 |
| The Frank Slide |
After farewelling Mum on Saturday morning, I headed off with C. for my first Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. We were bound for Cranbrook, a small mining town on the other side of the Rockies in British Columbia, which is a 4 hour drive from Calgary. As with most road trips, there were plenty of sights to stop and see along the way. One of the most fascinating stops for me was the Frank Slide, which occurred 100 years ago and destroyed the town of Frank. The side of Turtle Mountain gave way, showering boulders, rocks and rubble over Frank. The entire town disappeared, killing all 70 residents. The only survivors were the miners who were in the mine at the time of the accident and managed to dig their way out. The rubble still remains today, with a small area carved out for the highway to pass through. It is hard to believe that under all those rocks are the remains of an entire town and its inhabitants. The sight that didn't interest me so much was 'The World's Biggest Truck' - perhaps it's a gender thing because C. seemed impressed.
 |
| Frank Slide ... on the other side of the highway |
 |
| The world's biggest truck - Sparwood's claim to fame |
Our purpose for visiting Cranbrook was to visit C's cousin and her family, who live at the base of the Rockies in an old trapper's cabin, a small log cabin where hunters used to stay when they went hunting in the nearby woods. It was a very special place to stay indeed. On Sunday, we followed C's cousin into the wilderness on a beautiful off-track hike. As we ate lunch, we watched huge numbers of eagles fly over top of us ... we were obviously sitting underneath their migration route. Unfortunately, C's car chose this middle-of-nowhere trailhead to break down. Not a great place or time for it to happen. Tonight, we have an earlier than planned return trip to Cranbrook (an 8 hour return trip) to pick up his car. All in all, an odd but weekend.
 |
| View from the Wolf Creek hike |
 |
| Our beautiful picnic spot |
No comments:
Post a Comment