Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Visited September 18 - 24, 2021

By Marty

We had a GREAT time in Canada and were just starting to master the language (eh?) but it's good to be back in the good old USA! We were disappointed, however, to find that masks are few and far between in the beautiful State of Idaho. Leaving Cranbrook, British Columbia Saturday morning we had to show our vax cards and photo ID to order a Grand Slam at Denny's. Arriving in Idaho it's like we're in a different country!

It seems that only one in 20 people here are wearing masks indoors, despite the fact that Idaho currently ranks at or near the top in all of the unsavory COVID categories:

- Hospital admissions exceed last winter's peak by 67% for all age groups. 

- Deaths are running 32.7/day currently vs 20/day last winter. Idaho leads (if you can call it leading) the nation in deaths per 100,000 residents by a wide margin.   

- Only 47% of Idahoans (all ages) have had at least one vaccine dose (compared to 65% in the USA and 72% in California).

The governor of Washington state has appealed to Idahoans to "stop clogging up my hospitals" and behave more responsibly regarding COVID. Hospitals in eastern Washington are being overwhelmed by COVID infected Idahoans (Spokane is only 34 miles from Coeur d'Alene).

You can't say that Idaho isn't doing anything to deal with the crisis: Idaho recently implemented its Crisis Standards of Care, which permits hospitals to prioritize care for patients with higher chances of recovery.  Now there's a common sense solution for you...

Give me liberty or give me death?  Sadly, with so many Idahoans insisting on the former (it's just a mask for pete's sake!), too many are ending up with the latter...

This concludes my public service announcement (rant? diatribe?) 

We stayed at the Blackwell Island RV Park on the Spokane River. The Beast is on the left. On the right is another Tiffin Allegro Red, owned by Steve and Joy, a very nice couple from the Lone Star State.

The view from The Beast

The RV park dock is in the Spokane River. Beyond the dock is Coeur d'Alene Lake which outlets into the Spokane River at the north end of the lake. The Spokane River later joins the Columbia River before flowing to the Pacific Ocean.

A breakwater outside of the marina in downtown Coeur d'Alene

We explored downtown Coeur d'Alene before taking an afternoon cruise around the north end of the lake.

Our lake cruise took us along the northwestern lake shore where the lakeside "cottages" are only accessible by boat. As we approached this particular dwelling I was sure it was a resort or condominium. Not so. It's a single family dwelling.  Does Jeff Bezos have a summer place on Coeur d'Alene Lake?

On the east shore of the lake is a well known golf course (well known, that is, to those that know of well known golf courses...)

The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course along the shores of the lake "ranks among the best in the world by golf enthusiasts for pampering service and beautifully manicured course conditions".

What the course is best known for is the 14th hole, which has the world's only floating green (just to the left of center in this photo). We were told that each duffer gets two attempts to reach the green before taking a boat out to the green to putt out.

An hour east of Coeur d'Alene (CDA as it is referred to locally) is the historic mining town of Wallace. Wallace is the principle town of the Coeur d'Alene silver mining district, which has produced more silver than any other mining district in the United States.

 

We toured the Sierra Silver mine where they put us to work!

A (fake) canary in the silver mine.  I guess the live ones kept dying...

Lee, a career miner, was our awesome tour guide. We learned about the history of the Sierra Silver mine (it was abandoned twice before a third operator took over and hit the big time), mine design and construction, and mining methods. This mine is not currently active but Lee operates some of the mining equipment on the tour to give us a feel for a working mine.

We were hoping to complete the tour before 2:20 p.m....

If you were wondering about the location of "The Center of the Universe", wonder no more!  It's in Wallace, Idaho!  It's located under a manhole cover in the middle of the street. 

In 2004 the Mayor of Wallace issued a proclamation, excerpted here, that the Center of the Universe resides in Wallace:

 

"Thanks to the newly discovered science of Probabalism - specifically probabalistic modeling, pioneered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Welfare, and peer reviewed by La Cosa Nostra and the Flat Earth Society - we were further able to pinpoint the exact center within the Center of the Universe, to wit a sewer access cover slightly off-center from the intersection of Bank and Sixth Streets."

 

"The science of probabalism has its roots in the 2002 EPA Coeur d'Alene Basin Record of Decision, and as a syllogism expresses itself thusly: if a thing cannot be disproven, it is thereby proven."

