Time Out
Kailash in Canada
S. SRIDHARAN
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Crystal-clear lakes, luxurious forests, stunning landscapes and teeming wildlife — the Canadian Park System offers the perfect getaway for nature lovers.
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Unlike the arduous trek to the Kailash in the Himalayas, our trip was made in a four-wheel-drive Dodge Caravan, with Bhimsen Joshi on the stereo.
PHOTOS: S. SRIDHARAN
QUIET MOMENTS OF BEAUTY: The mountains getting reflected in Lake Louise.
A SUMMER resort where you can see snow at just 5,000 feet above the sea level, where visitors worship nature and wildlife by observing the highest self-discipline and where there are no vendors pestering tourists.
Last summer, we drove to a string of contiguous parks in Canada's westernmost province of British Columbia on a trip that can be called Kailash-in-Comfort. Unlike the arduous trek to the Kailash in the Himalayas, our trip was made in a four-wheel-drive Dodge Caravan, with Bhimsen Joshi on the stereo.
We flew into Calgary, which, as Chennai residents, we felt ought to be called Coolgary — it was home to the Winter Olympics nearly two decades ago. Barely 300 km north, the snow-capped mountains of the Banff National Park beckoned us. The sprawling natural forest — 6,641 sq km — was left untouched when the Canadian Pacific Railways were asked to stop laying rail tracks there in 1885, giving birth to the Canadian Park System. At the Park Information Office, tickets for the four of us cost us US$125, which included a brochure with maps, highlights of places to see and detailed instructions on how we should behave towards the wildlife.
Plenty of elks
Barely minutes into the park, we spotted a group of elk grazing serenely, unmindful of the hordes of tourists who had piled out of their cars to take pictures. Our wood cabin was appropriately called Elk Horn. The front desk manager, a cheerful lady, had moved from Europe to live here just for the love of the place. The cabin was cosy and neat, with a full-size refrigerator, four-burner electric stove, a coffee maker, cutlery and large cans of instant coffee and sugar. Despite a three-and-a-half-hour drive, we were still keen to take in the beauty of the place. Even at 10.30 p.m., there was enough light for us to take pictures without an electronic flash. The falls at the nearby Bow River, a result of a dramatic change in the course of the river due to glaciations, were spectacular.
We drove through the park, past a guard of honour by huge Alpine trees. Heart-leaved Arnica with yellow flowers, and Western Anemone, with their dull-white flowers, peeped through the bushes. Past a sparkling river and the marshy banks and Johnston Canyon, a breathtaking waterfall gushed through the sharp rock edges of mountains. Wild goats jumped from rock to rock. Mountain squirrels ran up to us, standing on their front legs as if begging for food. Of course, we didn't feed them — the warnings had been made clearly but politely right in the beginning of the visit.
About 50 km to the northwest was Lake Louise, which until 120 years ago was called Lake of the Little Fishes by the Stoney people, the original inhabitants of the place, but renamed in honour of Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the sixth child of Queen Victoria. The first rays of the morning sun lit up Victoria Glacier. The impossibly steep northern face of snow-capped Mount Victoria was reflected in the sparkling, emerald green waters of Lake Louise. No wonder this lake is regarded as one of the world's seven natural wonders. A flock of Clarke's Nutcracker punctuated the silence as they flitted between the trees, their sharp beaks perfect for cracking open nuts.
Too cold
Like we would have done in our own Kailash Manasarovar, we walked around Louise Lake, gazing at the crystalline waters. Dozens of tourists stayed away from the water, lest it should get sullied and we quickly banished ideas of taking a dip in the freezing waters. The walk made us hungry. Out came packets of puliyodarai (tamarind rice) and tayir sadam (curd rice). The garbage cans, we found, were bear-proof. The lids had to be lifted up and were so designed that it required human hands. We learnt that the park tries to make sure that bears do not get used to the presence of humans and begin rooting through garbage, which would make them even less fearful of humans. The toilets were also ecologically sustainable, with no use of water and requiring very little maintenance.
Carved by the elements
Natural bridges.
The "Canadian Alps", as the contiguous parks are known, also is home to Yoho National Park. Yoho is an ancient Canadian expression of awe and wonder and is appropriate when you see the 28 mountain peaks, many of them vertical-faced and soaring 3,000 metres high. Snow melting from the peaks flows through the park, carving out scenic spots with such names as Natural Bridge — a natural rock bridge — or Kicking Horse River, where the force of water over time has carved a bridge in the rock mountain. No one walks on top of Nature's artwork. Instead, visitors can see it from a distance, from a modern bridge that engineers have built.
One of the jewels of the Canadian Rockies is Emerald Lake, a beautiful water body surrounded by a forest of Engelmann Spruce and 300-metre-high peaks that are covered in ice most of the year. The peaks burst alive with activity for a few short months in summer.
One of the most scenic and inspiring mountain routes is the Icefield Parkway, a 230-km spaghetti string through the forest, connecting Lake Louise and Jasper National Park. The road parallels the Continental Divide, following in the shadow of the highest, most rugged mountains in the Canadian Rockies and is regarded as one of world's great mountain drives. The highlight of our visit to this area was the Columbia Icefield. The largest and most accessible of 17 glacial areas along the Parkway, it is a remnant of the last major glaciations that covered most of Canada 20,000 years ago. It has survived because of its elevation at 1,900-2,800 meters above sea level. From the main body of the ice cap, which sits aside the Continental Divide, six glaciers creep down three main valleys. Of these, the Athabasca Glacier is the most accessible. We were taken to the Icefield in specially built buses which resembled battle tanks with large tyres.
Our bus driver, who doubled as a guide, gave us our first practical evidence of global warming, which is most visible in the glaciers. He told us that the Icefield area is shrinking due to high temperatures and inadequate rainfall. All along the route were trees that were more than 500 years old but looked small because they grow only for three months a year, the only time when there is sunshine.
Theirs to share
The Medicine lake.
The road climbed sharply to Medicine Lake, which does the disappearing act each year. The water level fluctuates due to a network of underground passages that emerge downstream in a canyon. In Fall, when the waters from the mountains are minimal, the water level drops and by November the lake is a few shallow pools. This lake is drained by one of the larger underground river systems in North America. The native dwellers believed that spirits were responsible for the phenomenon, which gave it its name.
One day we spotted a black bear with two cubs, their bodies glistening, from a distance of a hundred metres. The bears walked away quickly, as we humans kept gawking. A line from the tourist brochure came to mind: "Please know that we humans are far more dangerous to park animals than they are to us. We come here to recreate, animals live here to survive. As visitors in their habitat, we have to take special care in how we share the land with them."
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Quickfacts
Getting there: The nearest airport is Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Accommodation: Hotel rooms with all facilities are available in all the parks. A double bed costs US$100 a day; rates are higher during the peak season, which starts from the second week of June when summer sets in.
Tourists who enjoy winter sports can visit the park even in winter.
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