In this port, Janel and I are going to grade the different things we did on the trip. This is targeted at people looking for suggestions on what they should and should not do on a trip to the Canadian Rockies.
Lodging
Revelstoke Inn: B+
This was a nice stop on the way. It had some decent views of the Revelstoke Mountains, and a really comfy bed. We did get upgraded to one of the nicer rooms.
Banff Aspen Hotel: B-
Free breakfast (with good muffins). Decent beds. Small Hot Tub (bigger one was under construction). Close to downtown.
Lake Louise Inn: C-
No free breakfast. Lots of dinner options, but nothing particularly great. We had a recently renovated room, but it was only so-so. The beds were not particularly comfortable (even after camping for 4 days). It was kinda loud too, which was annoying since we wanted to get to bed early for the long drive home.
Camping
Egypt Lakes (backcountry): B
Great central location for base camp. So-so views from camp. Lots of mosquitos and flies. Bring a headnet. Bear ropes provided. Great wood-chip tent pads. Nice pit toilets. Moderately crowded (for the backcountry).
Lake O'Hara: A
Great location. Very nice camp with tent pads, shelters for cooking (and hiding from rain). Bear boxes. Limited people. Not a lot of bugs. So-so views from the campground. Well protected from the wind.
Lake Louise: B
Good location. Relatively secluded (for car camping in a big national park). Not too loud (but not quiet either). Free hot showers. Okay flush toilets. No tent pads (we were spoiled at this point).
Hikes
Sunshine to Simpson Pass: C+
The first part of the hike out from Sunshine (on our backpacking trip) was just okay. There was a good view-point at about 1.5km from Sunshine, but after that it was just a slog through mosquito-infested woods. The views at Sunshine (where we were at least) are only okay.
Simpson Pass to Healy River: B
This portion of the trail is between the pass and where the trail that comes up from the parking lot (where a lot of people come from) meet. There are some nice little lakes and meadows along this stretch, as well as a bit of wildflowers. I would not go out of my way to go here, but it was a large improvement over the slog leading up to Simpson Pass.
Healy Pass: A
Great vistas, and amazing (probably the best I have ever seen) wildflower meadows. Still worth it without the wildflowers (maybe a B+), but great with them. Don't bother walking down to Egypt Lake from the pass unless you are spending the night and can go farther. It is not worth it.
Egypt Lake: C-
The Egypt Lake itself (not the area, which is commonly called "Egypt Lakes") is pretty boring.
Whistling Pass: B+
Decent meadows, and good views. Not as good as Healy, but still worth it for a day trip. Doing a shuttle trip through Egypt and Shadow lakes would be fun.
Scarab and Mummy Lakes: B
Scarab lake was pretty easy to get to, but not all that exciting. Mummy Lake was a lot harder (some rock scrambling. All in all not bad, but not the best either. I would not bother if I had to carry my loaded pack.
Simpson Pass to Sunshine
I just wanted to call out that if I was doing this hike again without an ACL problem, I think it would be best to hike out down Healy River. Going back up to Sunshine had a good amount of annoying (viewless) climbs, and was not particularly fun.
Helen Lake (and Ridge): B+
The hike up to Helen Lake is okay. There are some views across the valley to a glacier. Helen Lake itself is boring. There are lots of marmots along the way, which are kinda fun. The meadows are decent, but don't compare to Healy Pass. I would rate the hike up to Lake Helen alone a C-. Hiking up to the ridge above the lake is a lot better, and what redeems the hike. Scrambling up Cirque Mountain would be a lot of fun if you are into that sort of thing.
Johnston Canyon: B
This was a nice a change of pace for the hikes. The waterfalls were nice. If you went during the day (and not at the crack of dawn) I would probably give this hike a D. I also think that the hike may rate an A if you are not from Oregon (and therefore not a waterfall snob). Lower falls is definitely the highlight.
Moraine Lake: A
This is a short little trail that goes to the end of Moraine Lake. It was short and had a lot of bang for your buck. There are tons of people there, so again I would recommend either doing it close to Sunrise or Sunset.
Lake Oesa: A-
This was a great hike. Meadows, vistas, alpine lakes, waterfalls ... everything your heart desires (okay maybe not). If you did the ledges (and are not afraid of heights) it would probably rate an A. If you scrambled up to Abbot Hut (don't forget your helmet), it would rate an A++. You can also get reservations to stay in the hut (but no camping on top).
Opabin Prospect and Lake: B+
Nice hanging valley. Decent lakes. Great views of Lake O'Hara. Our rating may be a bit skewed because we did it in the fog.