 

"Similarly, after a search of the literature, our government contracted scientists in Moscow, Boise and Seattle have, after years of diligence, been unable to unearth a scintilla of proof that Wallace is NOT the Center of the Universe. In the absence of such proof, we are compelled to conclude that Wallace must BE the Center of the Universe."

Interstate 90 passes through Wallace on an elevated freeway viaduct, completed in 1991, just north of downtown. Prior to 1991 I-90 traffic used the city streets through downtown. Wallace had the last traffic light on a coast-to-coast Interstate highway.

The Federal Highway Administration originally planned to build I-90 through the heart of Wallace (cheaper than the viaduct) which would have demolished much of downtown. In the 1970's the city leaders worked to successfully list downtown Wallace on the National Register of Historic Places with the result that every building in downtown Wallace is now protected. As a consequence the Highway Administration had to build the elevated viaduct.

We are not big museum people. Some interest us more than others. My preliminary Idaho research resulted in this particular museum making my list of things to do. I was disappointed (more so than Janell I suspect) to find that the museum was closed for 2021 (presumably due to the pandemic.)  That said, my disappointment was mild compared to last summer (2020) when I was not able to tour Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin due to COVID.

For some reason this sign caught my eye...

Because Wallace is in a canyon there was limited flat ground on which to build. Consequently some of the residential streets traverse the steep hills on the south side of town. There are a handful of long staircases that were constructed in the 1800's so that townspeople could get into town and back. We were told that there are over 800 steps if you add up all of the staircases. We walked most, if not all, of them (some were hard to find) as we explored Wallace.

As we walked along a street perched above town we heard a clambering sound and then spotted the moose visible in the center of this photo. The moose had been snooping around on the porch of the house shown here and heard us approaching. At the end of the road in front of us, 50 yards away, was a young moose also watching us. Mom moose kept a close eye on us, making it clear that we best not get any closer to her bambino.

A cold amber beverage at Wallace Brewing seemed like the correct way to finish up a lovely day in historic Wallace.

Our last activity in Coeur d'Alene was to bike a portion of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. This trail may have been the best cycling experience of our trip so far. The Trail of the CDA is a 73 mile long paved multi-use trail that follows a former Union Pacific right-of-way. This "rails to trails" bike path was quite scenic and, to my pleasant surprise, relatively flat. The trail generally follows the Coeur d'Alene River. We did a twenty-five mile ride (12.5 miles out and back). We'll have to come back for the rest of the trail!

The river water was remarkably flat in many sections which made it amazingly reflective.

We met Beavis and Butt-Head.  Actually, we don't know their names but these two dogs were loping toward us as we approached this bridge. There were no humans in sight so I guess it was a "dog day afternoon". They didn't seem aggressive so we greeted them briefly before they ran down below the bridge for a quick dip. B & BH then ran back up to the trail and continued on in the direction from which we came. Is it possible they were running the entire 73 miles of the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes?

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Visited Sept. 9-16, 2021

By Janell

 

To get from Jasper to Banff we needed to drive the Icefields Parkway again. It was such a beautiful drive the first time (to get to Jasper), that we were looking forward to doing it again. This time we stopped to check out Athabasca Glacier; instead of taking photos from across the highway. We parked the Beast across the highway and walked about a mile to the glacier. We thought we’d be able to walk right up to it, but this is as far as we were allowed to go. 

What actually is a glacier? Glaciers are made of ice; glacial ice forms where more snow falls in winter than melts in summer. As snow accumulates, it becomes compacted under its own weight. This turns light, fluffy snow into dense ice. Over time, gravity makes this ice flow slowly downhill, like a river of taffy.

See that small stream right behind us? It's a murky gray color due to a high concentration of "rock flour". Glaciers grind rocks into a fine powder, called rock flour, that is then carried away in the meltwater. Lakes near melting glaciers have unique colors - from murky brown to brilliant turquoise. Lakes and streams with a high concentration of rock flour can appear murky gray, like this stream which flows into Sunwapta Lake. Sunwapta Lake is small and the same color as this stream - really not worth a photo. Lakes with less rock flour appear more colorful. (Stay tuned for a stunning example!)

Just like at Glacier National Park in Montana, the glaciers in Canada are also rapidly receding. Athabasca Glacier reached all the way out to this point in 2006.

 And the glacier was here in 1935. It's more than a little disconcerting.

 

 

 

 

Big horn sheep along the highway. Just the ladies and the babes though.

 

 Fall color

Most of the trees in this area of Canada are evergreens, so fall color is seen more at the ground level. (We learned about this very thing when we took the boat tour on Lake Maligne). Just a week earlier we had driven this very same stretch of highway, and there was no sign of fall color.

