Kootenay National Park at Radium Hot Springs
July 7, 2007.
We are staying in the Tunnel
Mountain National Park Campground in Banff, Alberta. Tunnel
Mountain Campground offers full hookups, no hookups, and electricity
only. We are in one of the $29.70 electricity only sites. I do not
know what FHU or no hookups cost but they are all in the same area.
All sites are paved.
We left Radium
Hot Springs this morning heading to Banff on PH
93 through Kootenay
National Park. Immediately upon leaving Radium
Hot Springs we entered the National Park then went through
the "springs". From the "hot springs" the road
passes through one of the most awesome roadcuts anywhere. One has
to wonder why a road cut and not a tunnel. About the same time there
is a sign warning about an 11% grade with no indication how long the
grade is going to be. An 11% grade will get your attention especially
if it is going to be 11% for very long. But for now it is back to
negotiating these mind boggling road cuts.
These folks didn't remove any more rock than absolutely necessary.
It does seem to me that they could have removed more around this curve.
I know I cheated on the yellow line since my outside mirror didn't
hit that rock.
Just past the road cut area is this reddish color hill of earth that
I do not recognize. What is it doing here? Has it got something to
do with the thermal activity less than a mile away? I don't guess
I will ever know unless someone is kind enough to provide me with
some information. Any takers?
It probably has something to do with iron since it is very near,
if not part of, Iron Gates Canyon------ do you suppose this is part
of the "iron gate" and the red color has to do with iron
content?
When this road was built a decision had to be made. In the 1920s,
the first road through the Canadian
Rockies, the Banff-Windermere Highway was constructed. By
1964, this section of the road was outdated. In order to save the
Iron Gates Canyon from the destructive impact of the new road, a tunnel
was built.
You might not have noticed even with the information about the tunnel
above but if you look in the top left hand corner of this picture
you will see the tunnel that was constructed to save Iron Gates Canyon.
The early part of this drive,--- the part within 10 or so miles of
Radium
Hot Springs is comprised of these roadcuts. Soon we will pop
out into a series of magnificent valleys.
Slowly we are making our way out of the roadcuts and past that 11%
grade. Thankfully, that grade was a short one, steep but short.
