Glacier National Park and Banff, Alberta

   I traveled fewer than 500 miles today but I got to see a bit of mountain scenery.  The drive from Havre to Glacier was about 160 miles and pretty easy. The mountains in the park can be seen from 50 miles away and they looked very different from my last visit in Sept 2011. This time they were snow covered.

   When I entered the park the ranger told me the park was open but the only road through was still closed from winter. Crews have been clearing snow from the "Going to the Sun" road for weeks but it'll not open till the end of June. There was even a foot of snow that fell last night.

   Since I couldn't make it through the park to Whitefish MN , I decided to detour north on Rt 89 to the border. I crossed at a sleepy border crossing with no wait, and found myself on Alberta Rt-2 on the way to Calgary. It was a huge city once I got close enough to see. I thought about spending the night there but I decided to jump on the Trans Canadian Highway (TCH) toward Banff, about 85 miles further.

   The clouds were all above the mountain tops in the Banff National Park and there were steep cliffs towering over every side of the road. The last time I was nearby I couldn't see anything but low clouds, now without the cloud cover I understand why people rave on about the Canadian Rockies.

   I got a room for the night in Banff but the hotel is full for the weekend so I'll have to find somewhere else to stay on Friday night. Two more days until I pickup Mary at the Vancouver airport to meet my shipmates in Whistler.