Empty clothes rail
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Canada: The Rockies: Jasper National Park
(post by Colin)
It's 16th June 2011 and so happy to leave Edmonton and head towards the Rockies.. I have heard so many good things.. The day is the 16th June that we left The car was great, the driving was easy... automatic on long long long long .... stretches of road with no turn offs for 4 hours... Only problem is staying awake. There is literally nothing to do - cruise control all the way...
It was raining pretty much the whole way on this day - we set off early in the day and the scenery began to get more and more dramatic as we got closer to Jasper National Park. We finally arrived at Jasper itself - which is a small town in the middle of the Park..
We had organised accommodation over the phone before we arrived - Just a bedroom and bathroom in a house but with a separate entrance.. No breakfast but perfectly adequate and only $60 CAD per night. Jasper and the Rockies in general are not cheap - even the camping costs $30-$40 per night.. I had originally thought about hiring a camper van of sorts - but the price of that with the camp ground fees made it cheaper to hire the car and get B&B type accommodations etc..
We were keen to get started immediately and so we visited the parks office and set off on our first trek..
Day 1 PM
Trail Name: Old Fort Point Loop: 3.5km return: 1- 2 hours
Weather: Heavy rain
Bear sightings: None
These first pics probably don't do it justice but it really was beautiful . This trail was a nice gentle start in terms of distance but the weather was bad which made it tougher.. We returned to Jasper and our homestead to relax and then explore the town..
Jasper town itself is very small and we were only a short walk from the main parade of shops , bars and restaurants.. We only sampled a few of the restaurants here and overall the costs were extortionate and the cheaper options ( which we went for) not particularly good.. But honestly after a day of hiking pretty much anything tastes good. But it is not about Jasper the town - it is about Jasper the park and hiking....
Day 2 AM
Trail Name: Valley of the Five Lakes: 4.2km: 2-3 hours
Weather: light rain giving way to sunshine !!
Bear sightings: None
So on this trail the weather started to improve pretty quickly and by the time we got to the first lake ( of the 5) the sun had started to creep through which was great - because each lake is a differen hue of blue green and the sun emphasises this. Apparently Beavers are around in this area - but we didn't see any !
Day 2 PM
Trail Name: Maligne Canyon: 2.2 km: 1-2 hours
Weather: Sunny
Bear sightings: None
Maligne Canyon is a limestone gorge with water gushing into the gorge from springs along the route..
Wow - what a day - tired we went back to sample some of Jaspers fine restaurants not ! I think I had literally the worst "mexican" food I have wever tasted..
Day 3 AM
Trail Name: Sulphur Skyline: 8.6km: 5-6 hours
Weather: Heavy Rain
Bear sightings: None
Ok so this trail is all about reaching a mountain peak - so uphill all the way. Kizzy and I thought we were prepared for this one with the previous two days but this nearly killed us ! Visibility was really poor - we managed to get past the treeline on the mountain and I swear we were 20 metres from the summit ( I could not actually see more than a foot ) when we decided it would be sensible to turn back as the rain was getting worse and we were encased in this deep fog. Hardly any photos this day as it was raining so much...
Day 4 AM
Trail Name: Path of the Glacier Loop: 1.6km: 1-2 hours
Weather: cloudy
Bear sightings: None
Ok - on this day we had a fair few false starts - we got completely lost on the way to this place and then we had intended to do a 5 hour hike here - but when we got here that hike was closed.. But it did not matter beacuse this hike was really good and we got to get very close to the Angel glacier.
After our run around we were ready to head home to get ready for our departure in the morning.. Part 2 of the Rockies adventure coming up - The Icefields Parkway....
Oh - one other thing - people in Canada have no idea how to park... this is a common sight... lol
lots of love..
Col & Kizzy
It's 16th June 2011 and so happy to leave Edmonton and head towards the Rockies.. I have heard so many good things.. The day is the 16th June that we left The car was great, the driving was easy... automatic on long long long long .... stretches of road with no turn offs for 4 hours... Only problem is staying awake. There is literally nothing to do - cruise control all the way...
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| Edmonton to Jasper |
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| View of the mountains from Jasper Town. |
We were keen to get started immediately and so we visited the parks office and set off on our first trek..
