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As artificial intelligence replaces entry-level jobs, California’s universities and community colleges are offering a glimmer of hope for students: free AI training that will teach them to master the new technology.

“You’re seeing in certain coding spaces significant declines in hiring for obvious reasons,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday during a press conference from the seventh floor of Google’s San Francisco office.

Flanked by leadership from California’s higher education systems, he called attention to the recent layoffs at Microsoft, at Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and at Salesforce Tower, just a few blocks away, home to the tech company that is still the city’s largest private employer.

Now, some of those companies — including Google and Microsoft — will offer a suite of AI resources for free to California schools and universities. In return, the companies could gain access to millions of new users.

The state’s community colleges and its California State University campuses are “the backbone of our workforce and economic development,” Newsom said, just before education leaders and tech executives signed agreements on AI.

The new deals are the latest developments in a frenzy that began in November 2022, when OpenAI publicly released the free artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, forcing schools to adapt.

The Los Angeles Unified School District implemented an AI chatbot last year, only to cancel it three months later without disclosing why. San Diego Unified teachers started using AI software that suggested what grades to give students, CalMatters reported. Some of the district’s board members were unaware that the district had purchased the software.

Last month, the company that oversees Canvas, a learning management system popular in California schools and universities, said it would add “interactive conversations in a ChatGPT-like environment” into its software.

To combat potential AI-related cheating, many K-12 and college districts are using a new feature from the software company Turnitin to detect plagiarism, but a CalMatters investigation found that the software accused students who did real work instead.

Mixed signals?

These deals are sending mixed signals, said Stephanie Goldman, the president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. “Districts were already spending lots of money on AI detection software. What do you do when it’s built into the software they’re using?”

Don Daves-Rougeaux, a senior adviser for the community college system, acknowledged the potential contradiction but said it’s part of a broader effort to keep up with the rapid pace of changes in AI. He said the community college system will frequently reevaluate the use of Turnitin along with all other AI tools.

California’s community college system is responsible for the bulk of job training in the state, though it receives the least funding from the state per student.

“Oftentimes when we are having these conversations, we are looked at as a smaller system,” said Daves-Rougeaux. The state’s 116 community colleges collectively educate roughly 2.1 million students.

In the deals announced Thursday, the community college system will partner with Google, Microsoft, Adobe and IBM to roll out additional AI training for teachers. Daves-Rougeaux said the system has also signed deals that will allow students to use exclusive versions of Google’s counterpart to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google’s AI research tool, Notebook LLM. Daves-Rougeaux said these tools will save community colleges “hundreds of millions of dollars,” though he could not provide an exact figure.

“It’s a tough situation for faculty,” said Goldman. “AI is super important but it has come up time and time again: How do you use AI in the classroom while still ensuring that students, who are still developing critical thinking skills, aren’t just using it as a crutch?”

One concern is that faculty could lose control over how AI is used in their classrooms, she added.

The K-12 system and Cal State University system are forming their own tech deals. Amy Bentley-Smith, a spokesperson for the Cal State system, said it is working on its own AI programs with Google, Microsoft, Adobe and IBM as well as Amazon Web Services, Intel, LinkedIn, Open AI and others.

Angela Musallam, a spokesperson for the state government operations agency, said California high schools are part of the deal with Adobe, which aims to promote “AI literacy,” the idea that students and teachers should have basic skills to detect and use artificial intelligence.

Much like the community college system, which is governed by local districts, Musallam said individual K-12 districts would need to approve any deal.

Will deals make a difference to students, teachers?

Experts say it’s too early to tell how effective AI training will actually be.

Justin Reich, an associate professor at MIT, said a similar frenzy took place 20 years ago when teachers tried to teach computer literacy. “We do not know what AI literacy is, how to use it, and how to teach with it. And we probably won’t for many years,” Reich said.

The state’s new deals with Google, Microsoft, Adobe and IBM allow these tech companies to recruit new users — a benefit for the companies — but the actual lessons aren’t time-tested, he said.

