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: Athabasca Falls

Hi again!  I don't know about you, but I'm so glad it's Friday, not only because it's been a long week, but also because Antoine and I are headed to Nashville tomorrow for a concert and a little pre-birthday celebrating!  Neither of us have really spent any time in Nashville (except for just passing through), and though we're only going to be there one night I'm really looking forward to a little fun.

Anyway, back to Canada.  After a couple days in Jasper we made our way back down the Icefields Hwy toward Yoho National Park.  Along the way we decided to check out several popular waterfalls, and the first one we stopped at was the Athabasca Falls.  These falls are just a short drive off the highway and are totally worth the stop!

The Athabasca Falls are very accessible from the parking lot and don't take any real hiking to get to...in fact, most of the areas surrounding the falls are paved.  Though there are some paths surrounding that are not.

What I liked about these falls were that you could view them from so many vantage points.  The falls ran through this little alley of stone and there were bridges and paths so that you could see it from different angles.

Plus the forest that surrounded the falls was so pretty and mossy.

In this photo you get an idea of just how many vantage points there are to view the falls from, which is just great!  Plus, a rainbow!

And then we were off again, back in the car to go look for more waterfalls!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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!