Banff - That's in Canada

Kyle and I had a GREAT time in Banff. It was both of our first time to Canada and we came away really loving our neighbor to the north. Here are some highlights (you know I'm not good at editing the # of photos I show you, so I'm not even going to apologize). 

Wild Bill - head of the welcome committee.

 

The view from our awesome hotel - the Rimrock. While Kyle was dutifully attending his conference every morning I was hanging out in our room sleeping enjoying this view.

The night we arrived (Sunday) we took the gondola up Sulphur Mountain for a view at dusk. Not bad, eh?

Valley carved by glaciers at sunset.

On Monday (after his classes) we did a BIG hike down from Sunshine Valley over Healy Pass. Kyle loved it because we pretty didn't see any other hikers once we got off the bus (we are different in that way).

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both...

Views views views. And the best maintained trails we've ever had the pleasure to walk on.

My feet taking a little break while Kyle doctored some ice cold water straight from that little glacier-fed stream.

Some of the local floral that made the hike so lovely.

Ah. We made it to the top. See that glacier in the distance feeding the lake below? And see the hint of a waterfall feeding a second lake below that? Amazing in person.

Kyle taking it all in.

The hike back down the pass took several hours. Kyle was very patient with me and my sporadic bursts of energy (barn sour) and lethargy (picture taking and sour feet).

On Tuesday we headed up the Trans-Canada highway to Lake Louise. It was rainy but still magnificent.

You can just make out the Victoria Glacier on the far end of the lake - mostly covered in clouds.

That is the honest-to-goodness color of the water.

Seriously - that water looks like its from either the Caribbean or a theme park.

Some cool rainbows and clouds from the car on our drive back to Banff.

On Wednesday, we had the entire day off - no class for Kyle. And we made the most of it! We got up before sunrise and drove back to Lake Louise for a sunrise photoshoot...then we did some amazing hiking around the area. 

The glacier was playing peekaboo.

The slight wind made the lake ripple just enough to prevent that perfect mountain-reflected-in-lake scenario, but nonetheless, seeing the sunlight from the rock come through in the water was pretty cool.

Vicky still hiding behind those clouds.

The top of the far right mountain is The Beehive which we would hike up and over later...

Once the sun was up we ran to our car to drop off some photo gear and grab some hiking gear, when we got back to the lake this was the scene...the fog came in that quickly. We're talking 15 minutes.

No mountains, no glacier, hardly a lake.

And just a little bit into our hike towards the glacier the fog lifted and the sun was back out!

Victoria Glacier up close and personal - it comes down that little pass you see and spills out on the floor - even what is covered in dirt is glacier underneath. Also the part in the upper right covered by a cloud - that's more glacier.

A little zommed in shot of the upper glacier. Liked it in b/w. That is some thick ice. It carved the entire valley we walked through to get there.

See that there big ol' mountain? See that lowest piece of ice cover?

See those 4 mountaineers on that lowest piece of ice cover? Impressive, no?

 

You'd think there wouldn't be much action - just sitting watching a glacier. But this glacier made for a great show! Check out this huge piece of it crashing to the moraine below! Looks like snow. But by the sound of it was clearly massive amounts of ice. Louder than thunder. And you have to see it before you hear it or you've missed it. Really cool. We probably witnessed five or six big crashes.

The hike back. You can see the lake and even the tiny Chateau Lake Louise (hotel) in the distance. All the brown we hiked through up to the glacier was "moraine" - the ground that had essentially be turned up as the glacier slowly moved over it.

Just when I was about to ask for another handful of trailmix...Kyle lead me up to this little surprise. Anyone for some homemade quinoa salad, macaroni/veggie soup, tuna sandwiches on homemade break or homemade chocolate cake all with a variety of hot teas?

Welcome to the Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House. Been here for a gazillion years as a mountaineer refuge. Been owned by a family for 50 years or so - staffed with college kids and other granola who hike up for shifts (several days long) and cook and live there. They hike in all their own supplies (after an initial drop by a helicopter at the beginning of the 4 month season) and they hike out all their own trash. And they cook on propane stoves - no electricity. And the food is good. And the food is cheap (which you can't say pretty much anywhere else in/around Banff). Seriusly what a treat!

Hiking back around the lake - we got a great view of some of the moraine starting to mix in with the glacier water.

