The road between Lake Louise and Jasper is widely regarded as the most beautiful in North America. Climbing more than 2000 meters into the mountains it passes about 20 glaciers and countless snowy mountains. Despite retreating significantly every year, the Athabasca glacier is still only a few hundred meters from the road.
A short hike from the parkway got us to Peyto Lake, the most brightly coloured i've ever seen.
Distaster was narrowly averted after a terrorist caribou launched a suicide headbutt attack on our SUV, which missed by just a couple of meters. The black bear suspected of masterminding the attack was spotted soon afterwards running just meters from the road.
Speaking of bears, i've had 5 separate "encounters" since arriving in North America - 2 grizzlies and 3 black bears. Only one occurred while hiking and thankfully that was at a very safe distance. I've seen plenty of other critters, including a moose, some eagles, horned sheep, marmots, thousands of squirrels and a little guy swimming in a lake that was either an otter or a beaver.
We spent the night at a delightfully rustic lodge right on the parkway (after an unintentional but scenic 50km detour) and awoke to climb one of the peaks in the "Endless Chain" of mountains.
The hike proved very challenging firstly because it was steep and slippery and also because there wasn't really a trail, just some sporadically placed orange tape marking a suggested route. We struggled up through bugs and mud for about 3 hours, losing and then reacquiring the trail a few times before reaching the very top of the treeline and clear view of the summit.
We considered the steep 200m scramble over damp, slippery rocks for a while but, given the summit was shrouded in clouds anyway, decided to accept a minor victory and headed back to the lodge. Fantastic hiking again from Jo!
It's an empowering feeling to sit back and enjoy a 3 course meal in a restaurant overlooking the mountain you've just climbed!
A short hike from the parkway got us to Peyto Lake, the most brightly coloured i've ever seen.
Distaster was narrowly averted after a terrorist caribou launched a suicide headbutt attack on our SUV, which missed by just a couple of meters. The black bear suspected of masterminding the attack was spotted soon afterwards running just meters from the road.
Speaking of bears, i've had 5 separate "encounters" since arriving in North America - 2 grizzlies and 3 black bears. Only one occurred while hiking and thankfully that was at a very safe distance. I've seen plenty of other critters, including a moose, some eagles, horned sheep, marmots, thousands of squirrels and a little guy swimming in a lake that was either an otter or a beaver.
We spent the night at a delightfully rustic lodge right on the parkway (after an unintentional but scenic 50km detour) and awoke to climb one of the peaks in the "Endless Chain" of mountains.
The hike proved very challenging firstly because it was steep and slippery and also because there wasn't really a trail, just some sporadically placed orange tape marking a suggested route. We struggled up through bugs and mud for about 3 hours, losing and then reacquiring the trail a few times before reaching the very top of the treeline and clear view of the summit.
We considered the steep 200m scramble over damp, slippery rocks for a while but, given the summit was shrouded in clouds anyway, decided to accept a minor victory and headed back to the lodge. Fantastic hiking again from Jo!
It's an empowering feeling to sit back and enjoy a 3 course meal in a restaurant overlooking the mountain you've just climbed!
1 comment:
It's an empowering feeling to sit back and enjoy a 3 course meal in your bedroom after spending the day doing absolutely nothing too!
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