It’s been a while since I put together one of these posts, so I guess I should update you on what’s been happening in the last 10 months since the last installment from Big Bend. Since we didn’t get to go scuba diving in Indonesia in March/April of 2020 we thought we would get some dives in Mexico, so in May we flew down to Cozumel and did a week long stay in the same place we went in 2019 and got in 20 or so dives. Why didn’t I post a blog for that trip? Well, dive trips tend to be a bit less interesting to write about, each day is a bit of the same… breakfast, dive, surface break for an hour, another dive, lunch, nap, sit in the shade on the beach, dinner in the room or in town, sleep, wake up and repeat. We haven’t taken dive photos in a while but I actually took a few on this trip.
In July, we made a trip over to Sarasota to visit with Rebecca’s family and this was more lounging on the beach. In August during peak hurricane season we went back to Roatan for the first time since 2018 for more diving, no pictures but there is an awesome instagram post of me eyeballing a turtle. The Roatan trip was a result of the second cancellation of the Indonesia trip, we were slated to go in mid-September but just before the trip is when Indonesia had a big COVID spike that literally shut everything down. Now I guess the question is will a 3rd attempt be the charm? I’m not quite convinced that it will be. After Roatan a quick stop in Rome, Ga to see my family.
With a week left of vacation, due to the Indonesia cancellation, where could we go? I needed my national park fix and with all the US parks packed to the gills since no one (well, besides us I guess lol) went in 2020 they all decided 2021 would be the year to visit. We thought the Canadian Rockies would be the place to visit. You’ve probably seen pictures from the area and not known it was this area or be a nerd like me and known about this place for a very very long time. I actually learned about the Banff area from a Microsoft Golf game that was available on Windows 3.1 back in 1993 and ever since then I have wanted to come here just to see it (thanks Aunt Jen). Probably should have brought my golf clubs too lol.
We were up at 330am for a 6am flight, there’s nothing worse than a 6am flight. Okay maybe a coach flight to Europe where you can’t sleep and then being sleep drunk all day when you land. There just happened to be a HUGE thunderstorm that came through as we got on the road, lucky there was no traffic because it was raining sideways and you couldn’t even see the lane lines. But that’s normal due to the concrete roads and rain in Houston.
Arrived in Calgary around noon, had to wait an hour for rental car because apparently the Calgary Hertz team does not have their ducks in a row. Being lunch time we wanted to get some poutine because why not and we found a spot called Urban St. Donair for some chicken and beef sharwma poutine. It was expectedly awesome, we ate it at a little park just down the street.
After our grocery run we headed for Banff while listening to Gypsy Guide which is apparently another app like Just Ahead that we used all of last year. Just Ahead does not have a Banff tour so we found a substitute, not sure if I like it as much because dude sure does talk a lot. We just putted around Banff gettin the lay of the land and even saw the famous golf course where Rebe made me take this crappy picture.
Since we were up early and had a longish day we thought we’d call it early and got to our hotel around 5 and settled in for the adventures to start tomorrow.
Didn't want the entire morning to go to waste so we took a leisurely stroll over to Stewart Canyon, it was a flat trail leading to a nice canyon that was created by a glacial river (I'm guessing).
With no real plan for the day, other than take the Lake Minnewanka boat cruise we had a few hours to kill so we did the 'tour' of the area and visited the Bankhead area, did a hike around Johnson Lake and continued the tour with a stop at Two Jacks Lake where we saw a group of bighorn sheep milling about.
With our self tour of the area complete we grabbed a bite to eat at the lake before hopping on the boat to cruise Lake Minnewanka where they told us about the lake and the culture. Sadly at this time of year the boat doesn't go all the way to the end of the lake, but it was cool to hear the history and formation of the lake. If you come earlier in the year, I think they do a beer tasting cruise I'd opt for that otherwise you might could skip this boat ride (just my 2 cents).
