Canada's Kootenay National Park

     Near the headwaters of Kootenay River in Canada is Kootenay National Park.  One of the main attractions of this park is its' Radium Hot Springs. I don't normally visit hot springs (skipped them in Arkansas, too). Unless it's a natural setting, I find them too boring. I can't "sit" and do nothing.
     But Radium Hot Springs boasted two pools, one hot and one "cool" for swimming. That's all it took to get me excited. Plan A; spend all day at Radium Hot Springs, interchanging between the cool pool to swim laps and the hot pool to warm up my body and muscles. I paid about $30 for a campground nearby and walked a trail to Radium Hot Springs.

It's an easy-footing trail; but lots of steps up and down.

An overlook with snowy peaks of course . . .

I was the only one on the trail.

The trail skirted steep mountain sides; these rock croppings are on the other side of the gorge.

It was one of those "rare" spiritual forests. Below photo shows a small grove of old cedars.

It was a quiet trail, too.

    Half an hour later I was at Radium Hot Springs. I changed into my suit, put on my mask/snorkel (have been swimming with mask/snorkel for 20 years, click here for description of benefits). I usually swim non-stop for an hour, alittle over one mile. But two minutes into my swim, the lifeguard flagged me down and told me I couldn't swim with my snorkel! This isn't the first time I've butt heads with Canadians about "rules" of swimming. They're a bit behind the times. So I asked for my money back because none of their brochures said "no snorkels". They gave me my money back.

     I showered and changed back into my street clothes. I backtracked this same beautiful trail to the campground, but I was feeling annoyed and irritated. And on the trail, I see this plaque on a rock that I had missed on the way to the Hot Springs.

     See the advice? Keep peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. It made me smile! When I got back to the campground (about Noon), I peacefully requested a refund on my campsite because I was ready to go onto Plan B. They gave me my money back. And Plan B turned out to be the best plan (my next post).