Takakkah Falls: C-
Big waterfall. Not really very nice looking. I was not a bit fan. Again, this may have something to do with me being from Oregon.
Wilcox Pass: A+
Great hike for the mileage. Great glacial views. Good chance to see mountain goats. The drive up is also quite nice. Highly recommended.
Plain of the Six Glaciers: A
Great hike if you do it early or late in the day. Way to many people mid-day. Definitely hike out to the end (past the Tea House) for some great views. The tea-house is pretty quiet if you get their early. We also especially enjoyed it because it was the "other side" of the pass from Lake Oesa. Don't plan on going up to Abbot Hut from this side though.
Towns
Banff: D
Way too many people. Not very well located for hiking (most of the good stuff is farther north. More focussed on shopping and fashion rather than being in a national park. Good information center, decent food, and a good grocery store (the only good qualities).
Lake Louise: B
Not as big as Banff. Good location for good hikes in Yoho and Banff (and maybe Wilcox Pass). Okay grocery store. Good campground. Felt more like a national park town than a tourist village (although there are still a ton of busses up at the Chateau).
Books
I always like to get 2 books for vacations. It is always better to get two perspectives on things rather than just one ... and also allows both Janel and I to have a book when we are trying to make plans.
Canadian Rockies Trail Guide: B+
This book has tons of information. It would be the perfect book for someone living in Calgary who could make numerous trips up to explore all the different options in the Canadian Rockies. It has decent maps for some areas ... but seems to be lacking on certain hikes. It does pretty much nothing to rate the different hikes ... which is kinda annoying when you have a fixed amount of time and are trying to figure out what to do.
Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies: The Opinionated Hiking Guide: B+
This book compliments the Trail Guide nicely. It rates all the hikes, and does a pretty good job of it. I have had other books that do a better job (breaking it down by scenary, solitude, and difficulty) ... but this did the trick for us. This book does not have as many hikes, but had plenty for a vacation. The maps in this book are quite poor. I would recommend picking up a topo map. You can get them from the Information Center in both Banff and Lake Louise.
Miscellaneous
Roads: A-
The roads are in great shape. They are finishing up a 4-lane highway that connects Lake Louise to Banff. Once that is complete, it will really speed things up. Bow Valley Parkway was a nice alternative to the new fast highway (reminiscent of what the roads used to be like). Ice Fields Parkway (which heads up towards Jasper from Lake Louise is a great 2-lane highway with amazing views that is worth the drive (especially early in the morning or in the evening before Sunset).
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Mt St Helens in the Rain
I climbed Mt. St. Helens on Wednesday the 12th with Melvin, Jason, BobS, Steve, and Jagan. The weather was terrible. We saw blue skys for less than a minute, and no views the entire day. It rained, and the wind blew hard (probably in the 40-50 mph range towards the summit) ... but we made it! It was actually a bit easier than last time since the cinder cone at the top was wet and therefore we did not slide down much. The weather conditions were some of the worst I have ever done a hike in. We were cold and wet by the time we hit the summit ... and the way down was only worse.
That was my second summit. The first had perfect weather. I will probably get permits again sometime ... but I will probably not bother to go if the weather is looking poor.
One thing I thought was interesting -- the vast majority of the people trying to make the summit were totally unprepared. I am talking jeans and garbage bags for rain gear. Give me a break. Not only would that be really uncomfortable ... but in conditions like that it is flat out dangerous. They give out 100 permits each day, and apparently we were the last group to pick up our permits in the morning. I think I was like the 5th person up to the summit, with less than 10 after me (including the 4 in our group who made it with me). Luckily most of the unprepared people decided to turn back pretty early in the hike.
Mevlin posted some photos here if you want to see us suffering in the rain.
That was my second summit. The first had perfect weather. I will probably get permits again sometime ... but I will probably not bother to go if the weather is looking poor.
One thing I thought was interesting -- the vast majority of the people trying to make the summit were totally unprepared. I am talking jeans and garbage bags for rain gear. Give me a break. Not only would that be really uncomfortable ... but in conditions like that it is flat out dangerous. They give out 100 permits each day, and apparently we were the last group to pick up our permits in the morning. I think I was like the 5th person up to the summit, with less than 10 after me (including the 4 in our group who made it with me). Luckily most of the unprepared people decided to turn back pretty early in the hike.