We stopped at the Visitor's Center to get a bit more intel before we continued seeing all Banff had to offer. Next stop was the famous Banff Gondola which was the tram to the top of Sulphur Mountain, if you don't take the Gondola up you are free to hike up the mountain which we did neither, but we did visit the thermal pools next to the gondola. Since it was Thursday they were closed this time of year but happened to be open tomorrow. Bad timing or luck I guess.
Continuing on down the road we stopped at the Canadian National Park Headquarters, it's this old stone building at the end of downtown, really majestic looking with some amazing gardens out back and amazing views down the main street of the town.
We left the Cave and Basin and went over to Surprise Corner for some amazing views of the famous Scottish Castle looking Banff Spring Hotel. Continued on to an overview of of some hoodoos before returning back to the hotel to have dinner at the German restaurant.
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| Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel |
The german restaurant is right up against the 15th hole of the golf course and it was elk rut season, so one of the males had his harem of ladies grouped up.
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| Bugle Time |
I spoke to my coworker Eric Nguyen before bed, we tried to meet up but it just didn't work out. It was so good to catch up with him, maybe next time buddy 😉
Day 3 Banff National Park (26,325 steps, 169 floors)
7am wake up because we went to bed at 9pm.
Plan was to go straight to Johnston Canyon but got sidetracked by Gypsy Guide into exploring Mt Norquay Lookout. After lookout we headed down the highway to Johnston Canyon.
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| Norquay Viewpoint overlooking the town of Banff |
Johnston Canyon is a pretty cool hike with a couple of waterfalls all within 1.5 miles. Another two miles through the woods after the last waterfall puts you in this really cool valley between a lot of mountains into an area called “The Inkpots.” The Inkpots were a couple of lakes/ponds that are formed by spring water bubbling up and settling, you can still see the water bubbling up into the ponds since the water is so clear. As we hiked back we noticed quite a few more people on the trail so much that by the time we returned to the parking lot it was actually full. I thought this being towards the end of the tourism season it wouldn’t get so crowded. Can’t imagine what this place is like in the summer, I imagine it is just like all the US parks or at least the big ones.
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| The Waters Through Johnston Canyon |
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| Inkpots |
On the way back to Banff we took the scenic route back into town via the Bow Valley Parkway, this road was the original path through the mountains before they built the highway. We took our time, stopped at a few pullouts to take in the view before making it to our exit. Once there we stopped at the Vermillion Lakes area where you get a good side view of Banff and the mountains. Then we stopped back at Mt Norquay Lookout for another view of town this time with better lighting on the town. And on the way up we ran into a few big horn sheep just casually walking down the road.
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| View from Vermillion Lakes |
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| Big horn sheep at Norquay |
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| Norquay Viewpoint again this time looking at Vermillion Lakes |
We were a bit beat for the day and we decided to eat our poutine leftovers and call it a night. But then I thought we might as well checkout Lake Minnewanka again to see if the sunset would be epic over there, long story short it wasn’t but I did take a few pics and even one of a couple from Texas who was taking wedding photos. Seems a bit overkill for wedding photos, but hey ‘you do you.’
We saw the fox when we were leaving, but he scampered off really quick so I did not get a pic, but Rebe chased him down the road with her binoculars to get a better view. 😞
Day 4 - Banff to Jasper via Icefields Parkway (17,779 steps, 89 floors)
Moving day started at 8am, we found a place in town that was doing breakfast burritos so we grabbed a couple for the road. One would think that a breakfast burrito is safe everywhere, but this was not the case…just bad.
The journey started again on the Bow Valley Parkway (BVP) with us skipping the portion we did the day before, it’s such a wonderful slow paced road with a couple of turn outs. One was a famous point that was used to “sell” the park idea to others and that same point is just as epic as it was then.
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| Pullout from the Bow Valley Parkway |
The BVP was not as long as I thought it would be or maybe it didn’t have the number of pullouts I was expecting as we got through it pretty quick. It was then on to the Icefields Parkway, this is the only (short) way from Lake Louise to Jasper. Everyone everywhere swears this is one of the best mountain roads in the world. Well, let’s see... now I will admit the weather wasn’t great for trip but it I think the pictures can speak for themselves.
