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Published: August 6th 2007
So when last I left you we had just picked up the car in
Jasper and spent the night just outside of town in a hostel. The next day we drove the 400km to
Edmonton. The Rockies suddenly finished to the east of Jasper and instead of steep mountain peaks to keep us company we were suddenly among rolling hills along possibly the most boring road in the world, straight, wide, no features and only two one horse towns along the way, Hinton and Edson.
We got to the HI hostel which is situated in probably the nicest area of town,
Old Strathcona dumped our stuff and went for a walk along the main street. Our main discovery is that booze is expensive, so expensive that we had a few nights off the piss which is totally unlike me=) We were in bed reasonably early though as the next day we were doing what we had come to Edmonton to do.
Note: We three boys were forced here against our will. We were tricked, we were conned, it’s not my fault, it’s not my fault.
The West Edmonton Mall. That’s right we had an 800km round trip to
go to a mall, what you going to do. Its attraction is in the fact that it is North America's largest mall and contains a theme park, an ice rink, a water park, a shooting range, a paintball arena and an entire wing in pirate theme. Despite this it is just a mall the likes of which I have been to many times before. After wandering around all day we went to the theme park which had, mainly, rubbish rides. Apart from one, the main roller coaster to be fair was pretty sweet and pretty terrifying. I went on it twice and felt like arse afterwards. Nothing that the nights couple of pints didn't solve though=)
And then the drive back to Jasper. Boring. We met up with the next Moose Bus and drove out to the hostel which was in the middle of nowhere; it had no showers and long drop toilets, ah the smell. My favourite moment was during the early morning call of nature when the air, warmed by yours truly, sent a truly unique fragrance wafting up my nose from deep in the bowels of the long drop!
That night we just relaxed and
had a few drinks and when it got dark a bonfire was started up and everyone sat around chatting, laughing and eating marshmallows. When the sky finally got properly dark at around midnight I wandered out into the middle of the highway, lay down and had a look at the billions upon billions of stars gracing the heavens, they were astonishingly beautiful and clear. There were no lights anywhere near us and as we were in the middle of a national park there was no pollution. Each star looked like a pinprick of light on an enormous black canvas, the Milky Way was so clear it looked like a wispy cloud across the sky. Truly beautiful.
Jasper - Banff As we were on a different bus the itinerary was slightly different than what it would have been and we ended up having an hour and a half at the
Columbia Icefield where we had already spent some time, the one difference was that this time the weather was beautiful, clear blue skies with a cooling breeze coming off the glacier.
Matt, Jason and I decided to walk all the way up to the toe of the
Athabaca Glacier as the weather had prevented us last time, it was a decent trek about a kilometre and a half each way but well worth it once we had gained some elevation and saw the valley laid out before us. Due to recent glacial retreat (it has receded about 1.5km in the past 125 years) the valley has no significant vegetation and was a strange mix of still unmelted snow and dark grey earth. At the toe there are numerous warnings about the danger of crevasses which are hidden by snow so we didn't actually venture onto the ice but just stood and soaked up the surroundings. How often are you faced by a glacier!
We raced back to the bus and the next stop was our driver Fred's secret little spot, which involved hiking through waist deep snow along what can only be described as a sheer cliff. I was wearing shorts and by good ole Dunlop volleys, completely inappropriate snow wear as my feet were soon soaked through and freezing. It was completely worth it as we were soon greeted with an incredible sight, a half frozen waterfall where the ice and water had combined to create a
A Rocky Mountain View
On the road back from Edmontoncool illusion. We could see the water coming over the falls then it disappeared behind a wall of ice only to reappear further down and then once again disappear beneath the still frozen river. It was pretty damn cool but as the snow covered exactly where the edge was it was slightly hairy.
We got into Banff later in the day and said goodbye to Jason, who is going back to Calgary and to Loz who was going back to Van.
Banff We ended up staying 4 full days in Banff due to the Moose Bus being full but it turned out to be a blessing is disguise as this is one of the nicest towns I have been in, really relaxed, friendly people, beautiful surroundings and lots to do. Our first day was one of those days which keep you going through the long, cold, dark winter; clear blue skies with puffy white clouds and a sun that warms your face. We walked through the entire town looking at all the discounted snow gear that I really want but can't afford and have little use for. That evening Matt and I decided to walk up
Tunnel Mountain for sun-downers and to get a little exercise, the walk was only about 40mins and offered some sweet views of Banff and the surrounding valley's in the late afternoon sun.
Bike ride day was soon upon us and we walked into town down the hill to rent some bikes. We had decided to do a 12km round trip along the river, we immediately took the wrong turn though and only realised our mistake some time later=) Once we were on the right track though the path became really rocky and fluctuated between long painful inclines and short but sweet downhill’s. The very last section was a long downhill with sharp corners and lots of gravel, it was awesome, I flew off and on the last bit there was a sweet jump where I got some cool air.
Afterwards we caught the bus up to the hot springs and lazed around for half an hour. The springs are about 4km out of town and straight up a hill so on the way back it was all downhill. Four kilometres of hands off and just rolling, no effort and the wind in your face, it was bliss.
Banff - Revelstoke
After getting up far too early we jumped back on the Moose Bus and set off for the day. The main highlight of the day was stopping at
Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park and Hiking to the Lower Falls. They have been formed as a softer layer of limestone is eroded away beneath a much tougher layer of granite and we were reliably informed that if you fell in you were as good as dead as you would be sucked to the bottom of the falls. Due to all the snowmelt there was lots of water going over which generated an impressive amount of spray, needless to say I was soon cold and wet =)
We spent the night in Revelstoke a quaint, cute little town which is famous for its snowmobiling in the winter. There must be something about the spring sun in the mountains as I have loved all the little towns that we have stopped at so far.
Revelstoke - Kelowna Go-karting was the name of the game today, we had already done it on the way through but we stopped to do it all again. It was ace. Nothing like forcing a
mate off the road into the dirt and gravel and following it up with a hearty laugh!
Kelowna We spent a day in this little city which is apparently "run" by the Hells Angels, there were loads of amazing Harleys around so it may be true. We went on a tour of a winery, Summerhill, the wine was good and not too expensive all things considered and the winery offered some really cool views of Kelowna and the Okanagan valley. Later that day Matt and I also went paintballing which was great fun, it was only $30 and we got to shoot the shit out of each other for an hour and a half. I managed to come out with not many injuries!
Kelowna - Vancouver The last day was mainly a chill out with one stop at
Coquihalla Gorge where the river has cut a channel through the granite through which a huge river flows. Unfortunately it was raining pretty heavily so we didn't stay long but the volume and power of the water was quite incredible. It’s also impressive for the 1/3 of a mile section of train track that had been bored through solid rock
with three separate tunnels in perfect alignment with each other.
So my time in Canada is drawing to a close and I am definitely going to miss it, I feel that I have seen almost all parts and aspects of the country and it has left a very favourable impression on me. I will be back.
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deleted_15735
Well, i guess that waterfall is not so secret anymore, is it?
So after promoting your blog and getting it to be published on the front page, THIS is how you repay this opportunity. By showing your arse to the world. Disgusting... yet i cant seem... to look... away...