Lake Minnewanka and Calgary

Our last trip in the Rockies was a bike ride to Lake Minnewanka.  Luckily we had a break from the rain that day and the sun was out for us, making the lake look magnificent.  We had a picnic on the some rocks near the edge of the lake and watched the world go by.  There was even a canoe with a dog in it, being paddle across.  After lunch we decided to dabble in mountain biking and followed a path along the side of the lake.  The trail map hinted that it wasn't too difficult, but there were a lot of slippy rocks and roots, and tight corners.  The fun part was where it became so muddy we had to push the bikes and kept slipping back down the hill.  I was filthy, totally covered in mud head to toe, whereas Nick had about 3 spots of mud on him.  Not really sure how he managed to keep so clean, but I am very suspicious that he might have been throwing it at me seems I was in front and couldn't see.

We got back on the road to Banff, which was a loop, stopping to see the view from Two Jack Lake (above) and Johnston Lake (below).  The sides of the road had loads of marmots, they were everywhere!

The flight to Chicago from Calgary was at 7am, so Nicks Aunt Jean who lives in Calgary, very kindly put us up for the night and drove us to the airport at 5am!  Jean gave us a wake up call by turning on the light, which immediately sent me back to my school days where my teaching would do that while singing to us too.  We went out for chinese the night before with her daughter Gillian and husband Matthew, and their two children.  There was so much tasty food!!

Sundance Canyon and Canoeing

On Monday Nick and I decided to do the Sundance Canyon trail in Banff, which was about 11km and took about 3 hours return.  The trail took us over the Bow River, and then to the Cave and Basin, which is closed for repairs this year.  Then we followed a small road which took us to the 4km loop round the Sundance Canyon.  

We climbed up a  mini waterfall, and then followed a creek.  The path got pretty muddy, and at one point we had to use stepping stones.  I was worried we were lost for a while because I'd excepted it to turn much sooner than it did, but Nick was confident in our direction after he'd done some tracking, and found some fresh footprints!

On the way back we walked past a small sulphur stream, which was warm so must have been part of the hot springs that are here naturally in Banff.  We saw a plethora of animals, foremost among them a duck.  Then we saw another duck, though in hindsight it may have been the same duck.  Later in the walk we saw a duckling but again, that could have been the duck again from further off.

Today we went canoeing in the rain on the Bow River for an hour with our Aussie housemates Jeff and Lisa, and Lisa's parents.  We had a little problem canoeing in a straight line, as we zigzagged along, but it was really fun, and we even saw an elk swimming across the river!

The HooDoos

Now that the snow has gone and its warmed up considerably, we've decided to try and do a few hikes around the Banff trails before we leave in about a weeks time.  On Monday Nick and I went on about a 10km hike in Banff, along the Bow River to see the Hoodoos.  The Hoodoos and stone pillars which were created because the rock was harder than those surrounding it, and when the glacier was there it eroded the rock into these weird pillar structures.

The weather forecast had said it would be sunny in the morning, so we got up early to avoid the afternoon showers, which have become a regularity here in Banff lately.  The hike took us along the Bow River, where we stopped at Surprise Corner to admire the view...

Then we dove into the trees, only taking one detour to avoid a humungous elk.  The route was gorgeous walking along beside the river, past a meadow and then taking us higher and higher until we come to the Hoodoos.  The view here was just lovely, especially because the sun was shining, the sky was bright blue, and the river below was sparkling.  We've been living in the mountains for over 6 months now, and you just never tire of staring out at them.

Jasper Day 2

Just as it had the previous evening, day two of our saga sees our young heroes awaken to the playful sound of rivulets of water dancing upon the corrugated roof of their humble shelter.  Arising, they at once realised that it was indeed pissing it down, but that while the great sub-alpine forests of the Rockies had been somewhat dampened, not so their spirits.  With this survivalist attitude, and armed with the biggest cinnamon bun I had ever seen (I would have to say it was humongasaurus) we set out for Maligne Lake (above), one of the greatest views in the area.  It was not.  Frozen lake, snow coming down, and I was wearing shorts.  Heading back down below the snow line, we found ourselves at Maligne Canyon (below) and our decision to travel 50kms out of our way was vindicated.  An intriguing side-note, to all our geologically inclined readers, the canyon is fact a gorge.  And GORGEous it was.  The rain had increased the already ridiculous flow of water to epic proportions and it was very nice to behold.  

