Stampede!!

The city of Calgary is packed with Rodeo goers- the stampede is on! It is big! It goes on for ten days, and is the biggest rodeo in the world, and competitors come from as far away as Australia to take part.
There are at least four big stadiums, the biggest of course being the rodeo stadium itself, where two sessions a day take place, the first starting at 1-15, where we were today.

I really don't know how many people this will take, maybe 80,000, including a large standing area below the stands. We sat about halfway up at one side, but our view was good, as you will see by the pictures we got. By the time the show got started the stadium was full, including that stand opposite which looks empty at the moment.

Part of the entertainment was this big marching band, maybe 100 musicians, and the flag wavers. The commentary was great, the two guys doing it were very funny, and there was a clown in the ring, but he kept his distance from the action.

Indian dancers took the stage then, in full dress and some with full head dress. The TV cameras were everywhere, and we could get close ups of all the action on big screens.

The main show opened with the novice saddle bronc- for riders under 20,  they were let out of the gate and had to stay on for eight seconds until the buzzer sounded, this one didn't make the grade, but some did. There were some spectacular falls, but fortunately no injuries today, but it isn't always so.

It was followed by the tie-down roping- the steer is released a fraction before the rider, who has to lassoo it, jump off his horse which is trained to keep the lassoo tight, and tie a front leg and both hind legs with three turns of the rope. This is timed and the best ones did it in around seven seconds. The animal seemed to come to no harm, it was released immediately and ran around before being ushered out of the ring.

The next event was the Junior Steer Riding Championship, Young bucks 11 to 15 take on young bulls. They don't get to choose which bull they will ride, some are easier than others, and are provided by the stampede by ballot. The animals themselves are marked according to difficulty, and that score is added to the riders score, if he manages to stay on for the full eight seconds.

Then followed the Steer Wrestling Championship, a steer is released between two riders and the competitor has to jump off his horse onto the steer, and bring him to the ground. Look closely and you will see that the steer has horns, and if the rider misjudges his jump he could end up being impaled on them. There were a couple of spectacular misses on this one, but these are tough guys and take it as it comes.

Bareback riding was next, the rider has only a strap round the middle of the horse, and usually rides holding on with one hand. They literally lie back on the horse's hindquarters, and their legs fly everywhere, again they have to stay on for eight seconds.That is a very long time when the horse is doing it's very best to throw you. The guys on the other horses are safety men, there to rescue the rider if things go wrong, or even to take them off after their eight seconds safely.

The saddle broncs are even meaner, some of them come out of the chute veering wildly from side to sire while they buck. It may be easier to stay on with a saddle, but the broncs are pretty determined.

But these horses are trained to perfection and belong to the riders, they are timed over a course which takes them round three barrels set in a triangle, two to the left and one to the right. This event was won by a 67 year old woman, who beat the men by almost one second in an event lasting just seven seconds!
The prize money for all these events is big, Mary Burger has now won $21000 this week in this event.

The final event of the day in the ring was the Bull Riding Championship. These animals are huge, weighing over a ton, with pointed horns as long as your forearm. Very dangerous creatures, witness the guys jumping out of the ring as the bull comes near. Again, all the rider has to stay on is a rope around the animal's midriff, with a bell underneath to add weight to it so it drops off when the rider lets go. Two riders come in to take the guy off if he survives the eight seconds, they take great care to keep their horses away from the horns. They then have to lassoo it to get it out of the ring,

Earlier we had seen the judging of the Heavy Horses in another ring, Clydesdales, Shires, and a couple of other breeds. They showed best Mare, best Stallion and best colt from each breed.

The overall winner was a stallion Persion, beautifully manicured. They have to decorate their tails too!

The heavy horses showed their paces through the day in harness, we saw eight Clydesdales being made ready to pull a large stagecoach, but we missed them actually pulling it.

Vintage tractor pulling was also a "big draw", They had to drag this huge vehicle as far as they could while it gradually got heavier as the box on the top moved up the ramp. Some managed over 100ft, despite the fact that all were over 50 years old.

