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!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
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.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
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.
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