“Tech companies say: ‘These tools can save teachers time,’ but the track record is really bad,” said Reich. “You cannot ask schools to do more right now. They are maxed out.”

Erin Mote, the CEO of an education nonprofit called InnovateEDU, said she agrees that state and education leaders need to ask critical questions about the efficacy of the tools that tech companies offer but that schools still have an imperative to act.

“There are a lot of rungs on the career ladder that are disappearing,” she said. “The biggest mistake we could make as educators is to wait and pause.”

Last year, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office signed an agreement with NVIDIA, a technology infrastructure company, to offer AI training similar to the kinds of lessons that Google, Microsoft, Adobe and IBM will deliver.

Melissa Villarin, a spokesperson for the chancellor’s office, said the state won’t share data about how the NVIDIA program is going because the cohort of teachers involved is still too small.

Kimberly Biggle Dedini was born in Monrovia, Calif. on June 10, 1980 to Diane and Gil Biggle. Kim was a boisterous, loving, smart kid from the start who could start a conversation with anyone. She was always very active and involved in her community and school including student council, softball, drama and stage crew.

Kim graduated from Monrovia High School in 1998 and left So-Cal to attend Humboldt State University, from which she graduated in 2003. While at HSU, Kim was a coxswain for both the women’s and men’s crew teams while earning her degree and living a vivacious social life. She was known for always having a smile on her face and having the ability to laugh at anything.

She went on to teach at Santa Fe Middle School in Monrovia for 7 years before landing a job at McKinleyville Middle School in Humboldt County allowing the family to move north, which was their dream all along. She taught 8th grade science at MMS for 13 years, enriching every life she touched with her nurturing and inclusive attitude.

At the age of 24, Kim married the love of her life, Erik Dedini. In 2007 they welcomed their first child, Cairo Raine and in 2009 their family was completed when they welcomed Jonah Skye.

Kim was always up for an adventure, taking trips with her friends and family to make all the memories, including summiting Mt. Whitney in So-Cal and Mt. Fuji in Japan.

Kim was not only the greatest supporter of her loved ones, but of pretty much anyone she met. She was an amazing teacher, loving mother, dedicated wife, inspiring friend, caring sister and daughter and one of the best humans ever!

Kim fought a courageous battle against brain cancer, which she was diagnosed with in October of 2023, trying every treatment possible to give her more time with her loved ones. As was Kim’s nature, she kept her positive, bubbly attitude through the entire journey doing her best to make sure there was still fun being had, even through the hard days. After a brave and valiant fight, she passed in the early morning on August 3, 2025 surrounded by love.

We will be celebrating Kim’s beautiful life on Sunday, August 31 at the Loomis home in Fieldbrook from 2 to 6 p.m. Please come by to help us celebrate this amazing human, share a story and a hug. Feel free to email oceanlover20@yahoo.com if you need the address.

Robert “Bob” Wunner passed away early in the morning of July 23, 2025 in Eureka at age 85.

Bob was born in San Francisco, California in 1939. He grew up working after school in the family grocery business with his three siblings in the Marina district. His immigrant grandfather opened the grocery store after the earthquake of 1906 when he was given a gold coin worth fifty dollars.

Bob’s family moved across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County when he was in mid-childhood, and it was here that he began to appreciate the natural world. He enjoyed walking in the oak woodlands near his home, and the local Boy Scout Troop provided trips to many northern California natural areas in his formative years. He became an Eagle Scout and mentor to other people interested in nature. The summer after he turned 21, he solo hiked the John Muir Trail between Mt. Whitney and Yosemite, roughly 200 miles. Bob was struck by lighting twice during his hikes.