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| Crowfoot Glacier |
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| View from early in the drive |
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| Waterfowl Lakes |
We got to Mistaya Canyon and since it was supposedly a short hike we hopped out of the car to see what it was about. It was only a 1/4 mile downhill to the canyon and river and from the pics I would say it was well worth the quick detour.
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| Mistaya Canyon |
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| Mistaya Canyon from above |
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| Weeping Wall |
We also made stops at Coleman Creek, Bridal Veil Falls, Parker Ridge, Hector Lake and probably some more spots.
It was now after lunch and we had made it to the Icefield Center. This is the location where you can get on a bus, that takes you to another bus that then drives out on to the glacier, the Athabasca Glacier to be exact. Back in the early 1900s this glacier use to be all the way down to the road but now it is so far back, they have built another road to drive closer to it. And according to our bus driver it seems the last two years have been the fastest retreats in recorded history, along with thoughts that it could be gone in the next 50 years. When we got to the glacier the weather was turning for the worst and it was now cloudy and a light snow was dusting about.
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| Close up of the Glacier |
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| Rebe walking into the storm |
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| Our Chariot (not really, they had one out there for photos) |
We got out onto the glacier to experience our 30 minutes of show time (or should I say SNOW TIME, I'll see myself out), the bus driver told us most of us wouldn’t make it the full 30 and she wasn’t lying. Apparently there was a sign in the check-in center that said it was probably 10C colder on the glacier but they didn’t say anything about the 90kph (54mph) wind that was whipping down the glacier. It was brutal, the wind was kicking up snow/ice and just sand blasting our faces if you tried to look up the glacier. Of course Rebe stayed out on the glacier the full 30min to get her moneies worth.
After the glacier tour the bus took us to the Skywalk which was a glass bridge that was built over the river. Beautiful area, would be great even without the stupid bridge. So funny they talk about keeping everything natural and then they go and build this shit.
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| Skywalk |
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| Water coming from the side of the canyon, glacier melt flowing under the canyon walls |
Just as we were leaving the tour bus we saw a mountain goat, and then again while we were driving out in our car.
Before the sun got too low in the sky, we squeezed in one last hike down to Sunwapta Falls. Usually when someone tells you about a waterfall you would think it’s just one or two. This stop probably has 6 or 7 falls. Each different and epic along the 2.3 mile out and back hike. We were the last people on the trail as I was taking long exposures in the dark, and I think I got some good ones.
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| Sunwapta Falls |
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| Sunwapta Falls |
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| Sunwapta Falls |
From there it was still another 45 minutes into Jasper to catch a quick bite at the restaurant at our Inn and then to bed.
Day 5 - Jasper National Park (21,473 steps, 136 floors)
Late start because we didn’t know what we were going to do, so up at 8 I think to have a bit of breakfast before getting on the road to do who knows what. Since the weather was looking a bit dodgy we thought we’d do some driving and avoid hiking at least for the morning to see where the day led. We decided to head north of Jasper to see Miette Hot Springs area, funny thing was as we left our accommodations it was raining/sleeting and we got 5 miles north of town and it was a sunny nice day. Stopped along the way to Miette and got some roadside photos.
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| Athabasca River and Mountains |
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| Talbot Lake |
The our tour guide (Gypsy Guide) told us about this short hike to Punchbowl Falls that would take 40 mins. We hopped out the car saw the first fall and thought, “well the trail goes up the hill so there must be more?” Nope, hiked up this giant hill only to find a sign that what we had saw was Punchbowl Falls and there was no more. Rebe was not pleased.
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| Rebe after the Punchbowl Fall debacle |
We continued down the road to see the Miette Hot Springs area, but due to Covid it was still closed or maybe it was closed for other reasons. We stopped at the hotel/restaurant to have lunch and to decide on our afternoon plans.