Mevlin posted some photos here if you want to see us suffering in the rain.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Canadian Rockies
Janel and I are in the car riding back from our vacation to the Canadian Rockies. After visiting my parents on Vancouver Island (separate post), we headed over to Yoho, Banff, and a bit of Jasper. We did a bit of backpacking, camping, hotelling, and lots of hiking (~61 miles). And a LOT of driving. ~2150 miles in total.
I am breaking things up here into a couple of posts. This is part 1. The other posts will trickle out over the next week or so. This post is a day-by-day run-through of what we did.
Getting on with the day-by-day ...
7/27 (Mon) - Drive from Vancouver Island to Revelstoke
We got up early on Monday morning and headed out after having breakfast with my parents. We saw some Killer (I think?) Whales on the ferry ride between Victoria and Vancouver.
7/28 (Tue) - Final Drive, Getting Ready
Tuesday AM we drove the final 3 or 4 hours over to Banff, where we checked into the hotel, got ready for our backpacking trip, and relaxed with a book and the hot tub. We also took a little walk around Banff, which was not particularly exciting (unless you like looking at tourists).
7/29 (Wed) - Backpacking - Sunshine to Egypt Lake
Wednesday we started our backpacking trip. We took a shuttle up to the Sunshine area near Banff. This is a big ski area during the winter, and you can take a shuttle bus up in the summer.
From Sunshine, we hiked across Simpson and Healy passes to Egypt Lake, where we set up base camp.
We saw a moose at a lake near Simpson Pass. I was able to put my tele lens to good use :).
The wildflowers were the best I have ever seen -- particularly over Healy Pass.
Healy pass itself also had some good views, but the photos came out better on our hike out, so I won't post any here.
After arriving at the Egypt Lake camp, we setup our tent and quickly hid inside from a large population of mosquitos and flies. They were very annoying and we put our head nets to good use.
7/30 (Thu) - Day Hiking from Base Camp at Egypt Lake
We took a series of day hikes from our backpacking base camp. Doing 2 night backpacking trips with a base camp seems to be a good recipe for Janel.
First we headed up to Egypt Lake (the camp is not at the lake itself). This lake was boring and I won't bother with a photo.
We then headed up to Whistling Pass. Here is a photo that was taken of us looking North towards Shadow Lake by an older couple that we made friends with.
After having lunch at Whistling Pass, we headed down to Scarab and Mummy Lakes. It was quite easy to get to Scarab Lake, but we had to do a bit of bouldering to get up to Mummy. These lakes were okay. Here is an action shot of Janel coming back.
We got back to camp a bit early, and had to hide from the bugs in the tent. It was a good chance for a nap and some reading. We had to have dinner that night while walking in circles to avoid the bugs. However, we luckily ate early, as a storm came in and we were getting into our tent right when it started. We had some technical difficulties and a leak at first, but I was able to get the rain fly adjusted during a lull.
7/31 (Fri) - Hiking Out - Egypt Lake back to Sunshine
We had planned on hiking out down the Healy River rather than over Simpson Pass, but decided at the last minute to go out the way we came in to reduce the stress on Janel's knee (which has a hard time going down). Going down the river tends to be the more popular route, but this is largely because it is free (unlike the shuttle).
As I mentioned, the views from Healy Pass were better on our way out. Here is one looking north.
And south ...
After heading over Healy Pass, we picked up the pace in an attempt to get back to Sunshine in time for the 2:30pm shuttle down. The 4km after Simpson Pass were quite a pain. However, we had some nice views as we got closer to Sunshine. Here is one looking North.
After the hike we headed back to Banff, checked into the hotel, and relaxed the rest of the day. I took some photos at Vermillion Lakes (near Banff) that night, but they did not come out particularly well.
8/1 (Sat) - Helen Lake
We had planned on taking it easy on Saturday, but the weather report called for rain on Sunday so we decided to get another hike in on Saturday. We headed north from Banff to do the Helen Lake hike.
Helen Lake is a moderately popular hike, so we set out early. We climbed through some decent meadows (nothing compared to what we saw at Healy Pass) and got to the lake which was lame. There were a lot of marmots along the trail which was kinda fun. From there, we climbed up a ridge (on the way to Dolomite Pass) and the views really opened up. About 85% of the people doing the hike seemed to be stopping at the lake (yuck), about 10% were scrambling up to the summit of Cirque Mountain (which would have been really cool, but hard and scary). Only ourselves and one other group seemed interested in the ridge.
Looking East from the Ridge.
And looking South East...
On the way down I got some decent wildflower shots (see the wildflower section).