Bob moved to Humboldt County in late 1950s, where he attended Humboldt State College (Cal Poly Humboldt) and studied Wildlife Management. He spent three years at Lava Beds National Monument as a wildlife park ranger and a fire control aide and another year studying and writing about the flora of lava beds. His studies then took him to Montana Biological Station for graduate studies in aquatic plants. He wrote a paper about the flora of Craters of the Moon National Monument, then moved to Lawrence, Kansas to work on a PhD at the University of Kansas. He studied sunflowers of the prairie grasslands, with a focus on introgressive hybridization in sunflowers. This focus on cell genetics gave Bob a widening understanding of the plant world and insights into the impacts of genetics on the landscapes he visited.

Bob served in the Army Reserves and National Guard from 1963-1970.

After returning to Humboldt County, Bob taught biology at the College of the Redwoods for a year and then began working on watershed rehabilitation and salmon restoration in several northeast rivers and streams: Jacoby Creek, Redwood Creek, and the South Fork of the Trinity River. He enjoyed working with like-minded people who became lifelong friends. He later helped establish Lassics Botanical Area south of Ruth Lake and Del Norte Botanical Area on the Smith River. Bob made a map of the North Coast rivers and streams and a plant guide that covered plants from the seashore to Willow Creek.

Bob always enjoyed writing about his adventures and the people he shared his hiking experiences with. His new book, published in 2025, is called Mountains and Streams: A Backcountry Memoir.

He also enjoyed playing guitar, water color painting and cooking. Bob was a terrible cook and his ideas for what might go well together often scared his friends and family. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a tin of sardines, why not? Most of his scary combos were born out of the idea of not wasting things and thus combining them into a meal, but not always. Bob had a wide range of cooking interests from Tibetan food to macrobiotics to good old spaghetti dinners. He worked hard in his later years to improve his culinary reputation, but it may be one goal he did not achieve.

In the 1970’s, he ground his own flour to make bread on a bicycle mounted to a grinder. He loved hunting for all local berries but had a soft spot for huckleberries. If you were on the trail and camping with Bob, it was coffee with grounds (cowboy coffee) or hot chocolate. He loved camping in any weather and had a tent that you could stand up in with a small wood stove that made you feel you were at home.

Bob’s best friend and sweetheart Emelia Berol adventured with him for the last 25 years and helped him reach his dream of completing his book and many other goals he had.

Bob is survived by his daughters Vesta Wunner and Brook Willow; granddaughter Ella Danial; Godson Nick Wren; siblings Susan Evans and Ronald Wunner; nieces and nephews Saiah Wunner-Myers, Kali Baston, Nathan Wunner, Mark Wunner, Maura Duvall, Mathew Evans, and Andrew Evans; numerous grand nieces and nephews; and other family members, including Linda Borgeson, Emelia Berol, Paloma Rollings, Josiah Cain, Lotus Samual, Anna Marsh, Stephen Derby, Brian Evans, Carolyn Wunner, Suzanne Willow, Alison Murray, and Marcia Wunner.

Bob was beloved by many people in our community and attended Rock Steady Boxing twice a week to get the workout and hang out with his buddies. The program was designed to help people with Parkinson’s Disease. Bob’s family appreciates the boxing teachers who were so dedicated to Bob and the participants and the fellowship of his boxing buddies.

Bob’s family would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to Tara Kelly for taking Bob to boxing twice a week and on so many adventures into the local wilds and the caring staff at Eureka Rehabilitation and Wellness Center for their care of Bob during his final days. We would also like to thank Redwood Coast Pace and Agape Home Care staff members for their care of Bob the past few years.

No formal memorial will be held although gatherings of all kinds are certain. Honor Bob’s memory by hiking your favorite trail, cooking your favorite meal, picking berries, telling a story by the camp fire to family and friends, or writing a book and sharing it with the world.

Donations to Jacoby Creek Land Trust, the Yosemite Conservancy, or other nature conservancies of your choice can be made in Bob’s honor.

In Loving Memory of Beverly Moorehead
November 27, 1934 – August 4, 2025

Beverly Moorehead, a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and resident of Big Lagoon Rancheria, passed away peacefully on August 4, 2025, at the age of 90.

