Roamin in the Rockies

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Hi Y’all
Just a little late but MJ and I wanted to share our recent hiking trip in the Rockies with you.
We started off by driving to Lake Louise and meeting up with our six fellow hikers at the Lake Louise Hostel. Nothing makes you feel old like staying in a hostel but we met some very interesting young people from all over Canada as well as Europe and the US. One German fellow had a most interesting bike and was heading off from Lake Louise to Las Vegas - can you find two more different locations?
Our first hikes were in the Lake O’Hara area. We had to book our day into Lake O’Hara three months in advance as it is a very popular area and the numbers allowed in are quite limited. It is an incredibly beautiful alpine area and well worth the effort to get in.
The next day we set off on the backpacking portion of our trip. This portion of the hike was in Yoho National Park. We started at Takakkaw Falls and headed up the Yoho River to the Little Yoho Valley. When I initially put on my 45 pound pack I really wondered if I could make it up to the pass. Luckily all the other hikers felt the same and we headed off up the hill.
The plan was to stay two nights at the Stanley Mitchell Hut which is owned by the Alpine Club of Canada. The hut is really basic and that night was accommodating about 24 hikers. The sleeping arrangements involve mattresses on the floor and everyone sleeping in one large room. MJ and I decided we would pitch our tent at the campsite near the hut instead of listening to the snoring of a crowd of strangers. Our fellow hikers stayed in the hut and warned us we would not be welcomed back during the night. That night we roughed it through an incredibly violent thunder and lightning storm. We have a very small tent and with our packs and the two of us inside there was not much room to move. Naturally we stuck it out as we knew our fellow hikers would give us a pretty rough time if we limped back to the hut.
The next day we hiked in the area which included the spectacular Twin Falls. That night MJ and I stayed in the Stanley Mitchell Hut as the numbers had dropped off and there was more room to spread out on the floor.
We then said goodbye to the hut and headed off for the Yoho Lake campsite which was reached via the spectacular Iceline trail. At one point along this trail you are able to see six glaciers and since you are above the tree line the view is 360 degrees. We spent another night in our little tent. The next morning was socked in so we decided to take the shorter route out to Emerald Lake. We had originally planned to take a longer route out which would have taken us around Mount Burgess, the home of the famous Burgess Shale but the weather did not cooperate.
That night we stayed in a very nice lodge near Golden, BC. It was great to get that much needed shower and have a dinner that was not made out of dried food in a bag.
All in all it was a great trip.

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Photos

The whole gang
The old folks are ready to roll

R and MJ
Ready for a day in the mountains

Alpine Club Hut
Imagine 24 sleeping in this hut

MJ and the River
Yes she made it across

MJ and the tent
See - it really is small

Comments

[Sa]

Nice blog
Hey Dad, Good job on the blog. Great to hear the details of your fabulous sounding trip. The pictures are amazing and really make me want to head out there right now!

[mark and suman]

putting us to shame
we feel older than richard and mj. your trip looked amazing, and pretty rough...very impressive! we'd love to do that trip sometime, although we'd probably have to train for it. -old folks suman and mark