Dear Wahban Wibisono,About 600 km from Vancouver, just at the border between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, there is this place called Vermilion Pass. It is part of highway #93 that connect Kootenay Region and Banff in Alberta. It is coincidentally at the border of Kootenay and Banff National Parks. There is no significant building or statue at the site, except for a simple plaque on a stone and a wooden sign in a hastily made small park as shown on this photo. The Vermilion Pass is 1700 m above sea level and has a lot of precipitations. It is situated at the peak of Rocky Mountains Continental Divide. The Rocky Mountains, kind of similar to the "Pegunungan Bukit Barisan" in Sumatra, extend North to Alaska and South to New Mexico in the States. The amazing part about this site is that, any rains that drop to the left on this photo, will "have to" go to the Atlantic Ocean in the East, omigosh, that is 4000 km away. And rains that drop to the right side will go to the Pacific Ocean, 600 km West. In 1858 a British Captain John Palliser led an expedition to Western Canada, split his team in two, and gave his geologist Dr James Hector in charge to map out this area that was very much unknown territory at that time. James Hector then noticed the unusual phenomenon of the site. He gave the name "vermilion" which meant ochre color, the color of clays that were found on the B.C. side of the pass, and used by native to make paint. Probably they should have given the name "Hector Pass" in his honor. When I stopped at this place, as I drove from Radium Hot Springs on my way to Banff, it was pouring rains. And I really could see the rain water that drop to the left, all flowing to the left side to eventually join Altrude Creek to start the journey somehow to the Atlantic. The ones that drop to the right all flowing to join Vermilion River for the journey to the Pacific.