Born on November 27, 1934, in Hoopa, California, Beverly was the daughter of Thomas and Lila Williams. She attended Arcata High School and grew up with strong family roots and deep connections to the community that she cherished throughout her life.

Beverly was the proud mother of six children: Frank Lara, Dale Lara, Peter Lara, Roger Moorehead, Virgil Moorehead, and Holly Moorehead. She is survived by her sons Dale Lara, Peter Lara, and Virgil Moorehead, and daughters-in-law Kimberly Lara, Pat Moorehead, Loretto Gandolfo and Fran Pederson. She also leaves behind numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins, all of whom brought her great pride and joy.

She was preceded in death by her parents Thomas and Lila Williams, her loving husband of over 50 years Ted Moorehead, her brother Tommy Williams, her sons Frank Lara and Roger Moorehead, her daughter Holly Moorehead and daughter in law Kathy Gilham.

Known for her sharp wit and her gift for storytelling, Beverly had a way of keeping everyone in the loop about the latest happenings—whether it was the neighborhood news, family updates, or the small-town drama that always kept life interesting. Her way of sharing a tale, filled with humor and insight, made every conversation feel like a connection.

She enjoyed daily walks with her little dogs, cherished visits with family, and was a dedicated supporter at the sporting events of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She found great joy in dancing to the Merv George Band and was always up for a trip to the casino to play her favorite slot machines. She will be remembered with deep affection and missed beyon words by all who knew and loved her.

A funeral service will be held on Tuesday, August 12 at 1 p.m. at 1170 Hiller Road. Burial will follow at Big Lagoon Rancheria, with a reception and food to follow.

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A dog took me out at the knees last November. It was painful but provided me with investing illustrations galore.

I like to run, and at the beginning of one of my routes, I found myself knocked to the ground with a moving creature enveloping me. I didn’t see it happen. I felt it happen. The stock market is like that. The triumph and terror of sudden volatility.

That’s the risk one takes when exercising with AirPods blasting music straight into your cochlea.

Noise can be distracting for runners and investors. Our attention is caught up in our favorite news channel or podcasts. And sometimes their investment opinion doesn’t play out the way we think in our portfolios. 

Back to the dog.

Having been bitten before as a teenager, I immediately prepared myself for another munching.

Thankfully, it turned out to be one of those annoyingly anxious yet otherwise amiable dogs that enjoys a jog whenever its owner arrives home from work. Thrilled to be outside, to release the pent-up energy of being enclosed all day, the dog found another human running too. So the pooch, in all its tail-wagging canine glee, decided to come with. What it meant by “come with” was come in-between each of my moving legs.

The good news is I didn’t lose any more skin than I had already lost from the fall. I had not been bitten.

The happy beast proceeded to flee down some other street on its merry way through undiscovered neighborhoods. I, on the other hand, can assure you that if I had a tail, it would not have been wagging.

I stood up feeling the pain that comes from a 45-year-old body being flattened to the cement with an elbow gashed and hip bashed.

The pet parent said, “Are you alright?”

I paused and glared, replying, “I’ll know in a few minutes.”

I was silent, shaking my head, eyes shooting anger beams.

Let’s be honest. The only thing worse than seeing the infamous dog is seeing the owner of said dog.

What you really want to say in that moment is a sarcastic, “What do you think?” Or something uglier that sounds like this looks: “!#%$@&^!”

Have you ever said that to your investment portfolio or CNBC in the middle of a crashing market?

By God’s grace, I kept it clean, and eventually announced, “I’m all right.”

I also had a choice to make: walk home limping, nursing my wounds, or continue running a 5K before the soreness got worse.

This decision mirrors what every investor must do when facing inevitable market declines—sell, sit, or buy more.

I chose to run.

Earlier that day, I had been speaking to a client about market risks—specifically how sometimes it’s the things that no one sees coming that derail the stock market. That was not a prediction. It was simply a risk management conversation that a financial advisor must have, especially when markets are soaring. Everyone embraces risk when stocks are rising. They don’t like it so much when the market takes a beating.

