Kootenay River in Kootenay National Park
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.
Scenes like this will take your breath away.
Now we are following the Kootenay
River to its headwaters high on the Continental Divide.
The milky color of the Kootenay River is from tiny bits of rock called
glacial flour. This is pure glacier run off and the water is saturated
with small particles of rock that have been ground to pieces by the
glaciers.
In addition to the deep green of the conifer forest small white flowers
are lining the highway.
We keep getting higher and higher as we continue to follow the Kootenay
River. Note that we are getting much closer to the snow.
The white flowers are so thick along here that they appear to be
snow.
The valley is beginning to narrow and we are getting closer to the
mountain.
Remember that this is limestone and shales that have been thrusted
up when two of the earths plates collided.
In this picture you can easily see the layers of sedimentary rock
rising from the Kootenay River.
We are nearing the pass over the Continental Divide.