It was raining in Jasper and our drive back didn’t have us thinking the afternoon would be any better. For the afternoon we decided we would head up to the Edith Cavell area of Jasper National Park, this area of the park is up a LONG windy road that leads to a large parking area. It had great reviews but as we made our way up the mountain it had started snowing, and snowing HARD (you’ll have have bear with the southerner as it was probably a light dusting by Canadian standards). We first stoped at the Tonquin Valley Trail Head to have a walk in the snow and see what was around.
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| Snow and the river at Tonquin Trailhead |
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| Rebe surveying the cold |
After the short 0.5 mile hike to Tonquin we headed over to Edith Cavell to do a short hike that was available only about 0.5 miles down to a pond overlook with a 2 glaciers overhanging. Easy Peasy. We do the hike, in the snow and get to the end and you cannot see any of the mountain tops due to the weather so Rebe and I discussed just calling it a day. I mean what would be the point to hike up to a higher view point if the weather is crap and you won’t see anything anyways. So we head back towards the car and as we head back I can see a clearing in the sky where it looks like the snow might be stopping and we might be able to see some mountains. Rebe and I discuss making the hike longer due to this new discovery and we both agree that it might be worthwhile to tack on a few miles to see the higher viewpoint.
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| Hike up the first part of Edith Cavell |
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| Pond overlook and the lower part of the glacier |
We start our accent up the trail, no one else is going up in this snow but us. Everyone is already coming down and the snow keeps coming, we keep looking up at the sky hoping that our predictions are right that the sky will open up for us as we get closer to the top. Keep hiking, still snowing and of course as we get higher and higher on the mountain the snow just keeps getting deeper and deeper, we started by going through 2” of snow and by the time we got to the top it was 10” deep of fresh powder. And apparently when Rebe hikes she becomes a heat machine, here were are in the Canadian Rockies in freezing temperatures Rebe is down to one layer, no gloves like she’s a damn Canadian now.
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| Rebe "Heat Machine" Ugalde |
The sky did actually clear for us and of course since the weather was crap I didn’t take my real camera so all the pics are from my cell phone. But I think the pictures still capture the epic views from the top.
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| Views from the top |
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| View of the glacier from above |
We made it back down and of course the sky closed back up but at least the snow had stopped. The day was done as it was now near 6pm so we headed back in to Jasper to catch some dinner, the plan was to have an elk steak at a fancy restaurant but apparently Sunday nights are busy and we needed a reservation. We put in a reservation for the elk steak for tomorrow and settled for pub food at the Jasper Brewing company. Our minds are blown that every place we have gone to eat in Canada has been vaccine required or 3 day negative test required to eat. If only stupid Americans could get their shit together like the Canadians, too busy worrying about their free-dumbs.
Day 6 - Jasper National Park (26,549 steps, 104 floors)
Another morning with no formalized plan, but at least we did have an idea of what we wanted to do today. The tentative plan was to visit the Maligne Lake area and since the morning was cloudy again we thought that would work as the first thing we were going to visit was a canyon. No need to see mountains whilst in a canyon. After eating our breakfast cereal we got on the road around 9am and headed to the park and the Maligne Canyon section of the park. The canyon is on the Maligne River and the river runs through a section of limestone where the water has eaten away at the canyon to various depths. The park has built 6 bridges over the canyon in locations and the trail starts at the top and slowly go down the hill traversing the bridges or you can start at the bottom and work your way up. We decided to start at the top and make our way down to the bottom. Here are a few pics from the hike down the canyon.
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| Maligne Canyon |
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| Maligne Canyon |
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| Maligne Canyon |
After making it down to the 5th bridge, we skipped going down the the 6th as it is literally a bridge across the river just like the 5th, we took a different route back up the canyon and went through the woods. Not sure why we thought this was a good idea as it was still cloudy in the area and hiking through the trees was not going to bring any spectacular views, but this path was shorter than the along the river path we had come down and it was also less steps up (steps = stairs). The path up was very steep in areas but we did come to a clearing with a nice view of Jasper and the mountains behind, now if only the pesky clouds would move out of the way.