Here’s the thing: Stocks don’t always go up. 

Sometimes things can hum along wonderfully when seemingly out of nowhere a correction—or even a crash—comes. In investing parlance, we don’t call these dogs; we call them Black Swans—rare, unexpected events that carry significant impact. 

These events, like my canine encounter, can appear without warning and knock you off your feet.

The S&P 500, our primary benchmark for U.S. large-cap stocks, has experienced many knockdowns over the last three quarters of a century:

Significant market declines will happen again. When? Who knows.

But they will. In fact, your odds of experiencing them increase over an investing lifetime.

The critical question isn’t if disruptions will occur, but rather: will you keep investing? Or will you quit, take your bag and go home?

You see, while the odds of facing a 20% or more decline increase the longer you hold stocks, the odds of significant average returns also increase the longer you hold stocks.

Fitness goals demand discipline, so do financial ones. Reality bites—or at least knocks you over—sometimes. Successful investors play the long game anyway.

This is not a forecast of doom and gloom. History shows that optimistic investors have triumphed over the long haul in the U.S. stock market. 

By far.

Since 1990, the S&P 500 has experienced a total return of a whopping 3,670%.

Translation: Investing $10,000 in 1990 would be hundreds of thousands of dollars today.

Terrible bear market declines don’t look as terrible over several decades.

But they still hurt when you are in the middle of one watching your portfolio get taken out.

So, what can you do? Know your financial goals, understand your risk tolerance, study your stock market history, and maintain appropriate diversification and guardrails. 

Life is risky. Running is risky. Investing is too—and there are no guarantees for future outperformance.

But I choose to keep running. The physical and mental payoffs have been a blessing.

Those who have kept investing through the bumps and bruises have likely been blessed too.

But my goodness, the bruises along the way can hurt. I had a colossal and colorful hematoma for months and even now if someone touches my side, I cringe a bit.

This shouldn’t surprise us.

There is no good story—or financial story—without getting knocked down.

The question is: Will you keep investing?

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Brandon Stockman has been a Wealth Advisor licensed with the Series 7 and 66 since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. He has the privilege of helping manage accounts throughout the United States and works in the Fortuna office of Johnson Wealth Management. You can sign up for his weekly newsletter on investing and financial education or subscribe to his YouTube channel. Securities and advisory services offered through Prospera Financial Services, Inc. | Member FINRA, SIPC. This should not be considered tax, legal, or investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

We end the 2025 Sprint reports with our final national park tour – Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Also, at the end of the report we will reveal the winner of the Sprint Guessing Game.

National Park #10: Banff in Alberta, Canada

The biggest draw to Banff National Park is Lake Louise, a lake like no other, nestled in the Canadian Rockies with water whose rich turquoise color seemingly defies explanation. “Beautiful” falls far short of describing the majesty and elegance of this place. Pictures can capture only a fraction of the glory that you see in person. And words cannot do it justice either. We will try to give you pictures and words that will at least convince you to put a visit to Lake Louise and Banff National Park high on your bucket list.

Ask 10 Americans to describe Lake Louise, and nine will say “beautiful.” Face it, Americans like to take the path of least resistance. Since I suffer from the same linguistic handicap, I decided to ask international visitors at Lake Louise to give me their best words to describe Lake Louise. Collectively, the descriptive words that represent 15 countries and six continents offer the scope and magnitude of the Lake Louise experience. Here we go: Amazing, Awe-Inspiring, Beautiful, Extraordinary, Fascinating, Glorious, Gorgeous, Grand, Heavenly, Incredible, Magical, Magnificent, Majestic, Marvelous, Mesmerizing, Mind-Blowing, Mysterious, Outstanding, Peaceful, Serene, Something You Need To See In Person, Spectacular, Splendid, Stunning, Wonderful, Unique, Unforgettable and Unreal. It is all that and more.