8/2 (Sun) - Day of Rest and Chores
Since we did not get to do our chores on Saturday, we did them on Sunday. Before that, we got up really early and headed to Johnston Canyon. This is one of the most popular hikes in the park -- it is short and has some nice waterfalls. We drove by it on the way home on Saturday and it was complete maihem.
On the way there, Janel spotted two boy Moose on the side of the Bow Valley Parkway. They were hiding in some brush, so we did not get great photos (but it was cool to see their big horns).
We got to Johnston Canyon at around 7:00am, and only saw one other person on the trail (on the way out).
Here is a photo of lower falls.
Upper falls was okay, but not quite as nice.
We then headed back to Banff, where we did laundry, grocery shopping, and relaxed.
That night we drove up to Moraine Lake to have dinner and take some photos. I was a bit concerned with the upcoming weather report for the week, and wanted to make sure we got to see the lake in good weather.
8/3 (Mon) - Lake Oesa (Lake O'hara)
On Monday we caught the 8:30 shuttle to Lake O'Hara where we camped for two nights. Lake O'hara is a part of Yoho that has some pretty substantial access limitations. I made reservations 3 months in advance, and had to play the "call, busy signal, hang up, repeat" game for about an hour to get through. It turned out to be very much worth the effort :).
We got to the small campground (about 20 sites), setup camp, and then headed out to climb up to Lake Oesa (passing Lake O'Hara along the way).
The sun was not great for photos at Lake Oesa, but it was still a great spot.
Here is a photo near a bridge at the outlet stream from Lake O'Hara.
After we got back, the clouds came back but the rain held off until we went to bed. We had some small thunderstorms that night, but the car camping tent held up well.
8/4 (Tue) - Opabin Lake and Opabin Prospect (Lake O'Hara)
The rain let up during the day on Tuesday, and we were able to hike up to Opabin Prospect and Opabin Lake. It was quite foggy, so we did not get the great vistas we had on Monday on the way up to Oesa, but it was still a good hike. The hanging valley before Opabin Lake was colorful in the fog.
Here is a photo looking down and Mary's Lake and Lake O'Hara. The color differences are amazing.
I got some great flower photos on the way down. The clouds provided great light.
After the hike, we relaxed for the afternoon. We ate in one of the shelters at the campsite, and made friends with a young couple from Calgary. Earlier in the trip I was watching some Canadian Football, and saw that it was possible to score 1 point. We learned from them that a touchback in Canadian Football earned the other team 1 point :). Crazy Canadians.
That night we had another storm, but nothing our tent and rain fly could not handle.
8/5 (Wed) - Takakkaw Falls and Rest
On Wednesday we packed up camp at Lake O'Hara (during a lull in the rain), caught the shuttle, and headed out. On the way to Lake Louise, we stopped by Takakkaw Falls (in Yoho). It was big, but not particularly photogenic (even in the clouds). After the falls, we headed to Lake Louise where we setup our camp, took care of some chores (like a nice hot shower), and relaxed.
8/6 (Thu) - Wilcox Pass
We got up Thursday morning and drove up to Wilcox Pass, which is at the southern end of Jasper (the park north of Banff). This was a long long drive, but was well worth it. We had great views along the road, and things got even better on the hike.
Wilcox Pass is across the road (and up a ridge) from the Columbia Icefields Centre (a major tourist destination). It is at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier, with views of the Dome and Saskatchewan Glaciers as well. The hike is a (relatively) easy 5 miler, which rises up from the road to provide great views across the valley down on the 3 glaciers. It was probably the hike with the biggest bang for your buck that we took (a good thing for our sore feet).
It is also common to see Mountain Goats on this pass. On the way back we got lucky and saw a few Rams (males).
On the way home, we also did a quick-stop at Bow Lake.
That night I took some photos at Sunset of Lake Louise. They did not turn out particularly well. Janel stayed at the camp. I should have stayed with her :). We had our one and only campfire of the trip this night.
8/7 (Fri) - Lake Louise and the Plain of Six Glaciers
We got up early on Friday, packed up camp, and headed up to Lake Louise to do the Plane of Six Glaciers hike. This is another really popular hike, so we beat the crowds by heading out around 8:00am.
I got some good photos of Lake Louise looking towards the glaciers (better than the night before).
On the way up, we stopped at a Tea House and had some ... you guessed it ... tea! While there, I got to see an avalanche on the mountain. Janel sadly missed it :(. This place was pretty nostalgic, as I remember having lunch there with my parents on our trip back in the day.