From atop "The Beehive" - You get a sense of just how long the lake is. The crazy part is that the distance from the hotel across lake is only about a fifth of the distance from the hotel across the lake to the glacier. The depth is just hard to perceive from the shore.

Seriously - water that color. It looked like someone had tinkered with it...

Canoes like ants

One of our only "together" shots on the trip thanks to a steady-handed British fellow.

To hold off my barn-sour-ness...Kyle surprised me with the promise of yet another Tea House! Can you see it peaking out down there?

Yea for the Lake Agnes Tea House!

Lake Agnes (unless Louise) was a very bright turquoise - not so milky.

The view pre-scone. Seriously - one of my favorite hikes ever. Right up there with Cinque Terre and the Narrows in Utah. International people, falling glaciers, tea houses. Pretty much perfect.

Thursday was a big driving day. We did the couple of hours of the Icefields Parkway towards Jaspar. We talked drove and talked and drove and oohed and ahhed and talked and drove some more. Spotted several lakes along the way - all with the bright aqua glacier water as in Lake Agnes.

But we had to sneak in a little hike - up to see another impressive glacier peaking out - actually just part of the massive network of glaciers called the Columbia Icefield. We had some wrong info about the ice crawlers (bus with giant ice-crawling wheels) which will take you up onto the Athabasca Glacier - we'll keep that on our to-do list for next time (plus, kids would love it)!

A nice little glow from the sunset on the drive home.

I had the benefit of getting to sleep in every morning but Kyle had to be up early for conference. This was tricky because we stayed out so late each night - the sun didn't really start setting until 9 - you can get a lot of hiking in that way but it makes the whole day really really long. On this day - after driving back from the parkway - pretty much everywhere decent was closed for dinner so we ate McDonalds. We were a little embarrassed. But we were more than a little starving.

Friday we had our only leisurely lunch (actually with a partner from Kyle's practice who was also attending the meeting - and his lovely family). Then we did a little souvenir shopping for the kiddos and the grandparents who kept hem (no gift is enough!!!) and then made it out to Lake Moraine (the under appreciated sister lake to Louise) for a little canoe adventure.

More of that crazy bright blue water! And yes - it's cold!!! The two college students working the dock to rent the canoes were added to our LONG list of people that lead us to believe that Canadians are the friendliest people on earth. We missed the "last boat" time and we didn't have enough money. And yet here we are out on the lake...

Okay, folks. Get ready. I know you've been wondering where all the wildlife amidst these glorious mountains and glaciers are. That's sort of what we'd been thinking too! I mean, we went to great lengths to borrow "bear spray" (works like pepper spray, not mosquito spray) from our hotel concierge (more people who make Canada the friendliest country) for our Sunshine Valley hike...and nothing. 

This was not acceptable to Kyle. So to the Bow Parkway we go...at dusk...let's spot us some bears...

Say, what? A grizzly momma and three cubs? Wooohoo!!! We pulled over when we saw all the other cars pulled over. And I got back into the car when the park ranger gave me that you-crazy-tourist-get-back-in-your-car-with-your-big-stupid-camera-before-I-have-to-shoot-you-to-keep-the-grizzy-momma-from-eating-you look. And I managed to catch this gem of a shot (sarcasm).

But eventually we got this view - a baby! (A BIG baby!)

Grizzly spotted. Vacation complete. (Accept I still want to see a Moose but Kyle tells me over and over and over again we're going to have to go to Alaska for that to happen.)

So, Saturday morning we packed up and headed out. Back to Calgary to catch our plain - but first we had to cruise by the Olympic Village from the 1988 Winter Games. 

They need a new flag.

You can see the ski jump from the highway from the airport. Screams - downhill, fast and (for me) out of control - like nothing else. FYI: The Canadian Olympic team is actively recruiting for their luge team - kids age 8-14, just in case you're interested.

So, that's all the photos. Seriously - a great trip. By the end we definitely missed the kids and had sort of run out of things to talk about (which is a miracle in itself because it seems like with 3 little ones at home we don't often get to even speak in complete sentences to each other)!  It was almost the perfect combo of activity and rest/relaxation (I read an entire book and started another one!) for me and study and hiking for Kyle. Well, he probably could have done more hiking. :) 

Until San Francisco 2013...

This Trip Made Possible by Our Wonderful Family and Friends - Thank You Bee, Nana, Dahdo, Pam, Miss Amy and Katie and kids!