The best time to visit Lake Louise is between mid-June and mid-September. Before mid-June, the lake will likely still be partially frozen. After mid-September the chilly alpine winter begins to make its presence known.

It was my fourth visit to Lake Louise but my first since 1990. The Chateau Lake Louise is right on the lake, built by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1890. The CPR recognized it as a good tourist spot when the lake was discovered by one of its company explorers. The views from the guest rooms are unmatched. I stayed at the chateau in 1990 for about $150 a night. Today? That same room is $1378 a night. Plus a $45 daily resort fee. Plus a $55 daily parking fee. And you have to book a room far in advance.

But there is a much more affordable way to visit the lake. We stayed four nights at the Lake Louise RV campsite, just three miles from the lake. We booked it through the Parks Canada Reservation Service for $26 a night. There are also some minimal campfire and reservation fees. You put your dates in a queue, and the reservation service will notify you when the dates are open to book. We put our dates into the system in December and were notified on Jan. 24 that the reservations were open. As a bonus, the Canadian government passed an initiative to reduce fees and waive Banff admission fees between June 20 and Sept. 2, giving us a 25 percent refund on the campsite and free entry into the park.

PREVIOUSLY:

All dispatches from the Sprint can be found at this link.

Getting a place so stay is just half the battle. Finding a place to park when you get there has become a challenge. Attendance at Lake Louise has steadily increased since my last visit, increasing about 30 percent per decade with a sharper increase in the last six years. We heard two theories on why attendance has spiked in recent years. One theory is that social media and its influencers have spotlighted Lake Louise, creating the desire to visit. The second theory is that Covid denied the travel-happy Canadians the opportunity to leave the country, so they began to travel more in their own country. And they liked what they saw! It’s probably a combination of both theories. We ran into many Canadians from the Quebec province which seemed to support the Covid theory. Okay, back to parking.

About 16,000 people visit Lake Louise on a typical summer day. The hotel built its own parking garage about 20 years ago to take care of the guests in its 539 rooms. The Lake Louise lakeshore parking lot is limited and spaces, at a cost of $36.75 for the day, are usually filled by 6 a.m. (That’s in addition to the daily park pass fee of $22.) Your best parking choice is to use the shuttle service that goes to both Lake Louise and Lake Moraine. It’s a park-and-ride service that begins about six miles from the lake. The catch is that you must book it in advance. Use the same reservation service that is used for the campsites. Shuttles can be booked starting April 16. Don’t wait, even though a limited number of shuttle spots are released 48 hours before the desired departure date. We tried the 48-hour option and could not book one, likely because our internet service was too slow. Parking at the park-and-ride site is free, and shuttles are reasonably priced at $8 per person, $4 for seniors, and no cost for those 17-and-under. The shuttle operates every 30 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the last return bus departing at 7:30 p.m. The shuttle service also includes the “Lake Connector” shuttle, which provides access between Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Parking is free at the Lake Louise lakeshore parking lot after 7 p.m.

Lake access / parking option No. 2 is to take a bus from the city of Banff which is 40 miles away. It costs $7 and takes 47 minutes each way. You can park for free at the train station (if it’s not already full), then walk about seven minutes to catch the bus. The problem with this plan is that if you are at the Lake Louise campsite, you will have to drive 40 minutes to Banff, then take a bus for 47 minutes to go back to the lake, return to Banff by bus for 47 minutes, then drive back to the campsite with another 40-minute drive. Option No. 3 is to book a tour that will take you to both lakes. But the tour pickup point is the Banff train station, giving you the 40-mile back-and-forth drive again. Option No. 4 is to make a reservation at one of the chateau’s restaurants, and park at the hotel for $55. The moral to this parking dilemma is to book your shuttle tickets in advance. A three-mile hike from the campsite to Lake Louise via Lake Louise Drive is ill-advised because it is on a steep incline with constant traffic, mostly people driving to find the parking full then doubling back.

