Hiking to oil country

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The Canadian Rockies are what everyone says - they are magnificent, majestic, the whole 9. We are really glad they are protected for the most part through national parks - a real canadian achievement we should all be proud of. Here you will find a vast range of wildlife, thriving bear populations, and many areas largely untouched by humans (unless you include the "touch" of climate change which is really starting to affect this area).

We fell in love with hiking the last few days. We climbed some summits (none too large - but all spectacularly beautiful). We have this guide book called "Don't waste your time in the canadian rockies" which suggests the "premier" hikes in the national parks and warns which ones aren't worth doing. We managed to do 2 of the 'Premier hikes' and a few shorter hikes around lake louise and lake moraine. The 2 premier hikes sure were amazing, but after the first climb at Parker Ridge my knees were aching - apparently my knees aren't used to kicking up and down big mountains - although Jesse seemed to be doing fine - blisters and all.

Our 2nd Hike started after we camped at Wilcox's pass - this is a famous pass the explorers and early travelers of the area used to take as they headed west. It was the only pass used in the area for a while and we even saw the ruins of an old stop over log cabin near the end of the hike. We encountered some locals at the trail head who offered us the opportunity to hike with them the whole way to tangle creek, instead of heading back to the car after reaching the pass. We would have to leave one of our cars at the Wilcox's pass side and take the other to the tangle creeks side. We jumped at the chance and it tuned out to be an amazing experience. Literally the best hike we both had ever taken, we had commentary from the very knowledgeable locals (Sue, Karen and Gary)...Karen even lent me her hiking poles after seeing the weird way I was walking and the wincing I was doing going down hill...that is when I fell in love - with hiking poles....We saw about 4 different glaciers from this hike, went through about 5 climate zones (or so it seemed) - saw alpine meadows, waterfalls, forests and the unspoiled vistas that are our Canadian Rockies - amazing.

After the hike we checked out the glaciers at columbia icefields and went to jasper where the first order of business was getting me some hiking poles and a knee brace - mission accomplished. Then dinner, than headed to the hotsprings.

We woke up from pocahontas camp ground the next morning and headed over to the Miette Hot Springs in upper Jasper for a few hours of soaking in the naturally hot springs. The water comes out of the side of the mountain at a scalding 50 degrees C and they have to cool it down for it to be soakable for us mere mortals.

Parks Canada has done a good job - we enjoyed some breakfast and some soaking in the sun overlooking the mountains....a nice end to our time in the national parks....

Off we drove - to Grande Prairie, where we are now - this is oil country and last night I was the ONLY women in the hotel's bar/restaurant. Apparently the town has almost doubled in size in the last 7 years. It's a pretty strange place and we have to say it is surely not our most favourite location. But a good place to stop - do laundry, get an oil change, and prepare for the start of the part we of the trip we have been most looking forward to...

Today we start driving on the Alaska Highway.

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