The Canadian Rockies

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Friday
Landed into Calgary to wet weather. They’re been suffering from torrential rainfall, so made our way to Banff which was about an hour away by car and the weather was sunny and bright.

Saturday
Started with the Moose Network Athabasca tour, which would take us to Lake Louise, Rampart Creek, Edith Cavell, Jasper and back to Banff - a 4 day trip, but we decided to stay an extra night in Lake Louise.

Tour consists of lots of hikes and sight seeing walks, which is a must as the scenery here is absolutely amazing (breathtaking - you’ll be out of breath walking all day:-) ) which was what we were expecting - typical Canadian scenery (girls sorry to say no Mounties). People are overly friendly - going out of their way to help. Haven’t got time to explain everything we did but here’s a small list of what we’ve done.

1. saw 3 bears, elks, chipmunks, deer and hoary marmots
2. walked on the Colombia Icefield
3. session in a sauna followed by a jump in a cold river
4. dip in the hot springs
5. white water rafting
6. lots and lots and lots and lots of hiking

So many hikes all with fantastic views at the top. For some, it’ll be a bit of a mission to get to the top - like me! Such long, hard, steep, tiring walk which Helen loved except for the one hike with Glaciers. Plain of the 6 Glaciers is a hike where you will be able to see 6 glaciers when you reach the top. We didn’t think we would have to walk across 6 Glaciers! Helen had the camera so I only got one picture of her on the big ice. Let me let you she was bricking it :-) I can’t remember the last time she was so scared. In her defense it was very slippery, but when two old people come past and offer their walking sticks to Helen you can’t help but laugh :-)

There’s a lake called Minnewanka, and let me say, trying to explain to a Japanese girl why the name is so funny is very difficult - tickled Helen though.

We started the tour with a tour guide called Sarahmaya (I think that’s how it’s spelt). She took us to Lake Louise, had a hike, and we decided to jump off the tour bus and spend an extra day there. She was funny, outgoing, mad and on a mission to find men :-) Suppose you need to be with this type of job. We met so many great people on the way, 2 girls from Bournmouth, two girls from Kettering, lots of Swiss and Momoko - a Japanese girl who we’ll be hooking up with in Japan if we are there at the same time. When we got bad on the tour bus, our guide was Heidi. Much like Sarahmaya, funny outgoing and mad :-) There were 11 of us all together on the bus - me, Helen, Heidi, a kiwi and 7 Swiss.

Believe it or not, there are places in the National Park with no running water, no flushing loo’s and no electricity - Rampart Creek and Edith Cavell are 2 such places. Very remote, but both have outside campfires - great time to tell each other jokes and stories like Helen’s Tequila experience :-) and we were taught about Smores - sweet crackers with melted chocolate and toasted marshmallows between them - a Canadian camping specialty. Helen totally recommends them.

Got to do White Water Rafting - Grade 4+. Oh my gosh, how cold was the water? 4°c that’s how much. But so much fun. With me at the front and Helen behind me, I was the one dictating the pace for a change, but I was the one who got the water in the face (apart from the one time Helen got hit sideways and she got water down her back) - totally awesome dude.

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Comments

[Dali]

OH MY GOLLY!
you guys look like you're having the most amazing time!!! the pictures really made me giggle!!! so jealous ; ) glad to see you're enjoying yourself!! can't wait to see you guys here! xx p.s keep those pics coming - they're brill!!

[Janusz Jasinski]

Lucky!
Ya lucky pair of goofs!

[Eddie]

Jealous
Looks bloody fantastic ...........Hope your keeping well .......