We booked a tour for one of our days, and we do not recommend it unless all other parking options fail, and you are desperate for lake access. The gist of the tour, besides a few tips on what to do if you encounter a bear, was to drop off the people in the van at Lake Louise for 90 minutes, then drop them off at Moraine Lake for 60 minutes. The rest of your half-day tour is spent in the van, driving back and forth to Banff. The van and bus tours all offer a limited time at the lake, from one to two hours. It was sad to see people rushing about the lakeshore, trying to get in a hike and some photos before rushing back for their departure time. Take your time, people! Book your shuttle! I mean, we spent two hours one day just asking people for a word to describe Lake Louise. That was the day we booked an Afternoon Tea at the chateau and coughed up the $55 for parking.

There is plenty to do at Lake Louise, some of it for a price. Canoe rentals are available at the Boathouse at Lake Louise for $150 per half hour. Horseback riding is available from Timberline Tours, featuring rides from two hours ($170) to eight hours ($365). There are several hiking options, all free! An easy, flat walk around the lakeshore takes about an hour, a moderate climb up switchbacks to the historic Lake Agnes Tea House is just over two miles, and a longer, more challenging hike (6.5 miles) leads to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House. Or you can take a quick polar-bear dip in the lake. (We saw a few hotel guests do this, with their plush robes at the ready.)

A few words about Moraine Lake, which is about nine miles south of Lake Louise. Our tour guide tried to make a case that Moraine Lake is more beautiful than Lake Louise. That’s like saying Jermaine Jackson, not Michael Jackson, was the true King of Pop. Yes, Moraine Lake is worth visiting and is impressive on its own merit. But it is just a shadow of Lake Louise in magnificence. Personal vehicles are not permitted at Moraine Lake, only shuttles, buses and guided tours can park there. Moraine Lake is closed in the winter months (October to June). It is not as large as Lake Louise but it also has the stunning turquoise waters and a backdrop of mountains.

About those turquoise waters. Here’s the story behind the color, believe it or not! Movement of the glaciers grinds the rocks beneath it into a powdery silt known as rock flour. As the ice melts, the water carries the rock flour into the lake but it’s so lightweight that it doesn’t sink. As sunlight hits the lake, water absorbs the longest wavelengths of the spectrum (red, orange and yellow), and the shorter wavelengths (green and blue) reflect back. Due to their size, rock flour particles absorb some of the blue, so the more rock flour there is, the greener the water looks. Voila, turquoise water! That’s their story, and they are sticking to it.

Banff is more than just a couple of spectacular lakes. Icefields Parkway, a road that connects Lake Louise and Jasper National Park, is considered one of the most scenic highways in the world. The many stops along the 143-mile glacier-lined highway include lakes, canyons, waterfalls, rivers, forested valleys, and many hiking opportunities. If you are a hiker, you will want to spend two full days exploring the parkway. Take a full day driving to Jasper, spend the night, then take another full day driving back – taking time each way to stop, see and hike. We did a one-day journey, driving just over halfway to Jasper with a lot of stopping and seeing and just a little bit of hiking.

The key stops for us along the parkway were Bow Lake (23 miles from the start), Peyto Lake (4.5 miles from Bow Lake), Mistaya Canyon (9 miles from Peyto Lake), Weeping Wall Viewpoint (32 miles from Mistaya Canyon) and Bridal Veil Falls (4.5 miles from Weeping Wall). Bow Lake and Peyto Lake each have the turquoise-sheen from the glacier rock flour. Bow Lake is by the side of the road but to see Peyto Lake takes a bit of a commitment. It’s about a half-hour hike up a steep hill on a paved boardwalk to reach the Peyto Lake lookout point. There you will look down on the lake without any lake access. Still, definitely worth the extra effort. At the lookout there is another two-mile trail that will take you to the Bow Summit Viewpoint. It has an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet and will take about two hours to complete. The route follows along a meadow which is also a favorite route for mosquitos, but the end result is a fabulous view of Bow Lake.