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| View from the upper trail looking towards Jasper |
With part one of the day complete we ventured on to part two, and this was to head further down the road over to the actual Maligne Lake. Before we got to the lake we stopped at Medicine Lake which is filled from the Maligne Lake and River but the cool thing about Medicine Lake is that it does not have a true outlet. It drains through network of inaccessible caves into multiple other bodies of water in the area, this time of year the lake is low but in the spring when the snow melt is in high gear it is as full as can be.
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| Medicine Lake and clouds |
After Medicine Lake we arrived at Maligne Lake and with the sky still a cloudy mess we decided we had nothing to lose by taking a nap. Kill some time and take a nap, what’s better than this combo? With the 30 minute power nap in the bag I awoke and noticed that I could see a mountain over the trees that I hadn’t noticed when we arrived. Were the skies clearing? The original non-plan was to do a few hikes in the area and just head out, but Maligne Lake also has a boat cruise just like the Minnewanka Lake and now that it was clear it just might be worth our while to take this boat ride. Rebe went down to get us tickets for the next boat leaving at 2pm and I made PBJs for lunch.
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| Maligne Lake Boathouse and the mountains |
Well the boat ride turned out to be the best of the day, the tour guide/boat captain said that the morning had been so foggy that they actually cancelled the first couple of trips but now it was turning into one of the best days they had seen in a while. We had read that the weather report for the Canadian Rockies was only good for about 12 hours and now we were seeing why they said such. Here’s a few pics from the boat ride.
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| Spirit Island |
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| See the mans face looking skyward in the top left? |
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| More mountains seen from the lake |
There was some sad news that we learned about while we were up in Canada, don't want to bring the mood down in the blog but I thought it was worth sharing.
With the boat ride now complete, we had time to do what we originally planned which was hike the Mary Schaffer loop. This was a nice stroll along the lakeshore and then it turns up and hikes through the woods, probably would have been okay to skip the woods section but it was nice and peaceful either way.
After the first hike we continued on over to Moose Lake with the hopes of seeing moose at… Moose Lake. The trail went along the opposite shore of the lake and then into the woods and to the lake. Once past the lake the trail continues into the woods but since we had already ventured once into the woods we decided once was enough. Sadly no moose were at Moose Lake but it was a nice lake nonetheless.
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| Moose Lake |
The sun was setting and the day was ending so it time to head back to Jasper and what did we find on the road?!
You damn right, a MOOSE. He obviously wasn’t a big boy but he was close enough to make us happy. After spending 10 minutes watching him eat we finally headed into town for our reservation from the night before at the steak spot.
Day 6 - Jasper National Park (23,409 steps, 157 floors)
With a couple of days under our belt we thought we had the lay of the land and didn’t have any thing special on the schedule for the day. We hit up the local grocery for some supplies, filled up the tank of the car, ordered ahead some breakfast and went and picked it up (Waffles from Waffalato in Jasper). Got all that settled back in the room, ate and then decided on a plan for the day. We would start with something easy, a nice drive up to the Pyramid Lake area, there’s a couple of lakes over there with some potential good views but it was cloudy as usual so we were in no rush at all. We were just putting along when we saw 2 cars pulled over on the side of the road looking off in to a field, Rebe and I were like “What do they see?! Do you see anything? No? Me either?! We don’t have anything going on, let’s turn around just to check out the potential, don’t want to have a case of the FOMO (Fear of missing out)” We double back and park behind the other cars just to see what’s going on and not really expecting anything special but then we spotted…
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| Grizzly Bears |
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| Big Mama |
Not just one bear, a momma and her baby cub. Two of the cutest animals on the planet. Of course this eventually led to a 15 car back up on the road, along with idiots getting out of their car so they can take crappy pics with their cell phone. Meanwhile Rebe and I are hanging out the sunroof with camera and binoculars staring at these animals. We probably sat around watching them for close to 30 or 40 mins and then the Park Ranger came through and got everyone back in their cars and eventually the bears strolled off.
