Family Trip 2009

Lake Louise & The Plain of the Six Glaciers

This is one of the all time great hikes. I have done it before and it is very popular. Starting at Chateau Lake Louise you hike the length of Lake Louise and then climb up eventually almost to the base of Mt. Victoria. On a previous trip I was at the very end of the trail and observed a massive avalanche down the sheer cliff face. On this trip we observed an avalanche on Mt. Lefroy.

One of the rewards of this hike is that a bit more than 3/4 of the way up you come to a 2 story tea hut offering fresh baked goods, tea, lemonade and such! The hike is called the Plain of the Six Glaciers because you stand above 3 glaciers and look up at another 3.

Mt Lefroy

Valley of the 10 Peaks & Wenkchemna Pass

This hike begins at the very popular Valley of the 10 Peaks Moraine Lake tourist parking area (right). However, as soon as you head out on the trail the human population goes almost to zero. I have been to Moraine lake twice before and attempted Wenkchemna Pass in early June of 1989 but was turned back near Eiffel Lake by heavy snow and avalanches. This time we made it all the way to the pass, 11.5 miles round trip.
	When we arrived there was a ranger at the trail head enforcing a minimum party size of 4 due to Grizzly bear activity along the trail. We were 4 so no problem but there was a young couple from Finland who, as a party of 2, were not allowed to continue so we let them join up with us. We all hit it off well and their addition really contributed to the fun of the hike. Here we see our destination from near Eiffel Lake.
Eventually we reached the summit of Wenkchemna Pass which provided spectacular views back down the Valley of the 10 Peaks (right) as well as back into the next valley. We did have to cross a few snow fields (me in flip flops per usual) to gain the summit.
	We did not see any Grizzlies on the hike but we did see Pika (left), marmots, and a mother Ptarmigan and chicks. It was fascinating to observe the protective coloration of these animals - when they stood still they each blended in so well with their backgrounds that even knowing where they were it was very hard to see them unless they moved.

Lake O'Hara

Lake O'Hara was a new experience for me. A friend had told me about it with rave reviews. However, unlike the rest of park system, the Lake O'Hara area in Yoho National Park has a very tight limit on the number of people who can access the area in order to maintain the wilderness feel. Camping reservations can only be made 3 months in advance and sell out in the first hour - I spent 45 minutes on the phone hitting redial exactly 3 months before our planned trip! From Lake O'Hara, trails lead up to 3 spectacular lakes. Our first day we hiked to Lake Oesa, my personal favorite which is right behind Mt. Victoria and Mt. Lefroy (seen from Lake Louise). The difference in solitude between the throngs on the Plain Of the 6 Glaciers hike and this was dramatic!

The second day we hiked up onto the Opabin Plateau (left) and on to another spectacular mountain lake (Opabin) nestled in a high cirque fed by a large glacier. Finally on our third day we hiked to Lake MacArthur. Lake MacArthur has the most stunning vivid blue. It is a much larger lake but again, surrounded by soaring peaks and glaciers.

Lake Oesa

Mt Edith Cavell & Cavell Meadows

Mt. Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park is a place I have visited many times, including the previous year before setting off into the Tonquin Valley. In 1984 I saw a large avalanche down the right side of Angel Glacier. This year we were up in Cavell Meadows and heard and saw a similar avalanche down the left side.
	A short time after witnessing the Angel Glacier avalanche we heard several more avalanche sounds (sounds like thunder) and finally realized that vertical slices of the Cavell Glacier were shearing off and falling into the lake.

On the way up to Cavell Meadows we saw the usual marmot and this time the meadow had significantly more wildflowers than the previous year. But the really unique thing on this visit was a heard of cariboo. We had just gained the lower edge of Cavell Meadows, seen the avalanche and iceberg calving and the kids, tired from previous hikes were voting to go back down rather than continue up to the high point. Then we heard from someone that there was a herd of cariboo high on a ridge, visible only from the top end of the trail. Whoosh! The kids were off and I was racing to keep up! While I had seen cariboo in Newfoundland, I had never seen them before in the Rockies. They eventually came down from the ridge and quite close to where we were sitting!

Cariboo Stag	Cariboo herd

Icefields Parkway

The Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper may be the most spectacular road in the world: miles of spectacular mountain scenery with the largest icefield in North America feeding many glaciers such as Athabasca, Saskatchewan and Dome, not to mention abundant wildlife. To the right is Andromeda Glacier.
	We took the obligatory glacier bus ride out onto Athabasca Glacier where we had a chance to get out and walk on the glacier. This was my third time - the first time when I was 7 was in one of the little half-track vehicles which resembled an overly ambitious snow mobile more than anything else.
We traversed the Icefields Parkway several times and twice saw a resident black bear who apparently lives near the highway and is known to forage in that area.
	I had planned to do a different hike for our final outing of the trip, but several locals we met camping at Lake O'Hara suggested Wilcox Pass across the road from Athabasca Glacier. Not only did this provide the spectacular views shown here of Andromeda, Athabasca, and Dome Glaciers, but we also saw several Big Horn Rams and another group of Ptarmigans.

Often the ice you see is only a small part of the glacier and what you may think is a lateral or terminal morain is actually a thin layer of rock covering more of the glacier. We observed this in the valley glaciers on the Plain of the 6 Glaciers (whole glaciers which at first glance appeared to be no more than rock). If you look closely at Dome Glacier, the visible ice is only part of the glacier - the glacier continues all of the way down to the lake but the lower half is covered in rock. Also note the edge of the huge Columbia Icefield on the mountain top feeding both Dome and Athabasca Glacier.

Other

Maligne Lake	Elk

Another highly recommended spot is the Canadian Dinosaur National Park and Royal Tyrell Museum, both located about an hour East of Calgary. The Museum has one of the best dinosaur exhibits I have ever seen and in the Park you can take a range led hike to a place where they recovered so many bones they left MANY in place - you can see them laying partially exposed in the badlands landscape. You can (with full approval of the rangers), bend down and touch a dinosaur bone where it has lain for more than 65 Million years - talk about a connection with the past!