To reach Mistaya Canyon you will trek along a rocky and muddy path of about a quarter mile. The canyon and the rushing Mistaya River were the highlight of the parkway for us. This is also a popular starting point for several scenic hikes: Sarbach Lookout (just over 3 miles), Glacier Lake (10 miles) and Howse Pass (16 miles).

We encountered another wildlife traffic jam on the way to Weeping Wall and Bridal Veil Falls. A family of bighorn sheep decided they had the right of way and wandered down the middle of the highway. Unlike the bighorn sheep at Badlands who stayed hidden within the rocky backdrop, these sheep decided blending in was not a priority. Our final stop was the waterfalls of Weeping Wall and Bridal Veil Falls. You can either see the falls from a distance or hike through rocky terrain to get a closer look.

On our return drive we were able to just enjoy the many scenic mountains and backdrops along the parkway without the distraction of finding our next stop. You must drive this parkway!

Speaking of scenic highways, the Trans-Canada Highway is a delightful way to see Canada’s major cities. The highway links all 10 Canadian provinces, linking them from coast to coast. It is 4,860 long and much of it passes through mountains and other scenic venues. There is even a website, transcanadahighway.com, that will help you plan the ultimate transcontinental road trip. One impressive feature of the highway is that tunnels and overpasses were built into the infrastructure, not for cars but for wildlife. You will periodically drive through tunnels on the highway where the overpass is covered with trees and vegetation. This makes for a much safer route for both the wildlife and the motorists.

Bridal Veil falls.

We will end our Banff review with a few things that stood out as Canadian oddities to us. There are almost as many A&W Restaurants as there are McDonald’s. And even more A&Ws along the Trans-Canada Highway. … Costco in Canada does not take Visa. (Fortunately, almost everywhere else does.) … Beware the amateur money-changers! Twice we had establishments that did not take credit cards offer us a 1-to-1 exchange from U.S to Canadian dollars. One was an RV Park where the next person waiting to check in was happy to give me $130 Canadian for $100 U.S. By the way, when you use a credit card, the banks use the latest currency exchange-rate to figure out your charge. … Canadians are extremely courteous drivers. When there is a merge or double-merge lane, everyone merges immediately and no one speeds past everyone in the merge lane to try to squeeze in at the merge-point. We found this approach to go much more quickly and smoothly.

BANFF STATS: It is 2,564 square miles. There are more than 1,000 miles of hiking trails. In 2024 there was an average of 11,589 visitors a day.

The Sprint Guessing Game Winner

The correct answers to the guessing game were 15+ wins for the home team (16), “yes” to seeing a complete game, average attendance between 29,000 and 31,000 (29,184), average length of game between 2:35 and 2:40 (2:38), and “no” to seeing license plates from all 50 states. (We saw the 49th state in Detroit on June 24.)

Two participants in the guessing game – Moosey and Charles Mc – tied with three correct answers out of five. The tie-breaker was to guess how many total miles were driven on The Sprint. Moosey guessed 12,878. Charles Mc guessed 15,675.6. Total miles: 16,175. Charles Mc is the winner!

Final Note

As we were nearing the end of The Sprint – more than 16,000 miles driven over 100 days – we recognized that we would return home just before our wedding anniversary. I asked my wife what she wanted to do for our anniversary and her response showed that my bent toward sarcasm has worn off on her. She said, “We should go on a road trip!”

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Tom Trepiak is the former sports information director at Humboldt State and a member of the Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics Hall of Fame.

PG&E recently tendered its License Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan for the Potter Valley Project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This plan details when and how PG&E plans to tear down its two dams on the Eel River. And since an agreement has been reached for run-of-the-river, wet season diversions to replace the existing diversion to the Russian River, support for dam removal is now pretty much universal between the two basins.

PG&E’s Application is eye-wateringly long and technical. Thankfully, Scott Greacen and Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River are here to help break this all down.