12 days in Canada

“Just returned home from 12 days in beautiful B.C.!

When I arrived in Vancouver...Hodgeman was sitting in the Elephant & Castle Pub waiting for me.

The next day we started our 1200 mile journey to the Rockies and back via Jasper, The Icefield Parkway, Banff Lake Louise, Yoho, Glacier, etc.

We saw 5 or 6 Bald Eagles on the way.


And this little Black Bear.


Ran across some elk in Jasper.


Spent some time around Athebasca(sp?)Falls


Peyto Lake...yeah it's really that colour.
(I added the u to color for you Hodge ;)

Our plan was to spend 7 days backpacking in the core area of Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. Two weeks prior they were still having summer weather but an organized system rolled through and left about 18' of new snow on our trail :)

After a couple of days traveling through some breathtaking scenery, standing on huge glaciers and dancing with elk we arrived in Banff.

The next morning we drove up to the Sunshine ski area to catch our shuttle up the private road to the trailhead.
And off we go towards our first stop Howard Douglas Lake...



to be continued...”

“looks nice”

“Sounds like a great start on the trip. Thanks for sharing.

So you added the "u" in colour! How 'bout in "blue," "four" and "your?" -or/-our

Please tell us you crossed the gorge above the water on that tree trunk. What a crossing!
last edited: 9/27/06 6:10:00 AM”

“business trip write offs, now I need to start using that idea”

“beautiful pictures!”

“Welcome home. Must of been some trip. Can't wait to see the rest.”

“Awesome!! I wish I was there with you guys!”

“Yup, an awesome trip for sure !!

I finally got my pics onto the computer.... might take me a few days to get a look at them all. Lots of stuff to catch up on around here.

Keep 'em coming WW. Love those critter shots !”

“spectacular!”

“Any griz?”

“You mean like the one that left this behind?



Nope.. didn't see any, but we missed that one on Howard Douglas Lake shore by minutes

That boot is a size 10 1/2
last edited: 9/27/06 5:15:57 PM”

“Awesome!! Waiting for more!”

“Ok sitting here sippin' a Mike's... where was I? Oh yeah...we were heading for Howard Douglas Lake in Banff National Park.
The trail was pretty easy going through the meadow areas...

and the snow wasn't very deep so we made good time.

Howard Douglas Lake

After reaching the lake and pitching camp we went for a bit of a day hike up the ridge behind the lake. That's where we encountered the large bear tracks for the first time. Near the top of the ridge there were so many tracks it looked like a critter freeway. Obviously a herd of something had moved through the area, probably Bighorn Sheep.

While we were on the ridge we noticed three hikers pulling in from up the trail, we circled high and then dropped back down to the trail and continued back down to Howard Douglas Lake.
The three hikers had just encountered a Grizz on the trail rolling in the snow (right in the middle of the trail. They had hiked around it just minutes before arriving at HD Lake.

We visited with the other hikers during meal prep and were treated to a most excellent star show that night...the last clear skies we would see for a while ;)

On day two we were scheduled for a long day...14 miles to Lake Magog in the core of the Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park.
At Citadel pass we entered the park.
”

“After traveling through Golden Valley and Valley of the Rocks we catch our first glimpse of Mount Assiniboine...

after what seemed like endless ups and downs through Valley of the Rocks this puppy was way beyond tired and hitting the wall....so we opted to stay at Og Lake...
approx. 4 miles short of our intended goal.


Og Lake is in the lower left corner, Mount Assiniboine near center pic.


Og Lake
last edited: 9/27/06 11:50:27 PM”

“OMG, so beautiful, but I wouldn't have liked the grizzly foot and talk. Aren't those guys supposed to sleep in the snow?”

“A bit early yet for the Griz to be tucking in for the winter. Although the season does seem to be a bit ahead of schedule. Didn't see any signs of marmots or Columbian ground squirrels so it won't be long now”

“Did this hold true?

By Phil

First, a glossary of Canadian Rockies hiking jargon.

Flat trail � Trail is uphill with at least 5% grade

Easy trail � Trail is uphill with at least 5% grade

Slightly uphill trail � Trail is uphill with at least 10% grade

Easy switchbacks � Trail switchbacks uphill with at least 15% grade

Uphill � Buttkicker with at least 20% grade uphill

Steep � 30% to 100% grade. (suggestion: use the stairs kicked in next to the trail by previous hikers.)

Downhill � Uphill (downhill is not defined in the Canadian Rockies�all trails are uphill)

Biffy � Toilet, latrine, head, kybo

Backpacker (not in bluejeans) � Highest order of human being. Superior to all other life forms. Always deserves the right-of-way.

Backpacker (wearing bluejeans) � pseudo-backpacker who probably sleeps with food in their tent. Most likely strayed away from the Red-Green film set or one of the Prairie Provinces

Day hiker � Inferior life form taking up space on the trail and upsetting the balance of life

Lodge Guy � Person who dreams about or actually stays at lodges, huts, or tea houses instead of in a tent. With proper encouragement a �lodge guy� could become a �lodge worker� as a transitional life form.

Chateau Guy � Similar to a lodge guy, but with money coming out of selected orifices

Pasta - pasta (but pronounced wrong)

Privacy moment � polite way of saying that someone has disappeared from the trail to relieve themselves

last edited: 9/28/06 1:25:44 AM”

“Ah, yes. Should have given WindWalker the glossary before his trip!