Rotary had a big presence here, they were selling raffle tickets for this house, which cost over £500,000. They also had a 50-50 draw, and they had already taken nearly a million dollars in the first four days, with six to go. They get to keep half while the winner gets the other half. What a way to fund raise.
Anne and I are really looking forward to another day at the stampede tomorrow. Watch this space....

Palaeontology in the Badlands

We left early this morning for a three hour drive to Drumhellar, some two hours north east of Calgary.  It sits in the middle of the "Badlands", somewhat barren country with peculiar rocks, and the most prolific fossil country in North America. Here you can see the layers of rocks laid down millennia ago, perhaps 350 million years ago, shaped by ice and the Red Deer river over that time.

Some of the more spectacular sights are the "Hoodoos", soft rocks capped by hard rock, which will eventually wear away and the whole pillar will disappear. You can see the different coloured  layers ofn them, some standing 4 mtrs high.

Here you can see Hoodoos in the making: the harder rocks sticking out, and the different layers of rock. As the water runs down this rock it eats the softer rock, leaving rivulets.

Unfortunately they allow people to clamber all over the rocks, even some of the Hoodoos, which will not help these natural formations to survive.



Until a few years ago this was a big coal mining area, but once oil was discovered in Alberta the coal industry died. This Atlas No 3 mine is now a tourist attraction, we didn't go down but they are certainly making it pay again! While the managers lived on the site, the miners lived across the river, in poor accommodation.

We went on to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of palaeontology, one of the finest I have seen. As I said earlier, there are thousands of fossils to be found around this part of Alberta, literally just lying around. The archaeologists are constantly working on the findings in this museum, and the fossils that we saw are just a minute fraction of those in store here for scientists to work on.

The Albertasaurus was discovered here in the 19th century, kick-starting the science here, since then many almost complete skeletons have been found here, particularly after a major flood uncovered many a few years ago. This dinosaur lived some 150 million years ago. Some of the fossils here have come from other parts of the world, and some have been reconstructed, but the museum certainly gives a good idea of the size and range of dinosaurs and other creatures that were about all those years ago.

Lake Minnewanka and Tunnel Mountain.

We are now in a town called Canmore, just outside the National Park, as we were unable to get accommodation in Banff. We are still surrounded by mountains, but today we decided to have a look at Lake Minnewanka, just inside the park. Every time we go into the park we pass  inspection of our pass, which we bought in Halifax, and which lasts two years. It was a good move, we have saved a lot of money by not having to buy for each park.

The lake was dammed in 1942 to provide hydro electricity for the area,  and is still in operation. This Bighorned Sheep decided to take a walk along the side of the dam, and held up traffic for a while till he got across.

Once again the views across the lake were spectacular, I am fast running out of superlatives for the Rockies and the national parks, what can you say about views like this?

All around us is such magnificence that it is almost impossible to take it all in, much of the mountain area is open only to foot traffic only on long hikes, so that where we are is only where we can access by road, or short walks. Camping and hiking is very much encouraged here, although everywhere we go there are warnings about the dangers of wild animals.

Lake Two Jacks is separated from Lake Minnewanka by another small dam, we walked along the lake for a while to take in yet more magnificent views. These two lakes are much quieter than others we have visited, but there are a few people around.

After our usual Subway lunch ( they are all over Canada, and aren't I pleased!) we took a trip up Tunnel mountain. That big lump of rock you can see in the centre of the picture is part of it, and it extends horseshoe fashion to where we are. It was so called because when they were building the railway here it was expected they would have to tunnel through it, however after a re-survey they decided to go north around it. From the top we overlook the Bow Valley, the river snakes through the valley and is a haven for wildlife. Behind Tunnel mountain you can see Sulphur Mountain, where we were yesterday at the hot springs.

Behind us here is Mount Rundle, and the southern part of this Bow Valley, the Bow River still snaking through.

These objects are called Hoodoos,  formed by the erosion of the softer rocks around them over many centuries. Why they are called that I haven't found out.

