Canada blog vol 5 (18th-20th)

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Monday morning began in minor confusion. On Saturday evening I had told Tina that we would help out Joanne first thing Monday but Joanne had told Mari that she may not need us so she would ring through if we were needed. However in between Mari and myself having this conversation Tina had decided to come in later as I had told her that we were not going to meet her first thing. However, luckily on our way in in the morning we bumped into Joanne and it turned out that we were needed so it all turned out ok in the end.
So Monday consisted mainly of tidying up stuff after parks day on Saturday. We spent most of the day driving from one spot to another, filling up or emptying the truck and having my first ever Tim Horton's (Tim bits are very nice btw).

The day was lots of fun and managed to see much of the various sites that I haven't had a chance to see in the past. A prime example of this is a look through the main garage that is used for all the parks vehicles. This included seeing some of the brand new snow ploughing machines that were absolutely massive!

After a few hours shifting furniture we made our way back to the info center and were given a vague outline of what to expect for the rest of the week.

On Tuesday we were lucky enough to go on a trek up Sulphur mountain and then across to Samson lodge. Tina was gracious enough to give us a lift to the bottom of the trail, as anyone who has done that trail will tell you the journey up to the trek start is anything but easy, especially on a bike. The trail itself is a very nice trek and one of my favourites so far. However, it is slightly busier than some other trails. Also the gondola (that's probably spelt incorrectly) has meant that there are more people at the top of the trail then anywhere else. Also personally I feel that although the views are absolutely fantastic the gondola does distract from the magnitude of the mountain. Personally I get annoyed seeing people at the very top of a mountain wearing sandals. I'm sorry but there is something fundamentally wrong with that situation. Samson lodge is also very outstanding however the crowds do make it a different experience than you would normally experience. The trail is rather tiring however the cafe at the top does provide a nice sanctuary no matter what weather for a break.

Wednesday involved weeding the local square (the circle shaped square as i mentioned in an earlier blog). We moved onto on of the main section at the start of today and I do believe we made real progress and getting much of the weeds out of the section and managing to find some sprinklers. (if anyone is in Banff they can play find the sprinkler system if they wish. However, i doubt you will get far without a spade and a metal detector.)
At 11:15 we were joined by a group of volunteers who had special needs. They were extremely helpful and we managed to weed a much larger section of the garden of a number of different species of weed. They were very easy to work with and enthusiastic at the beginning and even after 2 hours weeding a number of them didn't want to stop. They will hopefully be back within the next 2 weeks while I'm still here so hopefully it won't be the last time I see them.

We were given a half day so I have used the afternoon getting up to date with this blog and have a relaxing afternoon. I apologise for the briefness of this blog and the fact it may take a while for some pictures to be uploaded as well but rest assured that they will come at some point.

Also I am planning on making a Canada itinerary on this website at some point. Keep in mind there is no point in reading it unless you are planning of coming out and doing this course. Also it will probably gradually change it as the weeks continue with new ideas about what is needed to make sure you check it just before you leave in order to get the final version.

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