Here is a photo from the end of the hike looking up at Victoria Glacier.
This was a cool spot, as it was basically the other side of the mountains from Lake Oesa. If you look really really hard above (ok ... maybe not) you can see a small hut called "Abbot Hut" on top of the glacier on the left. You can climb up to it from Lake Oesa by ascending a scree slope for ~2km. It is all non-technical, but does require a helmet. If I ever went back, I think I would try to go there. Coming up from the Lake Louise side (or coming down) is quite technical. In fact, the top of the glacier just below the hut is called "Death Trap".
Here I zoomed in on the hut so you can see it a bit better. I was too lazy to bust out my tele lens here, so please excuse the blur.
Here is a photo of Janel.
On the way up, we really only ran into one or two other groups of hikers. On the way back, it was the ant hill that we expected -- tourist after tourist who were dressed incorrectly, in bad shape, and suffering. :)
That afternoon we checked into the hotel, got the car packed for the ride home, and relaxed.
8/8 (Sat) - Drive Home
Today is Saturday, and we are heading home. I took over 900 photos on the trip, and am trying to get down to ~100-150 keepers. I am also writing this blog entry, as well as one for Vancouver Island. All this is keeping me pretty busy while Janel is driving. We also got stopped at the US border. I expected to get let in really quickly as a citizen, but I don't think they liked our jam packed car nor my passport (full of foreign stamps), and they decided to search the car and all our stuff.
We left at 7am MST. It looks like we are going to be home in Hillsboro by ~9pm PST, for a total of 15 hours. This includes the border delay (of ~45 minutes) and a stop at Full Sail in Hood River for dinner (~1hr). We ate lunch in the car and only stopped for gas and driver changes. We did not speed much at all. We took the scenic route from Sandpoint, Idaho to Spokane (down highway 2). It probably added about 30 minutes, and probably was not worth it.
I am breaking things up here into a couple of posts. This is part 1. The other posts will trickle out over the next week or so. This post is a day-by-day run-through of what we did.
Getting on with the day-by-day ...
7/27 (Mon) - Drive from Vancouver Island to Revelstoke
We got up early on Monday morning and headed out after having breakfast with my parents. We saw some Killer (I think?) Whales on the ferry ride between Victoria and Vancouver.
7/28 (Tue) - Final Drive, Getting Ready
Tuesday AM we drove the final 3 or 4 hours over to Banff, where we checked into the hotel, got ready for our backpacking trip, and relaxed with a book and the hot tub. We also took a little walk around Banff, which was not particularly exciting (unless you like looking at tourists).
7/29 (Wed) - Backpacking - Sunshine to Egypt Lake
Wednesday we started our backpacking trip. We took a shuttle up to the Sunshine area near Banff. This is a big ski area during the winter, and you can take a shuttle bus up in the summer.
From Sunshine, we hiked across Simpson and Healy passes to Egypt Lake, where we set up base camp.
We saw a moose at a lake near Simpson Pass. I was able to put my tele lens to good use :).
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| Moose near Simpson Pass 1/100s at f/5.6, ISO 100, 250mm From Canadian Rockies |
The wildflowers were the best I have ever seen -- particularly over Healy Pass.
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| Wildflowers at Healy Pass 1/50s at f/11, ISO 100, 28mm From Canadian Rockies |
Healy pass itself also had some good views, but the photos came out better on our hike out, so I won't post any here.
After arriving at the Egypt Lake camp, we setup our tent and quickly hid inside from a large population of mosquitos and flies. They were very annoying and we put our head nets to good use.
7/30 (Thu) - Day Hiking from Base Camp at Egypt Lake
We took a series of day hikes from our backpacking base camp. Doing 2 night backpacking trips with a base camp seems to be a good recipe for Janel.
First we headed up to Egypt Lake (the camp is not at the lake itself). This lake was boring and I won't bother with a photo.
We then headed up to Whistling Pass. Here is a photo that was taken of us looking North towards Shadow Lake by an older couple that we made friends with.
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| Ian and Janel at Whistling Pass 1/60s at f/11, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
After having lunch at Whistling Pass, we headed down to Scarab and Mummy Lakes. It was quite easy to get to Scarab Lake, but we had to do a bit of bouldering to get up to Mummy. These lakes were okay. Here is an action shot of Janel coming back.
