In Radium: Old Coach Road

July 19, 2023

The fire situation has worsened significantly over the last 24 hours, and the air in town seems decidedly unhealthy this morning. It even feels somewhat questionable in our room. Biking anywhere nearby today and probably tomorrow suddenly looks out of the question, and we’re talking about hiding in our room all day when it occurs to us that maybe we can cancel one or both of the next two nights of our stay under the circumstances.

I head down to the front desk to broach the subject with the man on the morning shift. He has to talk to his manager and we have to call Booking.com, but it all gets a favorable outcome and an hour later I’m hauling the bikes and gear down the 21 stairs to load them into the car. We’re going to Radium Hot Springs, extending our two days already booked there by another two.

It’s an easy drive to Radium, more or less a straight shot north for two hours. The smoke worsens for the first five or ten miles as we approach the fire, but after that the skies gradually clear and we enjoy a scenic, easy drive. Our room isn’t available until after noon, so before checking in we stop for lunch at an upscale golf course restaurant in Invermere for our main meal of the day.

North of Fort Steele conditions gradually start to improve.

Excitement builds as we approach the nearest mountains. I think this must be Teepee Mountain, northeast of Wasa.

The impressive Dutch Creek Hoodoos, just south of Fairmont Hot Springs. It’s one of those places that I realized too late that we should really be stopping to walk around.

We drove past our motel in Radium and started driving up into the national park before we could find a place to turn around. This impressive gateway makes us excited about heading up into the park later during our stay here.

Rachael of course heads out to the store and laundromat immediately after we arrive, and returns burdened down with a backpack full of food for the next four days and clean clothes, and maybe a little sorry we didn’t take the car on such a hot day. After that though we sit around our apartment, appreciating the good A/C and making plans for the coming days.

By late afternoon it’s cooled down enough for us to get out for a walk. We settle on the Old Coach Greenway, a gravel road paralleling the highway for about six miles south of town that’s been upgraded to a biking and hiking trail. The road is a historic road, created in 1920 at the beginning of the automobile era as a scenic motor vehicle route from Banff to Mindermere.

We drive to the south end of the trail, park the car, and then walk north back toward Radium. The plan is that Rachael will walk back to our motel while I’ll go partway and then return to retrieve the car.

It’s quite a scenic walk, following the bench lands above the Columbia River that flows a few hundred feet below. You can seldom see the river itself from the trail, but all along there are side trails that loop out to the edge of the shelf and provide stunning views of the river, wetland# nd mountains beyond.

We’re both quite tired and hot by the end - especially Rachael, because the trail steepens and gets really dusty at the end when it climbs into town. We’re both glad we went, and glad to be done.

Our big wildlife sighting for the walk. We were anticipating something a little more impressive than this, but we were happy to see no bears.

Looking east away from the river, this is Redstreak Mountain.

Looking across the Columbia Wetlands. We’re at the very beginning of the river, whose source is just a few miles south at Columbia Lake. Surprisingly it’s flowing north here to the start of a large hairpin bend before turning south again.

Rachael moves off on her own, singing as she goes to ward off the bears.

What luck to be here when a freight train passes by below!

The view south toward the source of the river.

Someone was hoping for a challenge today, I’m sure.

You don’t need me to tell you a third time, surely.

I’m standing on this spectacular vista point when the phone rings. It’s Rachael, who was here a few minutes ago and wants to make sure I don’t turn back before reaching here.

I’m hot and tired when I make it back to the car, relieved to see it still here waiting.

Tired, but not too tired for a Raven-assisted selfie before we go.

Heart

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Janice BranhamI'm glad you beat it out of Cranbrook so you could take us along on the trail.
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9 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Janice BranhamWe were fortunate to be able to just uproot and move. That fire is still spreading and out of control.
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9 months ago