All through the park are pairs of these red chairs, strategically placed at viewpoints. These are overlooking the valley above, we tried to move them so we could get the wonderful view of the valley in the background but they were tied down. Spoilsports!.
Once again I shall entrance you with more views......

Lake Louise to Banff: the Bow Valley Parkway.

Lake Louise sits below a glacier which feeds it, which in turn feeds into the Bow River. It is no doubt quite spectacular, but we gave up trying to reach it when we encountered a non moving traffic jam about half way up! I can't say we weren't warned, the guy in the Tourist Information said don't go up between ten and five.

The village itself is basically a small shopping mall with a few houses around it, a little disappointing as they had no Subway! And crowded; parking was at a premium, there are so many RVs ( Motor Caravans to us!) there was an overspill park for them out of town. But at least it was free, that was unexpected.
Lake Louise is the centre of the skiing in the winter, but there seems to be very little accommodation here. We had to stay 15 miles south of the town, and we were lucky to get a place.

I went up to the top of the ski runs in a gondola, which runs up the mountain opposite the lake and village. The views were spectacular all the way, I was disappointed that Anne could not be with us but she has a fear of heights. I came down however on a chair lift, it was not as cold up there as I had expected.

However I was greatly compensated by the sight of a grizzly bear just below as I travelled up, he was massive. He appeared to be eating the grass and shrubs but occasionally lifted his head to give me a good shot. He was still there when I came down, still grazing, but disappeared into the forest shortly afterwards.

We were staying in a cabin on the Bow Valley Parkway, just a little way from the river and the railway line which runs alongside it. We had a lovely little cabin with a log fire, in the most beautiful of surroundings.

The cabins nestled underneath Castle Mountain, a spectacular series of ridges which towered over the valley a little less than halfway between Lake Louise and Banff. The parkway itself was the original road, since superseded by a freeway, and  which was first built by internees during the first world war.

Just north of Louise is a spectacular railway line which does two 360 degree turns through tunnels over 1 km long each, the plan above may give you some idea how it works. We stood and watched as a goods train over a mile long, with no less than four engines, came down.

Look closely at this picture, you can see the engine emerging from the lower end of the tunnel as part of the train enters the upper part to the left above. Although you can't see it, and indeed it was obscured from us with the trees, just below us was the back end of the train as it snaked along to another bend about 300 yards from us to our right.

We spent a little time in Yoho National Park, just to the west of Lake Louise, where we visited the Takakkawa Falls, the third highest falls in North America. To get up there we had to negotiate a double hairpin bend, where on the middle pitch buses and RVs had to reverse up, and down, as there was no room to turn the middle corner.

There was a major surprise awaiting us on our way home to our cabin that evening- another Grizzly bear, a huge male. He was grazing just by the roadside as we were passing, I say passing but really there was so much traffic viewing him we couldn't get past for a while. But he hung about for us and we got some superb shots. These animals can be very aggressive, and have been known to kill humans, but there were still people getting out of their vehicles to get a better picture. Foolhardy to say the least.

Wolves are common round this area, although it was normal to kill off the dangerous predators in the middle of the last century that policy was reversed in the eighties when it was found that natural oder of things was changing due to the culling. So it was decided to leave things to nature, and the park has returned to what it should be. Wolves, like bears, and indeed any of the large animals here, can be a problem, but if they are left alone rarely attack people.

We visited the warm sulphur springs, which first put Banff on the map in the 1860s, shortly afterwards the railway came here bringing with it the rich tourists to take the waters. This photo shows one of the springs which fed the baths, nowadays the baths are closed but you can still see and smell the waters.

We came across a harmless garden snake taking the sum in the gardens there, about 18 inches long.

A few more views:

  One of the hairpins up to the Takakkaw Falls

The railway runs alongside the Bow River for much of the way.

Anne didn't like this bit!

A street scene in Banff.

The Johnston Canyon Lower Falls.

Our little cabin in the woods.

A groundhog stands guard outside our cabin while his family grazes behind him.

Yet another spectacular view.