We continued on down the road with stops at Patricia Lake, meh, and then stopped a Pyramid Lake which is named such because it sits under Pyramid Mountain, which as you may have guessed is shaped like a Pyramid. As usual the low lying clouds continued to hang around the area and started to lift just as we were leaving. Of course we start driving away and the views of the mountain kept getting better.
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| Pyramid Mountain and Lake |
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Pyramid Mountain and Lake
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While driving around we still had our audio tour guide (Gypsy Guide) playing and he was giving us the tour around Jasper and his next stop was Jasper Tram which takes you up Whistler Mountain. The guide told us about a bakery shop right on the corner so we popped in for some pastries and sandwiches. Initially I just wanted to ride over to the tram area but since the sky was clear, Rebe was ready to actually go up and I was okay with that idea. We got our tickets and headed up the mountain, and at the top there was another hike where you could actually go further up the mountain to the actual peak. The weather at the top the mountain was okay at the tram station but as we hiked up the steep hill the wind started picking up and of course snow started flying around. It was a slog to get to the top but we made it to the false peak. The view at the top was crap so we took our selfie and headed back down after a small case of wind burn.
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| Mountains looking west |
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| Tram house |
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| View from tram house overlooking Jasper |
Coming down from the tram we headed over to Old Fort Point (cause Gypsy said so) snapped a quick pic and finally ended our afternoon at the valley of the Five Lakes. This was a nice easy trail through the woods that visits, you guessed it, 5 Lakes. On a clear sunny day I would imagine the views along with the colors of the lake would be awesome but today it was just good.
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| Lake 3... I think |
For dinner we ate at Alba with some REALLY good Italian food and after dinner we hopped in the hotel hot tub and the other group that was in the pool was also from Texas, small world.
Day 7 Jasper to Lake Louise (22,565 steps, 135 floors)
Today we had a plan and it started with getting out of the hotel by 9am and then on the road to Lake Louise because it was once again moving day. We would again be traveling the Icefields Parkway, the direct road between Jasper and Lake Louise and since we were doing it again we would have the opportunity to stop at the sites we didn’t get to visit on the drive north.
First there were a few road side stops that we missed in the dark on the way north but the first real stop was at Horseshoe Lake, thusly named because, yep you guessed it, it is shaped like a horseshoe. This was a real cool lake, hidden behind some trees and I don’t think it was fed by any other bodies of water as it was SUPER still. So still that you could get great reflections off the lake surface.
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| Horseshoe Lake |
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| Horseshoe Lake |
The next stop was at Athabasca Falls, it was a great spot with multiple views of the waterfalls and the river that comes out below.
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| Athabasca Falls |
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| Athabasca Falls outlet |
More stops along the Icefields Parkway
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Goats and Glaciers Overlook (no goats found)
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| Stutfield Glacier |
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| Tangla Falls |
We stopped again at the Icefield Center to fill up on water and use the services and of course took some photos.
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| Athabasca on the left, Dome Glacier to the far right |
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| Glacier bus on the glacier |
One hike that we missed on the way north was the hike up Parker Ridge that leads to views of the Saskatchewan Glacier, when we arrived on the voyage north it had just started snowing and the wind was howling. It was later in the day and we still had a good bit of driving to do so we left it for the return trip. The hike was straightforward and straight up the hill. The area received snow the other day so the lower section of the trail was SUPER muddy and once you got past the mud the snow lined the trail for the rest of the hike to the top. The skies didn’t fully clear at the top but you could see the Saskatchewan Glacier in all its glory.
