Anniversary Trip: Columbia Icefields

Our next stop along the Icefields Parkway were the Columbia Icefields.  The visitor centre was hopping, so we decided to skip it.  A lot of people pay to take a tour of the icefields and glacier, where they are taken to the icefields in an ice explorer (it's basically a huge bus with special tires that can drive on ice).  But Antoine and I are cheap, so we headed right to the small parking lot closest to the Athabasca Glacier...

View from the parking lot.

The trail leading up to the glacier.

I get why people pay to take the bus up to the glacier...it's not the easiest of paths!  It wasn't that long, but boy, oh boy, was it steep.  And since the ground was all gravel, loose rocks, and ice (in some parts), slipping was a very real possibility.  In fact, on our way up we saw several people land on their butts.  Though the real culprit of them falling was poor footwear, we're talking Tom's and I even saw a woman (probably in her 50s!) wearing a pair of dressy ballet flats.  Come on!  How did that seem like a good idea at all?!  Sporting our hiking boots(!), we slowly made out way up the steep path...

The view from part way up.  In the distance you can see the small parking lot we parked in and, at the base of the mountain, the visitor's center.

The Athabasca Glacier.  All in all, it was kind of underwhelming.  I mean, the idea of it as a glacier, right there in front of you is cool, don't get me wrong.  But in reality it wasn't nearly as spectacular as I hoped.

Back on the road toward Yoho...

Only two more anniversary trip posts to go...one of which includes the prettiest place we stayed (though not the best accommodations), so stay tuned!  Anyway, until then, happy Wednesday everyone!

Anniversary Trip: Sunwapta Falls

Well I've done it, I've finally finished editing all my photos from our trip to Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Park (from May!).  Only four more posts and you won't have to see any more posts about our first anniversary trip, so bear with me.

Last time I posted I shared photos from Athabasca Falls.  On our next stop along the Icefields Parkway we decided to check out Sunwapta Falls...

Again, like Athabasca Falls, there were a variety of vantage points to view the falls from.

After checking out the falls, Antoine and I started to explore the surrounding area and decided to take one of the nearby trails which led to another set of falls.

Sorry, I can't remember the name of these falls for the life of me.  I even tried to find them via google, but had no luck.  I told Antoine it's hard remembering specifics from last May.  His response?  "You have a hard time remembering things from last week!"  So true.

  

Back on the road, making our way through Jasper National Park towards Yoho National Park...

One down, three to go!  I was a total bum this weekend and spent the entire weekend watching movies and editing photos in my pjs!  But I made some headway on getting through my backlog of photos, so that's a good thing.  I'm not going to lie, I still have a ton of photos from last year and I think I just have to accept the fact that I'm just not going to be able to get through them all.  Oh well, I'll do the best I can.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!

Anniversary Trip: Maligne Lake

Happy Friday!  It's been a long week (make that couple of weeks) and I'm certainly looking forward to the weekend.  I've got plans with friends, plans to workout, and plans to bake...and I'm actually looking forward to all three!

In my last post about our anniversary trip I shared photos from Patricia and Pyramid Lake and photos of the mama black bear with her cubs.  This time I have photos from Maligne Lake, which is a little over an hours drive, south-east of Jasper.  The road to the lake winds up through the mountains and despite the fact that it was getting a bit cloudy, we had a great time stopping and exploring along the way...

Not sure what this lake was called, but it wasn't too big and was just a pull-off along the way to Maligne Lake.

Once we made it to Maligne Lake, we decided to take a little hike part way around the lake to stretch our legs and explore.

There was so much of this crazy, bright yellow-green moss all along the lake, it was so neat!

Obsessed much?

On our way back down the winding road that led to Maligne Lake we spotted a couple cars pulled over to the side of the road and a group of guys with huge cameras out snapping photos, so we pulled over.  At first I was hesitant to get out of the car, but then I saw what they were photographing...a large female moose sitting in the woods...

Since she was sitting up on a hill in the woods we decided to get out of the car to get close enough for me to take a photo, but cautiously.  I definitely didn't want to disrupt her at all.  I snapped a couple photos of her before she started to stand...at which point I told Antoine we had to go back to the car.  I don't want to be face to face with a grumpy moose!  Luckily for us, she just stood and headed further up into the woods.

This was both mine and Antoine's first time seeing a moose in person...it was kind of amazing, even though she was pretty far away and laying down most of the time!

That's all for now.  I have more to share for next week, so stay tuned!  Happy weekend, everyone!

Anniversary Trip: Critters, Lake Minnewanka, and Johnston Canyon

Hi again!  I'm back with another installment of our anniversary trip...geez, this is going to take forever!  I'm technically still on day one...eek!  Anyway, after we left Johnson Lake, we continued up toward Two Jack Lake, which is a smaller lake (though larger than Johnson Lake) that feeds into Lake Minnewanka.  Hence why the road up to the lakes is called the Minnewanka Loop.  While heading up to the two larger lakes we had our first animal sightings since our arrival...

How cute is this little mountain goat?!

I think this is a ground squirrel, though I'm not sure.  It could be a marmot, who knows!?  I think Antoine was bummed that we hadn't seen a bear yet, but it was only our first day!

Confession time...I have no idea if this is Two Jack Lake or Lake Minnewanka.  No clue!  It's pretty though, right?

There were a lot of people waiting on the dock for, I'm guessing, a lake cruise of Minnewanka.  It was the perfect day for a lake cruise!

After our hike around Johnson Lake and briefly stopping by Two Jack Lake/Lake Minnewanka we decided to drive about a half hour west to Johnston Canyon.  The canyon consists of lower and upper falls with a pathway/elevated walkway along the Johnston creek.

The entrance of Johnston Canyon.

I really enjoyed the canyon!  While the walkway was very steep at points and we were pretty tired after a long day of exploring already, the creek and surroundings were very beautiful and I liked that at times you were high above the creek (sometimes that was slightly terrifying) and at other times you could actually put your hand in the creek (also, kind of scary because people have fallen in before and it would not be a fun journey down the creek)!

I love this neon moss...which I spotted several times while we were in Banff and Jackson.

The lower falls, I think?

The falls from above.

We never made it to the upper falls.  The canyon was getting darker as the sun was setting and we wanted to make sure we made it back to the car before it got completely dark.  We enjoyed the canyon...me probably a little more than Antoine, but just because it had been a long day and a lot of hiking/walking.  I would totally recommend Johnston Canyon to anyone going to the Banff area.  I kind of wish we had gone there first though and then back-tracked to the Minnewanka Loop and then the Cave & Basin National Historic site, but regardless, we had a great time and it was beautiful!

Happy Friday, everyone!  Any exciting plans for the weekend?!  I'm hopefully going to do some more photo editing so I can have another post ready for next week.  I'm also getting together with some work friends to make some books, eat food, and drink wine...always a good time!  Anyway, hope you have a fantastic weekend!