Departure

Today is my last day in Banff and I'm leaving for the airport in a few hours. My summer has been amazing. I've made some amazing friends and done some pretty cool stuff, I encourage everyone to make a trip out to the Rockies sometime, it's a really amazing place.

I really enjoyed writing this blog and posting pictures so people could see what I was up to but there are a few things that just don't come across in the photos. The smell of the mountain air in the morning. The sun rising on the mountains, which I was lucky enough to see most mornings this summer. The refreshing feeling of jumping into glacier water. The colour of the lakes and rivers. The panoramic view from the top of a mountain.

Hopefully I'll be back soon! I might keep posting during school in Ottawa but due to the lack of mountains the posts may not be as interesting. Hope everyone enjoyed the blog.

Horeshoe Lake

On our way back from Jasper, the boys and I stopped at Horseshoe lake for some gold ole fashion cliff jumping. You can see the results above. I was apprehensive about jumping in because it was only about 10 degrees today and the lake is glacier fed but once you get in it's not so bad.

Jasper: Round 2

Well, my time here is quickly coming to a end. I fly out of Calgary on Sept. 8, so these last two days were my last two full days off in the Rockies. To celebrate my last weekend here, Damyn, James, Simon and I made a trip to Jasper.

We left Tuesday around 4:30 and then spent the night partying at the Jasper Park Lodge. After recovering for the first half of the day on Wednesday we did a couple of easy hikes, one through Maligne canyon and the other to Old Fort Point. We also took a drive out to Maligne lake, but it started raining so we had to head back into town.

a Wedding and a Birthday

Since I've been reminded that I was just in Fredericton for a wedding I should probably mention it in my blog. First off Congratulations to my brother Adam and his awesome new wife, Riva. Also a Happy belated Birthday to Riva! They are currently spending time in a cottage on the beach in New Brunswick. I wish I was there considering the forecast for tomorrow is snow. Looks like "summer" in Banff is over.

The wedding was tons of fun. Spending time with family is something that I feel a lot of people don't appreciate enough. I especially enjoyed the game played by the newly weds at their dinner. There were lots of laughs, some tears and lots of memories made.

I'll share one of my favorite memories of Adam and Riva together, from about 7 years ago. Adam and Riva were still both living in Fredericton I believe and my parents were away for the weekend, so they came to "babysit" me(as Luke is fond of saying, I was a pretty big "baby", probably around 6'3 at that point). After hanging out for awhile, I mentioned to Adam that there was still an old Denver Nuggets jersey that he had worn in the past. He immediately got it out and put it on, though it probably hadn't been washed in 3 years. After wearing it for most of the evening, Riva mentioned that he didn't smell very good and that he should at least wash the jersey if he was going to wear it all weekend. Not only did Adam not wash the jersey, he started chasing after Riva, trying to get her to experience his... unique basketball jersey musk. I still laugh when I think of that weekend. That's just one great memory, I've had a lot of great times with Adam and Riva, and it was great to celebrate their union.

If anyone is making any long trips soon, I listened to the History of New Music by Alan Cross on my way to/from Fredericton. It's a great radio show if you want to hear some new music and learn a bit about the evolution of indie/alt. rock. My favorite episode so far is the Secret History of Grunge.

I would like to hear some other memories people have of Adam and Riva. Post in the comments!

More Cascade Mountain

Cascade Mountain

Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky

Yesterday Damyn, James and I hiked up Cascade Mountain. The trail starts at the Norquay Ski Hill then follows Forty Mile Creek to the Cascade amphitheatre, where we began the actual climb. The trail follows the western ridge of Cascade. There are three peaks along the way, the second of you which you have to hike around in order to make it to the summit.

The summit of Cascade offers amazing panoramic views of the Banff area. Mt. Rundle, Mt. Assiniboine, Mt. Borgeau, Canmore and Lake Minnewanka are prominent features visible from the peak. Cascade is one of the highest mountains in the area, though it is only about 50m higher than Rundle.

