Kootenay National Park, BC ~ Alaska Trip Day 6

How do I fit 144 pictures into 1 blog post? Perhaps I am taking too many pictures!

Our breakfast was interrupted by a herd of bighorn sheep slowly grazing along right past the motor home and up the hill. Our first wildlife encounter on the trip! And we were parked in a Radium Hot Springs gravel lot; no campsite, no forest, no stream.

After our cereal, fruit, granola, and yogurt were devoured, we entered Kootenay National Park. The road took us right through dramatic Sinclair Canyon.

We parked at the Hot Springs and observed the bathing tourists, took some kiddy photos, then started down the Sinclair Canyon Trail.

It was a nice trail, winding up the side of a mountain in the evergreens to an overlook of Columbia Lake and another jaunt down steps to the canyon overlook.

The "silent place" was a quiet respite from the busy town and people hubbub. We just happened to entered the parks on a Canadian 4 day weekend = busy, busy.

Our drive through Kootenay brought many magnificent vistas to our eyes. Each curve in the road, clearing of the pines, or rise in altitude made a lovely change in the scenery.

Vermilion Crossing allowed a nap break for the RV drivers, and time to explore for the youngers. The glacial river waters were rushing at this point with steep rocky drop-offs. Cora picked some daisies and had to squish bugs that crawled on her fingers. (I accidentally captured them in this photo.)

Shannon and Riley skipped rocks toward each other. They could break off huge chunks of the slate rock and have nice flat slabs for skipping.

Along came a rain shower and hindered our exploring just a bit. It soon cleared and we enjoyed another beautiful hike over the river on the Paint Pots trail.

Our last stop in Kootenay Park was Marble Canyon. We hiked a ways up the canyon trail looking down, down, down. The water got further below us as the trail climbed. The river was quite narrow in some passages. And rushing!

little critters are fascinating to little people

We overnighted at Frontcountry Campground inside the park.

It drizzled in the evening, rained, and hailed in the night. Not so fun for paying for a campsite we could hardly use, but very thankful to have a roof over our heads and floor beneath us.