How beautiful Canada is! Within an hour of leaving Calgary, we were captivated by views of majestic mountains and peaceful lakes. Heading north towards Jasper National Park, just driving along the highway not even leaving the car, we were surrounded by miles and miles of breathtaking beauty of the country.
And one other great thing about the trip–since this is a food blog–is the delicious food we enjoyed during our trip! More on that in my next post. Here are the views as we drove along Icefields Parkway, named because of the snow capped mountains and the many glaciers around.
How is it we haven’t come here before, my friend and world traveler Krista Gates asked. She, Rose Stark and I had planned this trip after we survived our first hiking trip to Arcadia National Park in Maine last year. This time we visited Jasper, Banff, and Waterton national parks.
On Facebook, Rose shared that her GPS recorded that we walked more than 63 miles, hiked 30 of those, climbed over 6400 feet in our five days of hiking.
The best experiences were found on the trails. Maybe it’s because of the hard work involved and the reward of coming out of the trees to awe-inspiring views. Maybe it’s because we were there alone in the forest–away from crowds of picture-snapping, roadside tourists–occasionally meeting other hikers who wandered farther to appreciate nature. We weren’t looking for silence; we chatted and sang loudly to alert the bears.
Most of the our hikes were two to three hours, some involving sharper inclines than others. We saw glaciers, waterfalls, snow-capped mountains, rocky mountains, canyons and valleys. We also saw dramatic scenes on more accessible, shorter trails like parts of Malinge Canyon with its stunning deep gorges and Sunwapta Falls with beautiful potholes ; these, of course, attracted many tourists.
Here we are at Peyto Lake, Athabasca Falls, Parker Ridge overlooking Saskatchewan Glacier, Sunwapta Falls, Grotto Canyon and Moraine Lake.
See this picture with the Adirondack chairs. It took us about 90 minutes to get to this lake in the Five Lakes Trail and when I saw the chairs, I thought that was such a nice touch. Someone had carried these chairs all the way up. In Canada they are called Muskoka chairs and Parks Canada intentionally placed them along trials in strategic spots in their parks inviting visitors to what they call their Red Chairs Experience.
Stop, sit down, relax, enjoy and reflect. I love it. Thank you, Park Canada! They must look dramatic in the snow.
Our highest peak was Whistler Mountain at about 7100 feet; we took a tram up part of the way but the steep climb with its loose rocks and icy mud was not as easy as it looked.
We now have bragging rights to having hiked the Crypt Lake Trail. Well, kinda. National Geographic rated it among the top 20 hikes in the world. And the Local Adventurer rated it as 12th scariest hike in the world.
The most challenging part was the last 10 minutes of the approximate 5 grueling miles up the mountain to Crypt Lake where after we climbed a ladder, bear crawled through a tunnel, we had to skirt around the side of the cliff on a narrow ledge, holding on to a safety cable. This was when our sanity held us back and we turned around. Hey, turning around and trying to get to the ladder going down wasn’t easy either.
One slip and we’d have to cling on to the cable or fall 600 feet down. You can see the depth in these photos. That’s me sitting on the rock refusing to move because my short legs couldn’t reach a secure step down. You can see the tunnel behind me. Krista skirting her way to the edge and Rose making it the farthest. Notice her bear spray on right shoulder. No bears here, that’s for sure. They’re not stupid.
Besides, we had to consider making it back down a difficult hike in time to catch the last and only ferry back. If we miss that, we’re bear fodder. A bear and her cubs had been spotted at the trial head. And there isn’t even an outhouse you can take shelter in. Our friends and family are glad we came home safe.
Thank goodness we didn’t meet bears or elk (which we were told could be just as dangerous) on the trials. Yes, we wanted to see bears. From a safe distance. And we did on three occasions. Our strategy of waking up early and driving down roads to look for them worked. In one instance, we followed a bear for about 20 minutes as it worked its way along the highway eating berries, completely ignoring cars following it.
Here’s our safe encounter with animals. It was fun when we opened the door to our chalet and an elk stared at me interrupting her breakfast. Like the bear, she just carried on. Fun trip, Krista and Rose!