 

 

 A bit of excitement in the campground

One morning we heard a helicopter from our campsite, and it seemed to be quite close. Looking out the windows we could see that a helicopter was coming in for a landing on the road at the edge of the campground. Before long we saw the helicopter lifting a bundle of (?) up into the air. The helicopter made five or six trips back and forth, with about ten minutes in between each trip, picking up one or two bundles each time. The helicopter didn’t land each time – it just dropped the cable down, and a man on the ground hooked up the bundle/s. Very curious!

 

Downtown Banff. 

Banff, like Jasper, is located within the National Park.

The photo below was taken just a few minutes after the one above.

What a difference blue skies and sunshine makes, eh?

Three days later: Banff is packing up the flowers. Winter is coming ...

Lake Louise

We arrived at Lake Louise at about 8:30am, and the temperature was 40°. There was fog on the lake this early, but the day promised to be a nice one. We hiked about eight miles in the area, on a few different trails, seeing beautiful views and three different lakes (including Lake Louise, the main attraction).

Fairview Lookout

To begin the day we decided to do a short hike to Fairview Lookout. With an elevation gain of 547' we had hoped to get above the fog for a view of the lake. As you can see we didn't rise above the fog, but it was a pretty site nonetheless. Even through the fog you can see the turquoise of Lake Louise. (But you ain't seen nothin' yet!)

Back at lake level again. Still foggy.

Just two minutes later, and oh boy, the skies are beginning to clear!

Time to hike up again. This is Mirror Lake and Big Beehive. It was a significant "climb" just to get to this point, but we are going to go higher - up Big Beehive!

The Stoney Indians called the lake at the base of the Big Beehive, the “Goat’s Looking Glass”. Legend has it that mountain goats used the lake as a mirror to comb out their beards! Today it’s called Mirror Lake.

Mirror Lake from a different perspective

Lake Agnes

A bit further up the trail, and we arrived at Lake Agnes. Lake Agnes was known first to the Stoney Indians as “Lake in the Clouds”. The lake was given its present name in 1890 after two noteworthy visitors. Agnes Knox, a noted public speaker from Toronto, was the first white woman to visit this lake. A few days later, Lady Macdonald, wife of Canada’s first prime minister, arrived and was led to believe the lake would be named after her. Fortunately, she was also an Agnes. Whew! That could’ve been awkward if she’d been named Margaret, for instance.

We did occasionally see signs of fall color in trees of the area, such as these yellow larches along the trail. Did you know that larches are one of the few coniferous trees to change colors and lose their needles in the fall? (no, me either) They are conifer trees like pines because they have needles instead of leaves, and their seeds grow in cones, but unlike pines they are not evergreen; they are deciduous.

Is that turquoise milk?

This is Lake Louise as viewed from atop Big Beehive! Isn't it spectacular?! Look how small the Fairmont Chateau is at the left end of the lake. And if you can see little black "ants" in the lake, those are canoes. Yes, we were just that high up! The elevation gain from lake level to the top is 2,545'. 

See what I mean about the stunning water color? You could almost pretend you were in the Caribbean ... if not for the weather. At lake level it was gorgeous turquoise water, but from up above it was turquoise milk!

As a special treat when I was a kid, my mom would sometimes put food coloring in my milk. I remember green on St. Patrick’s Day and pink on Valentine’s. I don’t remember having turquoise milk, but if I did it would’ve looked just like this! Amazing!

Canapés and champagne would've been more appropriate to celebrate this grand view instead of our ham and cheese picnic lunch. Oh well.

 

 We are practically in the clouds up here!

 

Near the end of our hiking that day we passed some climbers. They’re pretty small in this photo, so I’ve drawn arrows to point them out. Now that's something I have absolutely no desire to do (fortunately for me, neither does Marty 😉).

And here we are, back in front of the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. We had hoped to get a glimpse inside the chateau, but due to Covid, only hotel guests were permitted entrance.

A bull elk at rest

There were two of these bulls lying just a few yards apart along the roadway. If not for the trees I could’ve gotten them both in one photo.

This is supposed to be rutting season, where the bulls challenge each other in duels in hopes of winning a lady’s attention. These two however, must’ve agreed to a temporary truce. There were no ladies in sight. 

I think that perhaps these two guys just pretended to go out into the woods to “duke it out” … you know, so the ladies would be impressed and all. Once out of sight of the ladies, they decided to just take a load off instead. You got a better theory?