Awesome pics!”

“Awesome!! But COLD COLD looking!!!!!!


BEST PICTURES I HAVE SEEN YET!!!!
last edited: 9/28/06 3:41:58 AM”

“LOL! David, that's so close it's scary!

"Backpacker (wearing bluejeans) � pseudo-backpacker who probably sleeps with food in their tent. Most likely strayed away from the Red-Green film set or one of the Prairie Provinces"

Met one of those guys...he fried up some chicken breast for dinner....then stowed the rest of his food and cooking gear in his tent. Nothing quite like going to bed smelling like fried chicken in grizz country. Kinda defeats the purpose of having a cooking area 100 yards from the tent pads ...eh?”

“LOL!! eh?”

“Continue on please, it was gettin good.”

“Luv It!!!”

“LMAO my eyes are still watering from laughing. that is awesome!”

“The part that wasn't funny is that his tent pad was only 15' or so from mine. Hodge tried to talk him into hanging his food on the bear pole....and after some prodding...he hung one small bag. He said he didn't know how to use the bear pole and had never used one before(pretty complicated system...a loop of cable with a snap hook on one end and a loop at the other, even if you hook it up backwards it works!)....but he still slept with the bulk of his food and the pan he fried the chicken in.

Phil, I'll have some new terms for your glossary :) Like "Flurry", "A bit of Weather" and Strider's term that has been adopted by many a Canadian... " Narrowly avoiding mild discomfort" :)”

“Back to the TR......After setting up camp at Og Lake and snapping a few photos we started dinner. It began to sprinkle a bit so Hodge set up the tarp...we enjoyed our Thermarest chairs and our nightly campfire (candle lantern)before turning in. Well let's just say we had a bit of weather at Og Lake that night. But it wasn't too bad in the morning when we broke camp and moved to Lake Magog. We arrived pretty early at Lake Magog and after setting up we were back on our original schedule....
dayhiking "The Nub".


L to R -Naiset Peak, Terrapin Mountain, Mount Magog, Mount Assiniboine, Sunburst Peak, The Marshall
L to R -Lake Magog, Sunburst Lake, Cerulean Lake”

“We dropped off the Nub on the Elizabeth Lake trail...

Elizabeth Lake

The Larch trees are incredible in September.....electric green and gold!
After taking a break at Elizabeth Lake to enjoy some genuine Double Stuff Oreos®
we continued on a trail taking us past Cerulean Lake, Sunburst lake and back to Lake Magog.”

“

When we got back to Lake Magog Miss Boine was showing her face and the surface of the lake was calm...so we headed down to the lake shore for some reflection shots.


Mount Assiniboine


Mind bending reflections!
last edited: 9/28/06 9:06:20 PM”

“WW, Spectacular photos as always. Thanks.”

“Thanks for the late night story. Please continue tomorrow right where you left off. ;)”

“Awesome!”

“And I went to Disneyland. D$%^ the bad luck! Seriously, I would sell my mullet to get up there for a week! ;0) Of course, the 2 year old tends to jump from stuff. Maybe in the spring.”

“WW - So, what did you think of the Canadian Rockies?”

“Don't you guys know that when that white stuff starts falling out of the sky it's time to come inside?!”

“pretty sweet man!”

“Incredible pics! Thanks WW.”

“Love that B & W of the peak!”

“Me too WK, and the one below it doesn't even look like there is water there.”

“wow!

Wind Walker, you ARE my new hero!”

“HEY WW!!!
I notice you have copyright stamps on those pics. Do you have a website, and are any for sale?”

“Why yes Meangreen I do and they are...although the new stuff isn't on the site yet....
Windwalker Images”

““WW - So, what did you think of the Canadian Rockies?” Phil


Well in the words of the Naviguesser....
They Suck!

Actually Hodge and I took turns at each new vista "oh... now that really sucks!!!" and "Yep...just as I thought ...this sucks too" :)”

“Hey David....Nanaimo Bars ROCK!!!”

“oh yes they do!”

“"Yup, this place really sucks..... nothin' to see here !"
;-)

”

“More sucky scenery.”

“
Hodgeman of BC


Glacier Above Lake Magog

Well after the photo shoot with Miss Assiniboine....we made our way back up to camp and enjoyed a calm evening.


No tarp tonight just hanging out in the open air with our trusty campfire under glass. After dinner we noticed a visitor in camp..


Although there were probably lulls in the conversation I don't remember any...we always seemed to have plenty to talk about.
Were your ears ringing??? LOL!
Later in the evening we had a visitor..after dark. With the headlamps illuminating the area where the sound was coming from we notice a very large rabbit or hare....we just laughed.

In the morning we awoke to cloudy skies.
After breakfast we set up the tarp just in case we had some weather later in the day.
the plan was to hike up to Wonder Pass via the Naiset Huts and Og Lake.”

“Geez, Were you guys talking about me? I thought my ears were burning! LOL

I'm jealous. I truly want to go there some day. A beautiful place to be for sure.

So continue on with the story ...please....”

“Maybe ;)

On our way to Wonder Pass there were waterfalls...



A Ranger cabin...

tough life ...eh?

As we continue up towards Wonder Pass we reach Og Lake...



A little island in Og Lake”

“OK, that does it. Disneyland sucks. I'm taking the kids to the woods next year. Mom can see the mouse on her own. ;0)”