Canada

Canada

Kelowna / Banff / Yolo / Jasper

July 11 - July 17th

Overview: Alaska left us wanting more and Canada would deliver. We were on our way to driving across BC heading towards Canada's finest National Parks - Banff, Yolo, Jasper. The trip consisted of driving to Kelowna from Vancouver. Then to Banff for a night of camping, followed by 2 nights in a backcountry cabin at Lake O'Hara. From there we toured the popular lakes in Banff and drove up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. Mike and I then did a backpacking trip on Jasper's legendary Skyline trail. From Jasper we headed back south to Canmore and the next day dropped Mike and Ang off in Calgary. Sam and I would then drive back to Kelowna.

Movie - Coming Soon

Day 1

Kelowna

The day after the cruise we stayed at Bill and Julie's house in Kelowna. We went wine tasting. We also went downtown and enjoyed some tasty ice cream sitting on the shore of Lake Okanagan.

Day 2

We were up at 6 AM and were on the road by 7:30 to make the drive from Kelowna to Banff. We pulled into the Lake Louise Campground at 12:30 PM- and were welcomed with pouring rain. Instead of the planned hike on the 7 glaciers trail we headed to the town of Banff to tour the city center.

Returning back to camp we were relieved to see the rain had subsided, but we encountered our next obstacle. We were missing one of the sleeping bags! Nearby our camp a ranger was giving a talk so we headed over there to explain our predicament. In one of the scenes for her presentation, she came out in a full-on bear suit. After the show we planned on asking her if Mike could borrow the bear suit for the night! Mike lucked out and she returned later with a sleeping bag he could borrow. A very nice evening was spent around a warm campfire.

Downtown Banff

Day 3

Lake O'Hara

Next morning we were up and off to Lake O'Hara in the nearby Yolo National Park. We would stay in the Elizabeth Parker Hut for 2 nights. Rain.... and lots of it.. greeted us at Lake O'Hara parking lot where we would catch the bus. The bus ride was along a dirt road for about a half hour through the forest. Knowing the weather is so unpredictable in this area is one of the main reasons why we opted to pay the large fee from the Alpine Club of Canada for the hut. The location could not be any better also as you can see.

By Mike: Elizabeth Parker Hut

When the weather seemed to let up a bit we snuck in a wonderful short hike. First, up the valley a little ways to a nearby Mary Lake then down to Lake O'Hara where we hiked a trail around the lake.

With all the unsettled weather we would put off the big hikes until tomorrow when we hoped it would clear a bit.

Lake Mary

Lake O'Hara

Trail around Lake O'Hara

Rocks along shore of O'Hara

Falls above Lake O'Hara

Lake O'Hara Loop

Lake O'Hara

The evening was spent hanging out in the cabins and watching clouds roll on through. It was a bit uncomfortable that night when a lady in our cabin lit a fire and soon the place was sauna. No one slept well, but the good news was the weather the next morning.

By Mike: Rainbow over hut

Day 4

Lake O'Hara / Alpine Route

The weather broke.... Mike and I were ready and up at 6 AM. There was a dense fog when we first looked outside, but we could tell that above it there were blue skies. The hike of choice was the Alpine Route. The route goes up very high and traverses around the valley giving you a bird's eye view of Lake O'Hara. It also accesses two other distinct upper basins with lakes. It is quintessential hike of many of the mountains, lakes, and forests of the area and we were very happy after 2 days of rain to get the weather to do it.

By Mike: Dan at hut

The beginning of the hike begins at the lake and heads up. The trail is very steep in places. Much of it is switch backs up various gullies. Eventually you top out on Wiwaxy Gap. The gap is a col set high up on the ridgeline between mountains. We took a long break here and ate breakfast. At this point a lot of hard work was over as we would not be gaining much more elevation the rest of the hike.

View looking over Wiwaxy Gap

This is looking up the valley of Lake O'Hara. In this picture you can see much of the hike. It first heads to lake above me, then it goes around the triangle fin of the Yukness Ledges. Looking at the route from afar it looks like it is going to be a difficult /dangerous/steep/ exposed scramble. Overall, we had no complaints and it was well marked with blue squares on rocks during the scramble sections.

By Mike: Dan at Wiwaxy Gap

Lake O'Hara

From Wiwaxy Gap the trail traverses the mountainside to Lake Oesa. I would not recommend this section of the trail to those sensitive to heights.

Mike above lake Oesa

Lake Oesa sits in a classic Rocky Mountain circ. Large walls on all sides rise up to the clouds above. The water was a turquoise blue; a color that the eyes seem to gravitate to.

Lake Oesa

As the trail continues its traverse, the next section goes along the Yukness Ledges. Not as scary as it sounds, it provided more open views of the valley. The route at this point was more of a scramble at times, but still very easy to follow. Now we could see down the valley where the park bus took us up to the lake.

Lake O'Hara

DanDan / Yukanes Ledges. As the trail flanked the mountain we now entered in another high valley. Looking across to the opposite side was a gigantic vertical rock wall that when walking in the valley below it felt that it was overhanging above you.

Eventually we reached Opabin Lake. Another pristine setting.

Opabin Lake

Glacier swirl above Opabin Lake

From Opabin Lake the trail split and you could take two ways back down to Lake O'Hara. We decided on the trail that seemed to take a higher route. Mike is here crossing a knoll just above Opabin Lake.

Steep section of trail as it descends towards Mary Lake. We did not see anyone up on the higher levels of the Alpine route, now we were on a more established trail and ran into many day hikers heading up to the valleys above. The hike was a 10/10 and makes the list as one of North America's Best.