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| Janel and a Rock Field 1/40s at f/11, ISO 100, 23mm From Canadian Rockies |
We got back to camp a bit early, and had to hide from the bugs in the tent. It was a good chance for a nap and some reading. We had to have dinner that night while walking in circles to avoid the bugs. However, we luckily ate early, as a storm came in and we were getting into our tent right when it started. We had some technical difficulties and a leak at first, but I was able to get the rain fly adjusted during a lull.
7/31 (Fri) - Hiking Out - Egypt Lake back to Sunshine
We had planned on hiking out down the Healy River rather than over Simpson Pass, but decided at the last minute to go out the way we came in to reduce the stress on Janel's knee (which has a hard time going down). Going down the river tends to be the more popular route, but this is largely because it is free (unlike the shuttle).
As I mentioned, the views from Healy Pass were better on our way out. Here is one looking north.
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| Healy Pass looking North 1/50s at f/11, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
And south ...
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| Healy Pass looking South 1/50s at f/11, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
After heading over Healy Pass, we picked up the pace in an attempt to get back to Sunshine in time for the 2:30pm shuttle down. The 4km after Simpson Pass were quite a pain. However, we had some nice views as we got closer to Sunshine. Here is one looking North.
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| View North at Lookout near Sunshine 1/40s at f/11, ISO 100, 21mm From Canadian Rockies |
After the hike we headed back to Banff, checked into the hotel, and relaxed the rest of the day. I took some photos at Vermillion Lakes (near Banff) that night, but they did not come out particularly well.
8/1 (Sat) - Helen Lake
We had planned on taking it easy on Saturday, but the weather report called for rain on Sunday so we decided to get another hike in on Saturday. We headed north from Banff to do the Helen Lake hike.
Helen Lake is a moderately popular hike, so we set out early. We climbed through some decent meadows (nothing compared to what we saw at Healy Pass) and got to the lake which was lame. There were a lot of marmots along the trail which was kinda fun. From there, we climbed up a ridge (on the way to Dolomite Pass) and the views really opened up. About 85% of the people doing the hike seemed to be stopping at the lake (yuck), about 10% were scrambling up to the summit of Cirque Mountain (which would have been really cool, but hard and scary). Only ourselves and one other group seemed interested in the ridge.
Looking East from the Ridge.
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| Ridge above Helen Lake looking East 1/60s at f/11, ISO 100, 20mm From Canadian Rockies |
And looking South East...
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| Ridge above Helen Lake looking South East 1/80s at f/11, ISO 100, 25mm From Canadian Rockies |
On the way down I got some decent wildflower shots (see the wildflower section).
8/2 (Sun) - Day of Rest and Chores
Since we did not get to do our chores on Saturday, we did them on Sunday. Before that, we got up really early and headed to Johnston Canyon. This is one of the most popular hikes in the park -- it is short and has some nice waterfalls. We drove by it on the way home on Saturday and it was complete maihem.
On the way there, Janel spotted two boy Moose on the side of the Bow Valley Parkway. They were hiding in some brush, so we did not get great photos (but it was cool to see their big horns).
We got to Johnston Canyon at around 7:00am, and only saw one other person on the trail (on the way out).
Here is a photo of lower falls.
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| Lower Falls at Johnston Canyon 5s at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm From Canadian Rockies |
Upper falls was okay, but not quite as nice.
We then headed back to Banff, where we did laundry, grocery shopping, and relaxed.
That night we drove up to Moraine Lake to have dinner and take some photos. I was a bit concerned with the upcoming weather report for the week, and wanted to make sure we got to see the lake in good weather.
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| Moraine Lake at Sunset 1/50s at f/4.5, ISO 100, 20mm From Canadian Rockies |
8/3 (Mon) - Lake Oesa (Lake O'hara)
On Monday we caught the 8:30 shuttle to Lake O'Hara where we camped for two nights. Lake O'hara is a part of Yoho that has some pretty substantial access limitations. I made reservations 3 months in advance, and had to play the "call, busy signal, hang up, repeat" game for about an hour to get through. It turned out to be very much worth the effort :).
We got to the small campground (about 20 sites), setup camp, and then headed out to climb up to Lake Oesa (passing Lake O'Hara along the way).
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| Lake O'Hara from Lake Oesa Trail 1/50s at f/11, ISO 100, 20mm From Canadian Rockies |
The sun was not great for photos at Lake Oesa, but it was still a great spot.
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| Lake Oesa 1/100s at f/11, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
Here is a photo near a bridge at the outlet stream from Lake O'Hara.