Being at the summit reminded me of the line from the song Purple Haze in the title to this post. Damyn revealed that he used to think the line was "Excuse me, while I kiss this guy".

Drive to Jasper

A few weeks ago I had another visitor, my girlfriend Anna. We spent the day making our way up to Jasper, where we stayed at the Jasper Park Lodge. The drive was amazing and we stopped many times along the way just to take pictures and appreciate the scenery.

Mt. Assiniboine 4 - Wonder pass and Bryant Creek

We returned to the huts after our hike up Nub Peak. After making some stew, we went to the Mt. Assiniboine Lodge for their afternoon tea. They offer cake and lemonade every day from 4 - 5pm for anyone camping in the area. We all got a serving of peach cobbler and had a few glasses of lemonade then made our way back to our hut to pack up our things.

Since we didn't want to hike 25km the next day to Mt. Shark, where Damyn's car was parked we decided to head out that day and stay the night at a shelter near Bryant Creek. We left through Wonder pass, and then hiked along the edge of Marvel Lake to the shelter. As you can see above we got some amazing pictures at sunset by Bryant Creek. We were also lucky to find the shelter empty, you can see a picture of me in front of the stove as we were making some dinner.

We also had an encounter with a grizzly sow and her two cubs. There was no confrontation but we were about 20m away and we left the area pretty quickly once we spotted them.

The hike was an amazing experience and it was made even better because of the friends I experienced it with. Thanks to Damyn, Franny and Simon!

Mt. Assiniboine 3 - Nub Peak and Lake Magog

Hello to everyone!

I'll pick up where I left off last post, starting from Og Lake. We made our way to the Naiset Huts, cabins near Mt. Assiniboine, where we stayed on Tuesday night. It was only about 6km from Og lake to the huts and we made good time. The huts have room for 6 people, there are two single bunks and two double bunks. Each hut also has a wood stove and there is a cook shelter with propane stoves that is free to use for everyone.

I was amazed at the number of people staying at both the Mt. Assiniboine Lodge and at the huts. We had met very few other hikers on the trail but the huts and lodge were both full. I was also surprised by the amount of cooking supplies/utensils people had brought with them. We had one pot and had packed mostly rice, whole grain pasta and oats. I found out later that many people helicopter in to the lodge or have supplies 'coptered in to save some weight in their packs.

On Wednesday we hiked up to Nub Peak which offered an amazing panoramic view of the entire Mt. Assiniboine area. Mt. Assiniboine itself is very similar to the Matterhorn in the Alps and has a very distinct pyramid shape as you can see in the photos. The lakes in the photos are Magog, Elizabeth, Cerulean and Sunburst.

Mt. Assiniboine 2 - Quartz Ridge, Valley of the Rocks and Og Lake

After spending the night at Howard Douglas Lake on Monday, we made our way over Citadel pass and along Quartz Ridge into the Valley of the Rocks.

From the Valley of the Rocks we stopped for lunch at Og lake. We heated up some beans on our camp stove and drank some glacier water from the lake. It doesn't sound like much but it was one of the most enjoyable meals I've had all summer. Beautiful scenery, clean water, good food and good friends.

Mt. Assiniboine 1 - Sunshine Valley and Citadel Pass

I've just returned from a very beautiful 4 day backpacking trip to Mt. Assiniboine with 3 friends from the Springs, Franny, Damyn and Simon.

If anyone is interested in backpacking in the Rockies this hike is a very good option. We hiked from Sunshine Village through Citadel pass to Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park in BC. From there we hiked out through Wonder pass to Mt. Shark, near Canmore. You can do the same route in the opposite direction but it is much tougher with much more elevation gain. The hardest part of the hike by far was through the Valley of the Rocks just below Quartz Ridge. There was no water to be found and it was also very hot and humid. If anyone has questions about the trip in general, comment or email me directly. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures!