July 20, 2016, Wednesday — Train From Kamloops To Jasper
We’re on the Rocky Mountaineer train again, this time following the North Thompson River. The North Thompson is a big river, with a very fertile valley. We took a picture of ginseng fields in bloom, and another crossing the North Thompson River.
Anika's Notes
We did the same thing as yesterday to get in the Train. We had breakfast and lunch on the train and also I got to see bighorn sheep plus a bunch of Eagles! I spotted some of the Eagles myself but mostly it was shoutout. We had dinner at our hotel and then headed to bed.
We are now back to following a now clear and pristine Fraser River. The river that was so muddy in Vancouver is now an unworldly powder blue. The color is due to granite “flour” dust in the water, ground by the glaciers. We took a picture of the new blue Fraser River with the Rockies behind it.
We see many dead pines in the surrounding forests — sometimes whole hillsides of pines. They have been killed by a combination of the ongoing drought and a resurgence of the pine borer beetle. Our guide passed around a slice of pine borer beetle infested wood so we could see the blue tinge from the accompanying fungus and the beetle bores.
The beetles inject their young into the cambrium of the tree, and the larvae encircle the tree, and consume the cambrium, and kill the tree. The pine here are Lodgepole Pine, tall and straight and skinny.
The beetles inject their young into the cambrium of the tree, and the larvae encircle the tree, and consume the cambrium, and kill the tree. The pine here are Lodgepole Pine, tall and straight and skinny.
We passed by the spectacular Pyramid Falls
We took a photo of Yellow Lake (which used to be called Buffalo Dung Lake) and of Mt. Robson with lighter layers of Dolomite and darker layers of granite covered with lichens. We crossed the continental divide at 3,011 feet and crossed from British Columbia to the province of Alberta.
Mount Robson?
When we disembarked in Jasper we said goodbye to our wonderful train crew and were met by busses that took us to our hotels. Ours was the Crimson Jasper Hotel.