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| Wildflowers at Lake O'Hara Bridge 1/8s at f/11, ISO 100, 29mm From Canadian Rockies |
After we got back, the clouds came back but the rain held off until we went to bed. We had some small thunderstorms that night, but the car camping tent held up well.
8/4 (Tue) - Opabin Lake and Opabin Prospect (Lake O'Hara)
The rain let up during the day on Tuesday, and we were able to hike up to Opabin Prospect and Opabin Lake. It was quite foggy, so we did not get the great vistas we had on Monday on the way up to Oesa, but it was still a good hike. The hanging valley before Opabin Lake was colorful in the fog.
Here is a photo looking down and Mary's Lake and Lake O'Hara. The color differences are amazing.
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| Mary's Lake and Lake O'Hara from Opabin Propsect 1/6s at f/11, ISO 400, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
I got some great flower photos on the way down. The clouds provided great light.
After the hike, we relaxed for the afternoon. We ate in one of the shelters at the campsite, and made friends with a young couple from Calgary. Earlier in the trip I was watching some Canadian Football, and saw that it was possible to score 1 point. We learned from them that a touchback in Canadian Football earned the other team 1 point :). Crazy Canadians.
That night we had another storm, but nothing our tent and rain fly could not handle.
8/5 (Wed) - Takakkaw Falls and Rest
On Wednesday we packed up camp at Lake O'Hara (during a lull in the rain), caught the shuttle, and headed out. On the way to Lake Louise, we stopped by Takakkaw Falls (in Yoho). It was big, but not particularly photogenic (even in the clouds). After the falls, we headed to Lake Louise where we setup our camp, took care of some chores (like a nice hot shower), and relaxed.
8/6 (Thu) - Wilcox Pass
We got up Thursday morning and drove up to Wilcox Pass, which is at the southern end of Jasper (the park north of Banff). This was a long long drive, but was well worth it. We had great views along the road, and things got even better on the hike.
Wilcox Pass is across the road (and up a ridge) from the Columbia Icefields Centre (a major tourist destination). It is at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier, with views of the Dome and Saskatchewan Glaciers as well. The hike is a (relatively) easy 5 miler, which rises up from the road to provide great views across the valley down on the 3 glaciers. It was probably the hike with the biggest bang for your buck that we took (a good thing for our sore feet).
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| Athabasca and Dome Glaciers 1/40s at f/14, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
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| Ian and Janel with Saskatchewan and Athebasca Glaciers 1/40s at f/14, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
It is also common to see Mountain Goats on this pass. On the way back we got lucky and saw a few Rams (males).
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| Mountain Goat at Wilcox Pass 1/250s at f/7.1, ISO 100, 250mm From Canadian Rockies |
On the way home, we also did a quick-stop at Bow Lake.
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| Bow Lake and Crowfoot Glacier 1/30s at f/14, ISO 100, 25mm From Canadian Rockies |
That night I took some photos at Sunset of Lake Louise. They did not turn out particularly well. Janel stayed at the camp. I should have stayed with her :). We had our one and only campfire of the trip this night.
8/7 (Fri) - Lake Louise and the Plain of Six Glaciers
We got up early on Friday, packed up camp, and headed up to Lake Louise to do the Plane of Six Glaciers hike. This is another really popular hike, so we beat the crowds by heading out around 8:00am.
I got some good photos of Lake Louise looking towards the glaciers (better than the night before).
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| Lake Louise 1/25s at f/11, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
On the way up, we stopped at a Tea House and had some ... you guessed it ... tea! While there, I got to see an avalanche on the mountain. Janel sadly missed it :(. This place was pretty nostalgic, as I remember having lunch there with my parents on our trip back in the day.
Here is a photo from the end of the hike looking up at Victoria Glacier.
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| Victoria Glacier 1/60s at f/13, ISO 100, 18mm From Canadian Rockies |
This was a cool spot, as it was basically the other side of the mountains from Lake Oesa. If you look really really hard above (ok ... maybe not) you can see a small hut called "Abbot Hut" on top of the glacier on the left. You can climb up to it from Lake Oesa by ascending a scree slope for ~2km. It is all non-technical, but does require a helmet. If I ever went back, I think I would try to go there. Coming up from the Lake Louise side (or coming down) is quite technical. In fact, the top of the glacier just below the hut is called "Death Trap".
Here I zoomed in on the hut so you can see it a bit better. I was too lazy to bust out my tele lens here, so please excuse the blur.
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| Abbot Hut 1/40s at f/14, ISO 100, 55mm From Canadian Rockies |
Here is a photo of Janel.
