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One of the advantages of growing up in Alberta is the proximity of the Rocky mountains and the town of Banff. This photo was taken in 2003 when Paul and I had a holiday in a rented motor home which we drove through Alberta and British Columbia. Being in Banff was a pleasure as it brought back many memories of previous visits.
This photo was taken in May of 2001, the only time I have been in the Rocky mountains in the spring. It's often very cold at high altitudes in May, but that year it was lovely and warm with temperatures in the 20's Celsius. Sunny days with lots of snow on the mountains made for stunningly beautiful scenery. When walking, it was sometimes possible to be quite warm and then suddenly to experience a brief chill as cold air descended from a nearby mountain. How exhilarating!
We enjoyed warmer than normal weather on this vacation in the Rocky Mountains in May of 2003. Paul had a great game of golf at this wonderful mountain golf course, Mount Lorette, near Kananaskis, Alberta.
When you are in Annecy you are in tall mountains by a most beautiful lake. This combination gives a wonderful feeling of peace and contentment. Because we had a long drive from our hotel in Villard-de-Lans, our time in Annecy in 2008 was limited. We left regretfully, making a promise to return some day.
How majestic the mountains are! This trip in 2003 was my first to see the Alberta Rockies in the spring. Notice how much snow remains on the mountains. In most seasons of the year, the mountains to me are cold and intimidating. On this trip, however, the air was fresh and the sun brilliant. It was a joy to be there.
The citadel at Les Baux in Provence sits upon an outcropping of rock far above the valley below. The photo, from 1999, was taken from inside the citadel and shows the structures built into the rock. These can be seen more clearly if you right click on the image and open it in a new window at full screen size.
Because of its defensive attributes, the site was settled very early. There is evidence of human habitation as early as 6,000 BC.
IN MY FATHER'S OWN WORDS
The Edmonton Journal published a small part of my father's log for his Vancouver trip. His description of crossing the Howse Pass on foot on the British Columbia side follows:
"By JOHN DARIMONT
After having supper and packing everything, I sat in the car and listened to CJCA which came booming in.
June 17 dawned clear and the forecast was for a hot day. Everything went as expected until I arrived at Breaker Creek at 9:50, about five miles along the way. Here I found a considerable creek which was in flood and which required to be crossed.
I took off my shoes and stockings and rolled up my pants as high as I could and put on my crepe sole shoes. I made an attempt to cross but found that the flow of water was too strong to permit me to retain my balance. At this point I almost decided to go back. However, after a bit of reflection, I decided to try using a stout pole as a brace against the large rocks.
In this way I managed to cross the three channels which made up this little river. The water was up to my knees and ice cold. I then took my pants off and wrung them out.
The going was extremely tough and I was lucky to be able to make a mile in an hour. At 3:30 p.m. I reached the approximate point where I had stopped when coming over the pass and turned back. I realized that I might not reach my car before dark.
The return trip was marred by several accidents. The first was that my trousers split down the seam and before I had gone many more minutes it split fore and aft. This was rather uncomfortable when I had to slide down some bushes or a rocky slope.
The second accident was that I somehow lost my bear warning tin. However, I had my whistle and I hung it around my neck so as not to lose it. At one point I came upon a large grey goose which pretended that it was injured to draw me away from her nest, I suppose.
I reached Breaker Creek at 9:15 and was quite tired and bruised. I made preparations to cross over as before but noticed that the water was quite a bit higher, probably due to the hot weather. I made an attempt but when I found I could not stand upright decided to try elsewhere.
I walked about a mile upstream in the hope that there might be a better crossing or that some large tree trunk could be used as a bridge. Nothing good in this direction.
I decided to look over the stream on the downstream side at its confluence with the Blaeberry. Here I found that the water had spread out a bit and thus was worth attempting fording. I started across and managed to cross about a third of the foaming water when I realized that I was now at the main channel.
I started across and almost made it, but at the last moment I lost my balance and felt myself falling. I grabbed the nearest branch that I was able to reach as I fell flat in the water and thus was safely across. I took off my clothes and wrung them out and put on my spare shoes which were not thoroughly soaked and started the last five miles to the car.
By this time it was beginning to get dark and in the heavy timber it was very difficult to see. I knew that if I walked two miles along the river I could then strike at right angles and climb up into the heavy timber and intercept the logging road... I hit the logging road right on the button.
I was so relieved that I decided to have some lunch so I sat down in the middle of the road and had the last boiled egg and a sandwich and, to hell with the bears, I had completely forgotten about them.
The remaining walk (three miles ) back to the car went off without incident and I reached the car to find everything in good shape at 1 a.m. I was so tired that I decided to drive back to Golden and take a motel for the night."
In the photos are:
1) Looking west from Nordegg, Alberta
2) and 3) the Blaeberry River
LONG DISTANCE WALKING AND BICYCLE TRIPS
My father played tennis well into his 60's. Another activity, one that probably began when he was in his late 50's, was riding long distances on his bike. In addition, throughout his life he enjoyed walking.