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| Parker Ridge overlooking the Parkway |
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| Saskatchewan Glacier |
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| Views looking down where the glacier used to be |
We had stopped at Coleman Creek on the way north just to see if we could spot some mountain goats, no luck last time. Rebe was driving so we just blew by the turn but we pulled over on the side of the road just to scan the cliffs. Then we found FOUR mountain goats on the wall. Even more amazing, no one else stop to join us :-(
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| Goats are the white dots in the center of the frame |
Few more stops along the road:
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Photo from Saskatchewan River Crossing |
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| Bow Lake (we didn't have enough time to do the hike to Bow Glacier/Falls |
Then in to Lake Louise, dinner at Deer Lodge because our hotel decided they don’t open the restaurants on Wednesdays.
Day 8 - Yoho National Park (15,730 steps, 25 floors)
Finally we had reached Lake Louise, supposedly the most picturesque place in the Canadian Rockies and the forecast was for clouds and snow, so it was no surprise that when I got up at 7am to check the view outside it was cloudy and snowing. I decided sunrise pictures were out of the question and went back to bed. After rising again closer to 8am I look outside and the mountain is out, DAMN. So I scramble Rebe and we get dressed and head out the door as fast as we can, dust the snow off the car and head up the mountain.
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Snow on October 7th
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Traffic doesn’t seem too bad in the area and our first stop would be Moraine Lake to catch some morning glory on the mountains but when we get to the area there are rangers standing there with cones and a ‘Road Closed’ sign. “CLOSED!? What?!” We continued on to the Lake Louise parking lot to figure out what’s going on and we spoke to a ranger and she told us the road was closed due to ice, the first shuttle that went up had issues and the road had to be shut down. She said it might open later, so we’ll see if that happens… For us it was back to the room to eat some breakfast and figure out what we are actually going to do today, while we ate our breakfast we decided since the weather was crap here maybe it would be slightly better over in Yoho National Park. Yoho is another national park just over the boarder but into British Colombia, it’s pretty small and only has a few things to see but worth a visit if you are staying in the area. Once on the road the snow started picking up and it was just looking like a lost cause for the day but we kept on going. Our audio guide was telling us about the history of the area and how the first big thing that happened in Canada was the building of the railroad across the country. The biggest issue with that of course was building over the Rocky Mountains, but the engineers of the time came up with a cool idea for helping the trains traverse such steep inclines. They built figure 8 tunnels through the mountains to turn a 4deg grade into a 2deg grade (which is still a lot for a train - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hill). I took a pic but nothing interesting yet, more to come on this subject later in the blog.
After the tunnels we headed over to Emerald Lake, one of the first crazy colored lakes that was found in the area but when we got there is was still snowing like crazy. So we decided to take a power nap before setting out in the snow. Emerald Lake is just like all the accessible lakes in the area, it has a lodge that the rich and fancy would stay at back when all this tourism was getting started. We strolled around the lodge to avoid the snow but then decided we would go ahead and walk around the lake to kill time before we did whatever else we were going to do this day. Luckily for us, the sky decide to clear a little while we were circling the lake but then soon as we got back to the car the clouds rolled right back in. I can’t remember if it was Iceland or Wyoming people that told me, “if you don’t like the weather just wait 5 minutes.”
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| Rebe along the shore of Emerald Lake |
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| Reflection on Emerald Lake |
From the lake we drove up the road to see the confluence of the 2 rivers which I don't remember the name of and can't find online. One was full of glacier runoff and there other not, sadly there is not a great viewpoint.
We also stopped at the Natural Bridge, which is a small waterfall that has eroded the limestone leaving a unique little bridge.
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| Natural Bridge |
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| Natural Bridge |
It was well past lunch time and we had planned to have a big lunch in Field (yes, that’s the city name) at the place call the Truffle Pig where they sold no truffles or pork. But the food was crazy delish, so good that we might have to revisit it as would be well worth the 20 minute journey from Lake Louise. I don’t usually post pics of food but this stuff was legit.
The final stop in Yoho was at the Takakkaw Falls, the 2nd highest waterfall in Canada at 373m. We arrived and the clouds were covering the falls, but we waited the obligatory 5 minutes and things got real nice.
