First thing in the morning, we headed out to Maligne Canyon, which is about 15 minutes out of Jasper – nice and close! Since we get there early, there aren’t any tour buses yet (yay!), and the parking lot is almost empty. Maligne Canyon is a very narrow, deep gorge, with a fast-flowing river at the bottom. Our photos really don’t do it justice.
The trails starts out with a bridge leading directly over the gorge, then you follow the trail along the gorge for as long as you like (and it goes a long way). It rained last night, and the rocks that are usually such nice stepping stones are today treacherously slippery. And I’m really feeling my quads today. Ouch ouch ouch. After hiking along four separate bridge crossings over the gorge, we finally turn back (hey, we’re trying to keep on schedule today – Columbia Icefield or bust).
We’d passed by Pyramid Mountain on the way to Maligne – on the way back, I thought I’d take a picture. Hah. When we drove by on the way back to Jasper townsite, the mountain was gone! Completely hidden behind early morning clouds. Darn it. That’ll learn me. (But who would have guessed that the mountain would disappear?)
We popped back into Bear Hill Lodge to get our drinks out of the fridge and check out. Goodbye, sweet little Chalet! If I come back, I may stay here again.
That’s it for the townsite – we’re now exiting and back on the highway. 93A, where there’s a turnoff to Mt. Edith Cavell. It’s only about 29 km out of Jasper, although it takes about 45 minutes to travel the distance, due to the long and narrow road winding uphill. It seems a lot more secluded than the main roads, and that’s where we saw a grizzly bear (or do “black” bears come in that light shade of brown?) on the side of the road. I rolled down my window and got a nice picture.
Trailers are prohibited on the road, although we still had to squeeze by some oversized campers, and it seemed to take a really long time. All the way, we’re getting closer and closer to this pretty snow-covered mountain, and I finally realized, “Is that Edith Cavell mountain? Is that where we’re going? Wow.”
We didn’t see much traffic on the road (probably because it was so winding), so I was surprised at the number of cars in the parking lot. We get out to take pictures and realize that – oh no! – there’s another hiking trail, and look, it goes up a long way. Sigh. We can’t just walk away. So it’s speed hiking again. Blowing past all the people with their walking poles. Hahaha! I laugh at your puny legs.
And then we pause at the top of the trail to enjoy the view, because it is amazing. But hey, there’s always something else to catch your eye. We head down to the ice pool to take pictures there. And then we decide to go wandering over the rocks, because some other people were, and anything they could do, we could do better. Hey look, there’s an ice cave. We’re motoring over the rock field (which is an incredible amount of loose rocks – which one might surmise had perhaps fallen off the mountain to fall in this debris field, but clueless people like us never thought of that then). Another high-intensity dexterity workout. Then we get to the snow field below the glacier overhang. Stephen suddenly pauses: “I don’t know if we should go on the snow.” “Why not?” says dumbass me, after taking a picture of the ice cave which is now very near. "Ker-crack-crack!" says the mountain.
I turn and slip, a foot suddenly sinking down into the snow and smacking ankle against a rock. Nevertheless, I'm on my feet and running for my life, bouncing over the rockfield like some billy-goat-gruff, because I’ve got visions of a rockslide, or an avalanche right behind me. (At the time, we weren’t sure whether it was a rock falling, or the ice cracking, but in hindsight, we realize it must have been the ice cracking, otherwise we’d have heard more banging and clattering as the rock came down.)
Anyway, we survived – although the heart rate was way way up there – and got back to the main path unsquashed. It was only then that we saw the warning sign for avalanche/rockfall. Thanks, guys. Maybe you should put some of those signs over by the ice pool.
Goodbye, Edith Cavell! On to safer pursuits...
Which means back onto 93A to head to Athabasca Falls (where it meets up with highway 93 again). Athabasca Falls are very nice, and seem to be a pretty popular spot. We take a few photos, but don’t hike through the whole area. Because Columbia Icefields or bust, darn it!
We get to the Columbia Icefields around 2 p.m., and pay $38 for the 2:30 p.m. bus out to the site. Not bad, eh? Except for the fact that our park pass expires at 4 p.m., and we’re supposed to be out of Banff by then. Hmm…
The buses drive us over to a terminal part way up the mountain, where we then switch to the Snocoach icemobile, which drives us out onto the Athabasca Glacier. Then we’ve got 20 minutes on the glacier to run around, take pictures, throw snowballs at each other, drink glacier runoff water, whatever. And that’s pretty much what we do. Lots of pics! And I have now learned that a crevice is rock, and a crevasse is ice.
But by the time we’ve trundled back to the visitor’s centre, it’s now 4:15 p.m. We should have been out of Banff 15 minutes ago. And we’re not even IN Banff yet. Oops.
The fact that we’re now illegal park people doesn’t prevent us for stopping for photo opportunities on the way back (although Stephen’s poor sign-reading skills cause us to miss a few).
When we get to Lake Louise, we turn off onto the 1A Bow Valley Parkway (which states “You Must Have a Valid Park Pass to Travel This Highway”). We have a valid pass – it’s just expired, that’s all. As expected, it’s a much quieter road than the TransCanada, with some lovely views of Castle Mountain.
Finally, we’re about to leave Banff, and no park ranger has caught us, even though our pass is now about three-and-a-half hours expired. I know – we are dreadful criminals.
We’re now in a hurry to get home so that poor Fergie, who has been home alone for most of the day now, has some company. Don’t worry, we gave her a walk, and played Frisbee, and she was very happy to see us.