He and a friend, George Hamilton, had planned to take a canoe trip after their retirement, going all the way from the Great Lakes to one of the big western rivers, portaging wherever necessary. Unfortunately. his friend died suddenly of a heart attack. My father decided, as an alternative, to go on long walking and cycling trips.
Jean Gaspard III, my father's grandfather, had imported Waverley bicycles into Europe from the US where they were manufactured. This was in the late 19th Century, when bikes were all the rage in Europe. He advertised his bikes at an exhibit at the Brussels World Fair in 1897 and was visited there by King Leopold II of the Belgians. He also advertised his bicycles by going on an extended bike trip all over Europe. I have a copy of my aunt's English translation of the newspaper articles that covered his trip, which I hope to put on the Internet some day.
My father was inspired by his grandfather's trip to undertake something similar in Canada. He began by going on weekend camping trips while he was still working for the Department of Highways before his retirement.
His first major trip was to walk to Vancouver. He left on May 27, 1977. His method was to take his car with him, walk eight and a half miles, return to his car on foot, camp out for the night, drive to the furthest point of advance, and walk again the next day, repeating the process until Vancouver was reached.
When finished, he would have covered the distance from Edmonton to Vancouver twice for a total of about 1,600 miles. Prior to the trip, he drove over the route, logging the mileage and looking for places to camp. He decided to take the car, because he could use it to drive to restaurants and tennis courts or for shelter in bad storms. His plan was to finish in 100 days. He reached Vancouver on September 1st, 97 days after leaving Edmonton.
His route was over the Rocky Mountains through the Howse Pass, discovered by David Thompson in 1807. The David Thompson Highway which connects Red Deer, Alberta with the Banff-Jasper Highway over the Howse Pass, had not yet been completed. A gap of about 21 miles through the Pass had to be covered on foot with no human habitation anywhere in the vicinity and a stream, Breaker Creek, to cross.
I remember vividly his story of the trip when he came home after its completion. He had carried a tin with a few stones in it which he would rattle continuously to warn away any bears.
On the Alberta side of the Pass, west of Rocky Mountain House, there was a trail to follow. Walking west, he was able to reach the summit without incident and make his way back to his car. He drove around to the western B. C. side of the pass and reached the end of the road. Leaving his car and beginning the ascent to the pass in an easterly direction, he discovered that, unlike the Alberta side, no trail had been broken. In order to make his way upward to the pass, it was necessary to break a trail through the underbrush and follow the line of the streams. He reached the top of the pass, a distance of about 10 miles, and began the return trip to his car.
When he reached Breaker Creek, which had not posed a problem on the way in, he found the creek had become a torrent due to spring run-off and hot weather. He managed to find a relatively peaceful spot and attempted to cross, but even with the aid of a long pole he was swept off his feet. Managing somehow to recover, he made his way across. By now it was dark, and he had no landmarks, having made the initial crossing of the creek at a different spot. Eventually, around 1:00 a.m., much to his relief, he found his car.
The trip was covered by the Salmon Arm Observer and the Edmonton Journal. A few excerpts are worth repeating.
From the Salmon Arm Observer:
" 'Being a retired engineer, I do everything very precisely,' Darimont said. He keeps a detailed log of his travels, keeping it up to date each evening. In this diary he records the distance traveled each day, and anything of interest he has seen or done, such as landmarks he has passed and pictures he has taken. (Unfortunately, this log seems to have disappeared.)
The log also makes it possible to compute how many miles he has traveled. By last Wednesday evening he had traveled 921.4 miles, from Edmonton to the A&W in Salmon Arm... His goal is to reach Vancouver in 100 walking days, and he calculates he has covered 57 per cent of the distance in 54 days.
He carries a small tin tied to a stick to frighten away prowling bears... Two black bears did come prowling around his camp one night, but 'I flashed the flashlight at them and told them to scram.' The bears beat a quick retreat."
From the Edmonton Journal:
"You sense in John Darimont, despite his reluctance to speak about it, a feeling that walking is a true and continuing pleasure, when the muscles move to a relaxing rhythm which frees the mind to muse or daydream or think deep thoughts, when the eyes take in birds and animals and kids playing by the side of the road: the kind of things you fail to see when the metal monster goes screaming down the freeway at 100 kilometres plus.
That's not conjecture. It's implicit in the daily log of his trip, typed up conscientiously each night at the end of a day's foot-slogging.
John Darimont is an observant man. When I first knocked at his door to talk about his journey, he stopped me. 'Look there's a squirrel quarreling with two waxwings over the berries,' he said, pointing to a tall tree.
His diary reflects that interest in all things great and small: of how he watched prairie dogs, and herons, Canada geese, deer, and the raven who tried to fly like a hawk, but kept wobbling instead of gliding. ...there are vignettes of friendly farmers who let him pitch his tent on their fields, a little child who drew his picture, a bunch of kids from King Edward school at a campsite, nurses from Red Deer, yarning with other travellers around a fire at night, tennis games, and, on occasion, the savoring of cold beer at the end of the hot and dusty daily tramp."
In the photos are:
1) The Salmon Arm Observer article.
2) My Dad in his back yard preparing for a weekend camping trip.
3) My Dad, his bike and his car.