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| Takakkaw Falls |
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| Takakkaw Falls from further back |
Rebe's SnowmanWith Yoho completed we headed back to the Lake Louise area with the intentions of finally getting a glimpse at Moraine Lake. No crowd but plenty of clouds, so we didn’t get to bask in all its glory but I still can kinda see why this place is so special.
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| Moraine Lake and Us |
The big lunch held us over for the night and we grabbed some snacks at the local store and called it a night.
Day 9 - Banff National Park (Lake Louise Area) (35,417 steps, 196 floors)
The forecast for the day was supposed to be AMAZING, but like I said in the previous day if you wait 5 minutes the weather could change. Upon waking up there were a few clouds but as we pulled into the Lake Louise parking lot (after eating breakfast of course) it was looking like a beautiful day. Sadly at the lake there were a few low lying clouds/fog on the lake so it wasn’t amazing. Rebe’s plan for the day was to hike up to the Big Beehive (6miles 2200 feet in elevation gained) and she kept reading all the blogs and they all said we should tack on the Valley of the Six Glaciers trail along with the Beehive. This addition would only add 5.6 miles and another 1000 feet in elevation gained and we (she) would make that decision on how we felt at the top of the Beehive.
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| Morning at Lake Louise |
Well, we got to the top of the Beehive and it was such a clear day in total contrast to all the other days we’ve spent in Canada and who knows what tomorrow would be like. So, yes we did add the extra leg and in total we covered 12.7 miles, 3200 feet of elevation gained according to our trail tracking app. Instead of boring you with details of how we had to dodge ice and mud I’ll just post some pics from the day.
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| Big Beehive and Mirror Lake |
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Don't adjust your screen, yes Lake Louise is that color
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| Fairmont Château Lake Louise |
Since the weather was nice, I thought it might be worth my time to head back over to Moraine Lake to see how clear the area was today.
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| Moraine Lake uncovered |
Day 10 - Yoho (13,452 steps, 37 floors)
Yesterday’s 12 miles affected Rebe and I more than we thought, originally we were going to try to put in one last glacier hike but our bodies were not feeling up to the task. We slept in more than we usually do on rest days, laid around, surfed the web, prepped for our flight, had a little breakfast before actually getting a move on. We decided that we would drive back over to Yoho and visit a lesser visited waterfall called Wapta and since it was only 3 miles total and 400 feet of elevation gain we probably could handle such a stroll. Before we made it to the trailhead we were going down the highway and we noticed a train going down the “Big Hill” which meant it was about to go through the spiral tunnels and we could see it snake its way down the hill.
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| The image is tough to follow, the train in the foreground (barely visible) shows up again in the background to enter the tunnel (top left) before exiting in the middle of the image |
The hike was a nice casual walk, though the hill down to the waterfall was a bit of work for these tired legs. The waterfall was a bit different than the other falls in the area in that it goes over a big ledge rather than cutting a deep gouge to poor down in a single stream. The waterfall had created this wedge right after the fall, I’m guessing the water used to go over the entire structure but the material in between was a bit softer and was eroded away first. Yep, I’ve seen enough of these at this point that I’m an erosion expert, or at least I tell myself I am.
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| Wapta Falls |
On the way back to home base we saw another train coming down the hill, popped a u-turn to beat the slow moving train down the hill but this time we wanted to catch it at the upper tunnel (the earlier pics were at the lower tunnel). When we got to the lookout the train had already entered the tunnel but we did catch the engines exiting the lower tunnel.
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| Entering the top, exiting below |
That really sums up the day, we got back to the room to start packing and then headed back out to dinner again at the Truffle Pig. Choices are slim in Lake Louise and why not stick with what we knew was amazing.
Our flight was leaving Calgary at 1030 so we had to get up early to make the 2 hour drive back. My former coworker Sandeep wanted to meet up for breakfast but Sunday at 8am only left 1 option, Tim Horton's.
Another awesome adventure. Great pictures... Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing what I should go check out! Haha
ReplyDeleteGlad I made it to the post too!
Wow ,good trip , very cold over there ,beautiful pictures/Lilian
ReplyDelete