Lake Minnewanka tour

 It has been a dizzying pace. And frustrating….

Trying to find a work-around for Apple’s options that never seem to do what they should do has been frustrating. So when I “signed off” on last night’s blog post, I was tired and not in the best mood, which, for me, is frustrating as I try to remain in control of my emotions and not react to situations beyond my control.

By the time I woke up this morning, I was in a better mood… which lasted through breakfast. I had spent (invested?) a small amount of time last night deleting pictures from my phone, knowing that I would, as is my custom, over-do the taking of pictures. After having visited every last option and setting in my phone, I was hoping not to have a replay of yesterday’s events while capturing the essence of Banff, B.C., one of North America’s premiere sight-seeing settings.

Our reservation for a cruise on Lake Minnewanka was for the quite reasonable hour of 10:30 am. What had not been figured upon was the time and method of transporting our party to the departure point. After everyone had gone to bed last night, I inquired at the front desk of our hotel as to the necessary means of arriving at the lake in time for our tour. Even though the departure time and point had been predetermined, we knew not the infrequency of bus routes to the lake. As it turned out, our 8 am breakfast meeting was followed by a 9:05 am departure time; not exactly rushed, but not too laid back either. Luckily, the pick up point was directly across the street from the restaurant which was adjacent to the lobby area of the hotel.

We arrived at the shoreline dock an hour before departure. Our surroundings were extraordinarily picturesque (if you like being completely surrounded by stunning mountain peaks towering thousands of feet over the horizon.)

The check-in went smoothly enough, which was a good thing because I stopped briefly to take picture of this cute little guy, only to be told by Apple that I was, again, out of storage space on my phone. Argh!

Our tour guide was a delightful young lady, full of information and smiles and still willing to let the surroundings speak for themselves.

Although the lake has welcomed visitors from surrounding areas for over 10,000 years, it has expanded greatly over the last hundred years. It was first “developed” beyond its creator’s original design by the building of a campsight with supporting structures in the last part of the 19th century. 

After the construction of a dam on the Cascade River in 1885 formed a larger lake, an additional dam was constructed to facilitate water storage for nearby development. 

An act of federal proportions forbade development of National Park lands in Canada in any manner detrimental to the preservation of the land for future generations. The National Parks Act was set aside during WWII with the approval of the building of a much larger, taller hydro-electric dam to power a munitions manufacturing plant in Calgary. The construction began in 1941, the war ended in 1945, and the munitions plant never saw the turning of the first shovel full of dirt in Calgary. The lake is currently 13 miles long and, at its deepest end, over 500 feet deep! The depth allows the lake to stay at a consistent temperature around 40 degrees F. The power generation capacity of the dam has been put to good use however, supplying electricity to this beautiful community that attracts tourism from around the globe.