summer vacation in 1975.

The TransCanada has some extremely steep hills which were fresh in our memory.

So, we thought that the the Hope-Princeton Route would be easier.

Shows what we didn't know.

Vancouver to Winnipeg, roughly 2232 kilometers.

We planned to cover the distance in four days.

We made reservations for motels along the way.

We weren't as carefree as we had been in 1972.

On Monday, February 24, 1975 we were on our way back east.

After a couple of hours going up and down the Coast Mountains we reached Hope.

Yes we'd been in Hope before.

Hope is between the the Coast Mountain Range and the Cascades, 

where the Coquihalla Canyon meets the Fraser River.

The canyon walls open into the valley. 

As the brochures say:

There are awe-inspiring desert canyons, vast stands of coastal rainforest, rugged 

snow capped mountains, expansive alpine meadows and fast-rushing rivers.

Tourists love vacationing in Hope.

Tourists who aren't hauling everything they owned through the mountains.

Tourists who weren't crawling along two hours behind schedule. 

Next we had to go through the Cascades and the Selkirks.

They make the Rockies look flat.

It was worse than when we'd gone through there in 1972.

In the summer of 1972 our radiator was bubbling.

Now we were wondering if we'd be swept away by an avalanche.

We stopped in Osoyoos, in the Okanagan Valley, north of Washington state.

Osoyoos is surrounded by grasslands, highlands and, of course, mountains. 

People come to Osoyoos for water activities, golf, hiking and cycling in summer and 

downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter.

We were there for gas.

Paul had to get a key to use the station's washroom.

The guy told Paul he couldn't take our dog Peaches into the washroom. 

So, Paul walked back to the car so I could hold Peaches and he could...

We had originally planned to arrive at the motel in Trail at 6 pm.

We were driving through the Kootenay Rockies.

Four of British Columbia's seven national parks are located in the Kootenay area.

There are rivers, lakes, waterfalls, beaches, mineral hot springs, alpine meadows 

and snow capped mountains. 

During the winter, the Kootenay Rockies offers fine powder skiing and snowboarding.

Head-rushing descents to expanses of groomed cross-country trails.

You get the picture.

More driving through damn snow capped mountains with possible avalanches.

Finally,  at 10 pm, we were in Trail.

Trail is in the West Kootenay region along the banks of the Columbia River.

Trail, a heavy industry town, has guided tours of the smelter plants facilities.

It is also where many world-class athletes have trained.

If we had arrived at 6 pm, we might have gone to the Visitor Centre.

At 10 pm, in late February, the Trail Visitor Centre was closed.

It didn't matter… we were too tired to see a smelter plant.

Since it was the slow season - no sane person drives through Trail in February - 

the owners were doing some maintenance work.

The room stank of fresh paint.

We took the room anyway.

We could stop driving up and down snow capped mountains and get some sleep.

 

Day 1: Surrey to Hope to Osoyoos to Trail by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/surrey-to-hope-to-osoyoos-to-trail-by.html

Day 2 Trail to Crowsnest Pass to Lethbridge, Alberta by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/trail-to-crowsnest-pass-to-lethbridge.html

Day 3 Lethbridge to Medicine Hat to Moose Jaw to Regina by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/lethbridge-to-medicine-hat-to-moose-jaw.html

Day 4 Regina - Qu'Appelle - Moosomin - Brandon - Portage la Prairie - Winnipeg by Margaret Ullrich
https://imturning60help.blogspot.com/2013/02/regina-quappelle-moosomin-brandon.html

Winnipeg Bound in 1975 by Margaret Ullrich

Today is the first full moon of 2013.

The full moon usually means the end of a moon's cycle.

In 1975 it was the end of the cycle of our living in British Columbia.

We had just been through a rather strange few months.

The previous July we had gone camping in Alberta.

Saw the Stampede in Calgary… camped in the parks… toured Edmonton.

We liked Edmonton quite a bit.

We even toyed with the idea of moving there.

But, Paul had said he had a secure future with Carolina Publications.

Since we were in our twenties, a secure future sounded really good to have.

So we returned to the basement suite of our duplex in Surrey. 

Surrey in those days was barely more than a giant farmer's field.

I went to work for an accountant and did payrolls for lumber companies.

Paul went back to work at Carolina Publications.

We had our plans.

Well, as the saying goes, Man plans and God laughs.

Within a few weeks British Columbia went into one of its bust cycles.

Layoffs in the lumber industry meant my employer wasn't doing payrolls.

Reduced advertising revenues meant Carolina Publications had to cut back.

Paul and I were both unemployed.

But we were young and Paul was in the union.

There were union jobs available in Winnipeg.

No problem.  We'd move to Winnipeg.

Armed with a half dozen submarine sandwiches, we traveled by CN rail to Winnipeg.

It wasn't a luxury ride like the one we enjoyed for our fortieth anniversary last April.

We were sitting in coach all the way across the Rockies.

That's something that should only be done by folks in their twenties.

It wasn't the first time we moved quickly, if not comfortably, across the continent.

We arrived in the morning and went to a rather seedy motel.

Well, it was cheap.

Since we'd been living in British Columbia we didn't exactly have clothing warm enough for Winnipeg in January.

Well, we were young and hardy and in too much of a panic to notice.

The day after we arrived Paul had his job interview and was again employed.

We celebrated by going to the movies.

Towering Inferno.

It was about a burning skyscraper.

Perfect… it reminded us things can always get worse.

After another two days we found an attic apartment.

A third floor walkup which had one room and a kitchen.

Thanks to the sloping ceiling, Paul couldn't stand up in half of it.

Hell, a preschooler couldn't stand up in half of it.

We shared the bathroom with an elderly woman who lived across the hall.

None of that mattered. 

The landlord allowed pets.

We paid the rent for February so no one else could take it.

Within four days we had redesigned our future.

It was time to return to Surrey.

Slight problem - CN had gone on strike.

We had to refund our train tickets and go to Greyhound for bus tickets.

Train or bus didn't matter.

It was another trip where we had to sit all the way across the Rockies.

Armed with another half dozen submarine sandwiches, we headed back to Surrey.