The drive from the canyon (and to it) also took us past Medicine Lake, much of which was under-ground, and while I did read the little placard by the side of the road, I can’t remember why this happened.  In fact, Google has just directed me to Parks Canada who inform me that autumn through spring, sinkholes in the bottom of the lake leads to partially soluble limestone through which the lake drains out, resurfacing at Maligne Canyon.  In summer, the lake is about 9km long when the glacial melt exceeds the capacity of drainage. The people of the First Nations saw this and named it Medicine Lake because of its seemingly magical qualities.  A long explanation, but I like to think a worthy one.

 

Passing back through town a brief stop was made at the pastry shop for further delectables and then off once more, to the enigmatically named Valley of the Five lakes.  While we only saw one of the lakes (having double-timed it through the woods for half an hour as we were already dangerously close to lunch o’clock) we have it on good authority that the other four were kicking about. 

By this point time was not our friend so we pressed on, as we planned a stop at the Columbia Icefields. We had a bit of time to spare which was spent in the museum, however in spite of my deep and profound love of museums (and the sound my own typing voice) I will not go further into it. Suffice it to say there were buttons to be pressed.  We rode up to the Athabasca Glacier in a bus and transferred to a behemoth of an icefield explorer-mobile driven by a very nice man called Rich or Rick or something else who informed us it was -15 up top.  As I looked around I realised once again I was the only tit wearing shorts.  First we went down a very steep hill (the steepest road in the world dontchaknow) and then crawled our way onto the icefield itself.  Much of the tour was focused at how far the ice had receded which, like my hair, has rolled back significantly as the ages have passed.  It was shocking to learn that the current site of the Icefield centre used to be under several metres of glacier, which will apparently be gone in a hundred years or so.  If you were planning on visiting, it would be worth doing it sooner rather than later.  At the top we wandered around, Laura fell in the only puddle within a mile of where we were standing, and I made a snow angel.

 

We finished off our fun travellings back to Banff and the next day sold Betsy Mae with a tear in our eye, and a song in our wallets.

Spray Lakes

Today we went on a road trip to the Spray Lakes, near Canmore.  They are a string of lakes formed along the Spray River, a tributary of the Bow River.  The sun was out and the lakes looked absolutely gorgeous, sparkling bright turquoise.  However the road to get to the lake was a bit more suspect, making us drive at a mere 40km/h to avoid wrecking the suspension.

We have potentially sold the car, so we are going up to Jasper tomorrow before handing over the car on Wednesday.  Really looking forward to the drive up, and crossing my fingers we see some moose.

Johnston Canyon

On 3rd May Nick and I went to Johnson Canyon with Sabrina and Chris, which was about 30mins car drive.  Summer has finally arrived in Banff and the weather is about 16oC each day, so most of the water had defrosted, but some of the waterfalls were still frozen as you can see in some of the photos.  The canyon is  basically a huge gorge, with the stream emptying into the Bow River, which runs through Banff and onto Calgary.  The first part of the trail consists of a constructed walkway with safety rails and bridges, while the last part of the trail is natural and more rugged, like Nick (he he).

 

Road Trip East

We'll be leaving Banff soon, so thought I'd update you all on our travel plans...

On 31st May we're flying to Chicago from Calgary.  From there we are flying to Toronto and then getting the train to Quebec City.  Next we'll be getting the bus to Boston, followed by Washington DC.  From here we're going to rent a car and drive to and around Richmond, ending in Antieman Battlefield before heading back to Washington DC.  

Finally we're getting the bus to New York, before flying home on the 6th July.