So that’s our mountain adventures for now. Lessons learned are: (1) you need more way time than we had to see Jasper, and (2) mountains really want to kill you.
The trails starts out with a bridge leading directly over the gorge, then you follow the trail along the gorge for as long as you like (and it goes a long way). It rained last night, and the rocks that are usually such nice stepping stones are today treacherously slippery. And I’m really feeling my quads today. Ouch ouch ouch. After hiking along four separate bridge crossings over the gorge, we finally turn back (hey, we’re trying to keep on schedule today – Columbia Icefield or bust).
We’d passed by Pyramid Mountain on the way to Maligne – on the way back, I thought I’d take a picture. Hah. When we drove by on the way back to Jasper townsite, the mountain was gone! Completely hidden behind early morning clouds. Darn it. That’ll learn me. (But who would have guessed that the mountain would disappear?)
We popped back into Bear Hill Lodge to get our drinks out of the fridge and check out. Goodbye, sweet little Chalet! If I come back, I may stay here again.
That’s it for the townsite – we’re now exiting and back on the highway. 93A, where there’s a turnoff to Mt. Edith Cavell. It’s only about 29 km out of Jasper, although it takes about 45 minutes to travel the distance, due to the long and narrow road winding uphill. It seems a lot more secluded than the main roads, and that’s where we saw a grizzly bear (or do “black” bears come in that light shade of brown?) on the side of the road. I rolled down my window and got a nice picture.
Trailers are prohibited on the road, although we still had to squeeze by some oversized campers, and it seemed to take a really long time. All the way, we’re getting closer and closer to this pretty snow-covered mountain, and I finally realized, “Is that Edith Cavell mountain? Is that where we’re going? Wow.”
We didn’t see much traffic on the road (probably because it was so winding), so I was surprised at the number of cars in the parking lot. We get out to take pictures and realize that – oh no! – there’s another hiking trail, and look, it goes up a long way. Sigh. We can’t just walk away. So it’s speed hiking again. Blowing past all the people with their walking poles. Hahaha! I laugh at your puny legs.
And then we pause at the top of the trail to enjoy the view, because it is amazing. But hey, there’s always something else to catch your eye. We head down to the ice pool to take pictures there. And then we decide to go wandering over the rocks, because some other people were, and anything they could do, we could do better. Hey look, there’s an ice cave. We’re motoring over the rock field (which is an incredible amount of loose rocks – which one might surmise had perhaps fallen off the mountain to fall in this debris field, but clueless people like us never thought of that then). Another high-intensity dexterity workout. Then we get to the snow field below the glacier overhang. Stephen suddenly pauses: “I don’t know if we should go on the snow.” “Why not?” says dumbass me, after taking a picture of the ice cave which is now very near. "Ker-crack-crack!" says the mountain.
I turn and slip, a foot suddenly sinking down into the snow and smacking ankle against a rock. Nevertheless, I'm on my feet and running for my life, bouncing over the rockfield like some billy-goat-gruff, because I’ve got visions of a rockslide, or an avalanche right behind me. (At the time, we weren’t sure whether it was a rock falling, or the ice cracking, but in hindsight, we realize it must have been the ice cracking, otherwise we’d have heard more banging and clattering as the rock came down.)
Anyway, we survived – although the heart rate was way way up there – and got back to the main path unsquashed. It was only then that we saw the warning sign for avalanche/rockfall. Thanks, guys. Maybe you should put some of those signs over by the ice pool.
Goodbye, Edith Cavell! On to safer pursuits...
Which means back onto 93A to head to Athabasca Falls (where it meets up with highway 93 again). Athabasca Falls are very nice, and seem to be a pretty popular spot. We take a few photos, but don’t hike through the whole area. Because Columbia Icefields or bust, darn it!
We get to the Columbia Icefields around 2 p.m., and pay $38 for the 2:30 p.m. bus out to the site. Not bad, eh? Except for the fact that our park pass expires at 4 p.m., and we’re supposed to be out of Banff by then. Hmm…
The buses drive us over to a terminal part way up the mountain, where we then switch to the Snocoach icemobile, which drives us out onto the Athabasca Glacier. Then we’ve got 20 minutes on the glacier to run around, take pictures, throw snowballs at each other, drink glacier runoff water, whatever. And that’s pretty much what we do. Lots of pics! And I have now learned that a crevice is rock, and a crevasse is ice.
But by the time we’ve trundled back to the visitor’s centre, it’s now 4:15 p.m. We should have been out of Banff 15 minutes ago. And we’re not even IN Banff yet. Oops.
The fact that we’re now illegal park people doesn’t prevent us for stopping for photo opportunities on the way back (although Stephen’s poor sign-reading skills cause us to miss a few).
When we get to Lake Louise, we turn off onto the 1A Bow Valley Parkway (which states “You Must Have a Valid Park Pass to Travel This Highway”). We have a valid pass – it’s just expired, that’s all. As expected, it’s a much quieter road than the TransCanada, with some lovely views of Castle Mountain.
Finally, we’re about to leave Banff, and no park ranger has caught us, even though our pass is now about three-and-a-half hours expired. I know – we are dreadful criminals.
We’re now in a hurry to get home so that poor Fergie, who has been home alone for most of the day now, has some company. Don’t worry, we gave her a walk, and played Frisbee, and she was very happy to see us.
So that’s our mountain adventures for now. Lessons learned are: (1) you need more way time than we had to see Jasper, and (2) mountains really want to kill you.
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