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Tuesday 14 January 2014

Canada Part 5.....

Sorry to those who couldn't see anything I mistakenly published before I'd actually written anything!   Anyway here it is now. 

Day two of our Rocky Mountaineer trip dawned and the coaches were waiting to take us to the station.  However there were another eleven carriages to add to our train, which had arrived in Kamloops from Jasper, making it 26 carriages long.

Our stewards from the previous day were waiting to greet us as we boarded our carriage to take the same seats we had vacated the day before.    Before too long we were underway and breakfast was being served for those who had been on the second meal sitting in the restaurant the day before, whilst those of us on second sitting were served fresh juice, tea/coffee and Danish pastries to tide us over until it was our turn to have the full monty.

The train headed out past Kamloops Lake


 and followed the Thompson River on the next leg of our journey.





As the train came through a tunnel we were told the amusing story of the owner of the farm at the side of the railway tracks.   Apparently the sound of the train's whistle, as it emerged from the tunnel, was disturbing his sheep, so he used to come out and start firing his gun at the train.   As this was highly dangerous he was taken to court and told not to fire his gun at the train again and the train is not allowed to blow the whistle. He obeyed the court ruling but in protest he regularly appears naked apart from his boots to passing trains.   We didn't see him!

If we thought our train was long we were amazed to see the freight train on the opposite side of the river, just look at this video.


We saw some teepees.

We were coming up to The Cisco Bridges, a pair of railroad bridges where the Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway both follow the route of the Frazer River one on each side, and the routes exchange sides at this point. 

There was much excitement on the train as the drivers reported that something was about to happen that had never happened in the history of the Rocky Mountaineer and we should get our cameras ready. Another Rocky Mountaineer train was coming in the opposite direction to us and we were going to cross over at Cisco Crossing.    Luckily we managed to get a video of this momentous occasion, you will see us crossing on the top bridge as the other train crosses below.


Here's a shot of the other train on the other side of the river as we began the crossing,

 you can see the Gold Leaf carriages with the dome on top in the next photo,


 and here it is beneath us as we crossed over.


After all the excitement of 'the crossing' we settled back into our seats to watch for wildlife.   We saw lots of eagles and other birds but we all wanted to see another bear or some big horn sheep which were supposed to be prevalent in the area.   We had an agreement with our fellow passengers that whoever spotted wildlife would shout what it was and which side of the train it was on so we could all get a photo, suddenly I shouted "Chinook, on the left" which prompted cries of "where, where, what's a Chinook?"   LOL of course I was admonished when people realised I'd seen a Chinook helicopter, naughty of me I know but I just couldn't help it.

The next part of our journey took us over Hell's Gate an abrupt narrowing of the Fraser River where the towering rock walls of the Fraser River plunge toward each other forcing the waters through a passage only 35 metres (115 ft) wide.
 It is also the name of the rural locality at the same location.

 We shot some video of the raging waters going through Hell's Gate.



Oh I didn't mention the food did I? Just a little taster as I can't remember what we had and didn't take any other photos.It was just as scrumptious as Day 1.


The next shot is of Mount Baker (3,285m), a Glacial Volcano, which is actually across the border from Canada in the United States.   Mount Baker has the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascade Range after Mount Saint Helens, it is the youngest volcano in the Mount Baker volcanic field

Before we knew it we were on the outskirts of Vancouver.



We pulled into the station and our coaches were waiting to transfer us to the city and on to our hotel.

We went out to eat but weren't late in bed that night as we were shattered but spent some time looking at the photographs we had taken from the train on both days - lots, lots more than I've shared here.

We were looking forward to exploring Vancouver the following day, I hope you will join me for Canada Part 6 to share what we saw.

29 comments:

Valerie said...

Ooops, nothing to see *sob* ... grins

mrsnesbitt said...

Thoughtfully composed and interestingly hidden!

Ron said...

Ooops...I don't see anything.

X

Daryl said...

what they all said

Commander Zaius said...

Blogger must have ate everything. Its happen to me several times.

Cloudia said...

Happy New Year to you, my dear!





ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
> < } } ( ° >

Commander Zaius said...

I would love to go on such a trip into Canada. And Vancouver, from what I have heard that could be a week-long vacation in its own right.

eastcoastlife said...

I have several friends in Canada who have been persuading me to visit them. Thanks for this informative post as I plan my trip to Canada. Happy New Year!

Akelamalu said...

Oh you should go Beach, you would love it!

My pleasure EastCoastLife, enjoy your trip. x

Flowerpot said...

Fab time Ak adn great pics! xx

Daryl said...

cant wait to see what you saw in Vancouver, its on my i wanna go there list

Birdie said...

This is a great post. I am Canadian and I finally took my first train trip across Canada in 2012. The Rockies are amazing and no pictures could ever do them credit. We finished our trip in Vancouver then made our way home to Vancouver island..

Anonymous said...

It must have been weird to go from all those beautiful mountains and wind up in a city.

Akelamalu said...

We certainly did have a fab time FP :)

It's an exciting city Daryl!

You're so right Birdie, we went to Vancouver island, you're so lucky living there, it's beautiful!

It was certainly different caskillblogger! LOL

Maggie May said...

I enjoyed watching those trains! What a massively long cargo they had. Thought they'd need several engines to tow that lot!
Very interesting if not hair raising.
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Maggie May said...

I enjoyed watching those trains! What a massively long cargo they had. Thought they'd need several engines to tow that lot!
Very interesting if not hair raising.
Maggie x

Nuts in May

Ron said...

Brava! Another awesome pictorial tour post! The videos were awesome as well! As you know, I adore train travel, so I would have enjoyed this excursion. Btw, that dessert you had looked scrumptious!

And the photo below that (the one of the mountains in the background) is truly magnificent. The mountains look as though they're an oil painting!

The more I see of Canada, the more I need to get there. It's so beautiful!

Thanks for sharing, m'dear. Enjoyed!

X

Akelamalu said...

Glad you enjoyed the trains Maggie x

Oh I just know you would love to do that trip Ron, especially the train - start saving now! xx

Akelamalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Akelamalu said...

Glad you enjoyed it Albert Jerry

Thankyou umama baheli

Valerie said...

Hey up, how come I only just saw this post. Maybe it didn't show on my blog roll because of the first hiccup... smiles. Anyway, I'm here now and very pleased to have seen all the lovely pictures. How great is that scenery?

The tale about the naked man reminded me of the male stripper in Times Square NY, the one Joe saw and I missed. Wouldn't you think Joe would have called me out of that shop?!!

Akelamalu said...

Ah yes the first hiccup was probably to blame Valerie, anyway glad you're here now. The scenery was MAGNIFICENT! I have another tale about a streaker at the races that I actually saw, remind me to tell you about it sometime! ;)

Haddock said...

Wonderful pictures... especially the one from under the bridge.

Akelamalu said...

Thankyou Haddock

Cloudia said...

Glorious! I'm so happy for you and so JEALOUS!





ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
=^..^= <3

Akelamalu said...

Oh sorry to make you jealous Cloudia, you should do the trip! xx

Dumdad said...

Excellent photos. I was especially intrigued with the Girl in a Wetsuit statue - whatever the creator might say, one immediately thinks of Copenhagen's mermaid.