McArthur Lake Hike

After returning from the Alpine Route, I took a long break from 12-2, resting up to power out another hike during the evening. This one Sam would join me on and its destination was McArthur Lake. From the hut, the hike headed into the forest and began to switch back up. Then it makes its way through some alpine meadows. I felt like we were in prime bear country and kept my eyes open. This trail heads up a valley to the north and the lake is in another high hanging valley at timberline. Another classic hike.

Sam approaching Lake McArthur

Lake McArther - At the head of the valley is Mt. Biddle

This lake gets the award for the most vivid body of water in the area. The deepest blue lake I had ever seen- no photo enhancement

Lake McArther

Glacier swirl above Lake McArthur

I mentioned Lake O'Hara to my parents the previous year after reading about how scenic the area was. They checked it out and could not stop talking about it when they returned. We agree, the area is a mountain paradise, and one of the best things about it is that staying at the lake makes a perfect base camp for all superb day hikes in every direction.

Lake McArther

Day 5

Lake Louise / Moraine Lake / Icefields Parkway / Waiputi Camp

Up to blue skies we packed up the cabin and hit the 1st bus out of Lake O'Hara. Our first stop was to Lake Louise, beautiful but jam packed as always with tourists. As we drove around the lot looking for a place to park.

Lake Louise

The next stop up the road was to Moraine Lake. This is one of my favorite views in the park. Looking across the lake into the Valley of the Ten Peaks; always a sight. To get to this view it is a short trail up the Rockpile Trail. It was closed for repairs so Mike and I hiked around the back and did a bit of cross-country to get the "postcard" shot. At one time this scene was on the Canadian bills.

Moraine Lake

We now made our way along the Icefields Parkway on the way to Jasper. We stopped at many pullouts to check out the views.

Icefields Parkway

Crows Feet Glacier

Waterfowl Lake

Columbia Icefield Visitor Center - They had live videos of people that took the big cats up on the ice. The large icefield looked flat and mellow with all the tourists up there walking on it.

Icefields Parkway

Icefields Parkway - along the road

Athabasca Falls

After spending the day on the drive from Lake Louise we stayed the night at the Waiputi campground nearby Jasper. After setting up camp, we went downtown and was welcomed by a moose in the middle of the road. Bozo tourists abound- one was approaching to try and touch him until he turned around and nearly bucked him.

Athabasca Falls

Day 6

Skyline Trail

July 16th-17th

Overview: The Skyline trail is known as one of the best backcountry hikes in Canada. The reason for this is much of the way it skirts the "skyline" with breathtaking views of the Rockies. It was the best ridgeline hiking I have ever done. We would take 2 days to hike the 28.7 mile trail from Maligne Lake to Maligne Canyon.

Day 1

Maligne Lake to Curator Camp

After many days of hiking both Mike and I were not at 100%... I had some type of ankle injury still hurting from hiking Alaska in low-tops (bad decision). And Mike had some knee issue going on. But both of us were not going to let it hold us back and we hit the trail with our heads down hoping for the best. The first few miles took us through the forest with a steady gain of elevation.

The views start to open up as we made our way out of the valley below. Looking back towards Maligne Lake to the north. Just before Little Shovel Pass we entered an alpine area with many large marmots walking around the ponds of water.

Photo By Mike

Looking over Little Shovel Pass stretched a big green alpine valley. Mike called it "the links" where we would spend most of the day traversing over to our last pass in the distance- Big Shovel. The trail made its way along the alpine fields with the Maligne Range nearby on our left.

Photo by Mike

Lunch break included sausage bagels that would only taste that good so high up and after putting in a days work

Big Shovel pass

Looking over the pass the land changed from the green links to a mountainous desert. From here, the trail begins its decent ( yes.... a 500 ft decent below the trail, obviously we were complaining as we headed down) to Curator Camp.

The only green could be seen was in these interesting little pods of grass. Sites at Curator camp were packed together and did not have much of a view. It was nice that they did have a picnic table and a 25 ft tall bear pole to hang your food.

Heading towards Curator Camp

Day 2

Curator Camp to Maligne Canyon

We had a big day in front of us- 17 miles. Up early and were out of camp and hiking by 5:30 AM. We started the steep haul over "the notch" which is the high point of the trek at 8283 ft. Soft steep sand with may parts of the trail swept clean by landslides made it slow going to reach the top.

"The Notch" The trail can be seen up the right side of the photo to the pass

At last a few steps up a snow slope and the epitome of the skyline trail was ours to be had. The next few miles of hiking was a high exposed glorious ridgeline. Staring at eye level across the valley and all the peaks we drove by on the parkway could be seen with one sweeping view. And even more beyond them. As it was still only 7 AM the clouds and the dark blue sky was a fitting backdrop. I found myself looking up just to see what the sky would do next. The winds gusted.... we spent our time on this section of trail trying to unsuccessfully as always capture the moment with high def images.

Looking south into the valley were we were camped

Views from "The Notch"

Skyline

Looking back at The Notch

Photo by Mike: Dan on Skyline

Skyline

Skyline Trail

Mike making his way along this spectacular section of ridgeline hiking

Dan on Skyline by Mike

The trail then takes a right turn leaving the ridge behind into another wide green valley. From here our pace kicked up as we had some mileage to cover as we were not hiking with our heads in the clouds like before. As we made our way into the valley, the trail skirted around the mountain on the left. A few miles later it dropped us onto a fire road for the last 2 miles back to the main road. We finished the trail at 11:51 AM. We were 9 minutes early to meet the girls for our pickup. Finally, they show up a half hour late after doing a hike themselves at Maligne Canyon. We then drove back along the parkway arriving at Canmore for a leisurely night of pizza and hot tubs.

Mike Mike / Dan on Skyline

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