High Country

On one of the days in mid-July, when Hailey and I were staying at the cottage together, we took a drive west into the Banff National Park.  On our way there, we made a brief stop down along the North Saskatchewan River at Whirlpool Point.  The water was running really high and fast, partly due to the mountain runoff, but contributed to significantly by all the rain we've had this year.  Once we got to Saskatchewan Crossing we headed south in the direction of Lake Louise.  We never did travel that far, but we did make some stops at Upper and Lower Waterfowl Lake, Silverhorn Creek and Bow Lake.  It was REALLY busy everywhere, and to make matters worse there was some road construction on the Icefields Parkway.  Every trailhead parking lot and viewpoint was packed with cars.  This was much the same as it had been a month prior when my friend Rob and I ventured into this area.  Seems the virus pandemic has shut down international travel, but since the parks and campsites reopened earlier this summer, all the domestic tourists have headed for the hills.  We quickly tired of the crowds and by mid afternoon we made our way back towards Nordegg.  The David Thompson highway was very busy as well,  This was all somewhat surprising as it was the middle of the week, and not a weekend.  This all makes me look forward to fall, when all the summer tourists are gone, and things quiet down again....