 

 

 

We pedaled 20 miles on the Banff Legacy Trail. The scenery was dramatic.

I’m always the one who calls timeout for a break from cycling; remember, Marty bicycled from California to Virginia – he doesn’t need to take a break on a 20-mile bike ride! Nonetheless he took the opportunity to stretch out on this comfy bed of rocks while I caught my breath and rested my legs at our half-way point.

After our ride we had lunch and poked around a few shops in Canmore, another cute little town.

Moraine Lake

If I had thought it was cold the other day when we arrived at Lake Louise for our hike (40°F) … that seemed practically balmy compared to our arrival at Moraine Lake. We didn’t have cell service at the lake, so we don’t know exactly, but Marty was guessing it was in the upper 20’s. I know it was in the low 30’s when we left our campsite in Banff (elev. 4,537’), and we were 1,644’ higher at Moraine Lake (elev. 6,181’). Brrr! It was a biting cold!

We had planned to hike up the mountain and also to canoe in the lake, but we opted instead to get hot cocoas and stay at lake level. As there was slush on the trails at lake level, we knew there’d be ice on the mountain trail – so we played it safe and simply walked to the end of the lake and back. There were people canoeing that morning, but a water sport in those temps did not sound the least bit appealing to me. I was greatly relieved when Marty dashed the canoeing idea!

Everyone knows there’s safety in numbers, right? We’ve read this very “fact” many times lately when it comes to bears and hiking trails. However, this was the first time we had seen the concept quantified -- as in how many people constitute a “safe” number. As you can see, four was only “recommended” on that morning, but sometimes it’s “mandatory”. Yikes!! That’s enough to make you think twice about your hike.

As we stood there pondering this sign, a group of four 30-somethings marched past us to begin their hike; one of them looked back over his shoulder and said we were welcome to tag along with their group if we wanted. Wasn’t that so nice of him?! (Actually, everyone up here in Canada has been very nice.) But we declined, as we were just reading the sign … not going to hike that trail. 

 We did see a bear though …

... in front of the gift shop! 😂

If there was any doubt that Moraine Lake was glacier fed, the icicles above should be proof enough. This is the glacier water that feeds into Moraine Lake.

A log jam, literally

We've heard talk of "log jams", but in today's world it's typically referring to cars or people or anything but ... logs!

In the winter, avalanches sweep trees off the slopes onto the lake ice. When the ice melts, the trees drift over to the stream outlet, forming a log jam.

This is essentially the same spot as the first photo I showed you of Moraine Lake (where someone took our photo). Now blue skies are opening up, but it's still quite cold.

The Fairmont Banff Springs

Fortunately, unlike the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, the Fairmont Banff Springs welcomed visitors. We checked it out and took some pretty pictures.

 

 The view from the back terrace overlooking the Bow River and Bow Valley

Some people were dining outdoors inside this bubble. It looked cozy.

 

We were several streets away, after visiting the Fairmont, when Marty noticed a road sign that read "Surprise Corner Viewpoint". We had no idea what the "surprise" would be, but how can one resist that?! So, instead of turning left to go home as we had planned, Marty made an abrupt change and followed the sign. The above photo was our reward.

We were so impressed by the Fairmont that we returned on another day and had drinks and appetizers in the Rundle Bar. Here are two of their signature cocktails: "Wildflower" and "Iconic Peak" along with the Beetroot Salad and Pull Apart Focaccia Bites. An order of Banh Mi Bao Buns were still on their way.

This "secret" entrance to a private room was near our seats at the bar. A few people were shown into the hidden room (a couple at a time); sadly, we were not invited. 

At the top of this staircase was a discreetly stationed DJ. I suspect that he was gauging the mix of the crowd in the bar below and playing to it. He was very good at his job; as he played many of our favorites songs.

Bow Falls

Again after departing the Fairmont, we saw and followed a different sign: to Bow Falls. We hadn't even heard of Bow Falls, but it seemed worth the detour to check it out.

If you're into Marilyn Monroe and/or Robert Mitchum movies, Bow Falls was featured in "River of No Return".

 

The Bow River

We've seen a lot of this kind of van with crazy paint jobs; they run the gamut from bright flowers to somewhat suggestive images. This one caught my eye, and I looked up wickedcampers.com. 

I noticed in Wicked Campers' FAQs that you could request a certain design, but of course they can’t make promises. However, you’re welcome to request a “tame” van if traveling with children, etc.