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| Janel and Unnamed Glacier 1/60s at f/10, ISO 100, 32mm From Canadian Rockies |
On the way up, we really only ran into one or two other groups of hikers. On the way back, it was the ant hill that we expected -- tourist after tourist who were dressed incorrectly, in bad shape, and suffering. :)
That afternoon we checked into the hotel, got the car packed for the ride home, and relaxed.
8/8 (Sat) - Drive Home
Today is Saturday, and we are heading home. I took over 900 photos on the trip, and am trying to get down to ~100-150 keepers. I am also writing this blog entry, as well as one for Vancouver Island. All this is keeping me pretty busy while Janel is driving. We also got stopped at the US border. I expected to get let in really quickly as a citizen, but I don't think they liked our jam packed car nor my passport (full of foreign stamps), and they decided to search the car and all our stuff.
We left at 7am MST. It looks like we are going to be home in Hillsboro by ~9pm PST, for a total of 15 hours. This includes the border delay (of ~45 minutes) and a stop at Full Sail in Hood River for dinner (~1hr). We ate lunch in the car and only stopped for gas and driver changes. We did not speed much at all. We took the scenic route from Sandpoint, Idaho to Spokane (down highway 2). It probably added about 30 minutes, and probably was not worth it.
Vancouver Island
Janel and I went up to Vancouer Island to visit my parents on our way to our vacation at the Canadian Rockies. It was a good start to our vacation.
We left after the BBQ (at work) on Friday and headed up to Port Angeles where we stayed the night. The ferry times are kinda crappy, and we did not know if we could catch the 8:20 or not. We stayed at the Day's Inn, and it was pretty crappy. They had one of the oldest TV's I have seen in years.
The next morning we got up and took the early ferry across to Victoria. We quickly left Victoria and headed towards the coast. My parents had a cabin on the straight a ways down (maybe 20 minutes past Sooke). The resort was called "Point-no-Point". It had cute little cabins with hot tubs on their decks facing the water, as well as a good restaurant and some private trails and beach space. I would definitely recommend it (although it is a bit of a drive from Portland).
Here is a photo of one of the beaches that had a little sitting area with a fire pit.
We relaxed pretty much all day on Saturday, and had a nice dinner at the restaurant. I ducked out early and got some great photos at Sunset. Here is one of them (if you like sunset photos, check out the others). For the record, this is not photoshopped :).
The next day we drove out to the corner of the island where the straight meets the ocean and did a quick 3 mile hike called the Botanical Loop. The Botany Bay was weak. There were some tide pools, but nothing to compare with what we have on the Oregon Coast. Botanical Beach was another story. There were a couple of whales feeding just off the coast. Sadly I did not have my telephoto lens with me, but I still got a couple decent shots.
That night we enjoyed another nice dinner and had a fire back at the cabin.
We left after the BBQ (at work) on Friday and headed up to Port Angeles where we stayed the night. The ferry times are kinda crappy, and we did not know if we could catch the 8:20 or not. We stayed at the Day's Inn, and it was pretty crappy. They had one of the oldest TV's I have seen in years.
The next morning we got up and took the early ferry across to Victoria. We quickly left Victoria and headed towards the coast. My parents had a cabin on the straight a ways down (maybe 20 minutes past Sooke). The resort was called "Point-no-Point". It had cute little cabins with hot tubs on their decks facing the water, as well as a good restaurant and some private trails and beach space. I would definitely recommend it (although it is a bit of a drive from Portland).
Here is a photo of one of the beaches that had a little sitting area with a fire pit.
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| Point-no-Point Beach House 1/25s at f/16, ISO 100, 18mm From Vancouver Island |
We relaxed pretty much all day on Saturday, and had a nice dinner at the restaurant. I ducked out early and got some great photos at Sunset. Here is one of them (if you like sunset photos, check out the others). For the record, this is not photoshopped :).
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| Point-no-Point at Sunset 20s at f/16, ISO 100, 18mm From Vancouver Island |
The next day we drove out to the corner of the island where the straight meets the ocean and did a quick 3 mile hike called the Botanical Loop. The Botany Bay was weak. There were some tide pools, but nothing to compare with what we have on the Oregon Coast. Botanical Beach was another story. There were a couple of whales feeding just off the coast. Sadly I did not have my telephoto lens with me, but I still got a couple decent shots.
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| Whales off Botanical Beach 1/60s at f/10, ISO 100, 55mm From Vancouver Island |
That night we enjoyed another nice dinner and had a fire back at the cabin.
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