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| Preparing for Hiking.. |
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| Oh no... |
Trail Name: Old Fort Point Loop: 3.5km return: 1- 2 hours
Weather: Heavy rain
Bear sightings: None
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| Bridge:Old Fort Point |
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| Old Fort Point |
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| View:Old Fort Point |
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| Colin at Old Fort Point |
These first pics probably don't do it justice but it really was beautiful . This trail was a nice gentle start in terms of distance but the weather was bad which made it tougher.. We returned to Jasper and our homestead to relax and then explore the town..
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| Standard Tacky Tourism stuff... |
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| Kizzy first bear encounter.. |
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| Colin - first bear encounter.. |
Day 2 AM
Trail Name: Valley of the Five Lakes: 4.2km: 2-3 hours
Weather: light rain giving way to sunshine !!
Bear sightings: None
So on this trail the weather started to improve pretty quickly and by the time we got to the first lake ( of the 5) the sun had started to creep through which was great - because each lake is a differen hue of blue green and the sun emphasises this. Apparently Beavers are around in this area - but we didn't see any !
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| Valley of the Five Lakes |
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| Valley of the Five Lakes |
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| Kizzy at Valley of the Five Lakes |
Trail Name: Maligne Canyon: 2.2 km: 1-2 hours
Weather: Sunny
Bear sightings: None
Maligne Canyon is a limestone gorge with water gushing into the gorge from springs along the route..
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| Colin at Bridge One |
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| Flowing Water |
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| Col & Kizzy |
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| Ice formation..... |
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| Maligne gorge |
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| Kizzy at Bridge 5 Maligne Canyon |
Day 3 AM
Trail Name: Sulphur Skyline: 8.6km: 5-6 hours
Weather: Heavy Rain
Bear sightings: None
Ok so this trail is all about reaching a mountain peak - so uphill all the way. Kizzy and I thought we were prepared for this one with the previous two days but this nearly killed us ! Visibility was really poor - we managed to get past the treeline on the mountain and I swear we were 20 metres from the summit ( I could not actually see more than a foot ) when we decided it would be sensible to turn back as the rain was getting worse and we were encased in this deep fog. Hardly any photos this day as it was raining so much...
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| The trail has tuned into a stream ! |
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| waterlogged trail |
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| The Harp tree on route ! |
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| Sulphur skyline fog... |
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| Sulphur skyline fog - we were up in that ! |
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| Kizzy - When will it end ! |
Trail Name: Path of the Glacier Loop: 1.6km: 1-2 hours
Weather: cloudy
Bear sightings: None
Ok - on this day we had a fair few false starts - we got completely lost on the way to this place and then we had intended to do a 5 hour hike here - but when we got here that hike was closed.. But it did not matter beacuse this hike was really good and we got to get very close to the Angel glacier.
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| Angel Glacier description |
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| Angel Glacier |
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| Natural Snow Sculpture |
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| Glacier close up |
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| Col near the Glacier |
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| Kizzy on route to the Glacier |
Oh - one other thing - people in Canada have no idea how to park... this is a common sight... lol
Col & Kizzy
Winnipeg & Edmonton... Killing time before the Rockies..
(blog Post by Colin)
Hi All.... Ok - Today is Tuesday 21st June and we arrived to Canmore ( just outside Banff) in the Canadian Rockies last night... So much hiking over the last week that my legs are killing me and Kizzy is actually limping.. So - we have decided to take a day off and that means that I am determined to get u to date on the blog. The last post was about New York and so I will take it from there....
Ok - so - I am not sure if Kizzy mentioned it.. but when we left New York - we had an 11 hour train journey on "Amtrak" from Penn Station to Toronto. We then had 2 hours in Toronto before picking up "The Canadian" for a 2 night trip to Winnipeg.. I have never been so long on a train ever...
We went economy and the seats were prettyy good... Loads of leg room and chairs that recline pretty far back.. The Amtrak was better ( a newer train).. Sleeping on the train was not that easy despite the reclining chairs.. On the first night - we were woken by several stops at junctions ( not train stations) where some people were picked up to go a few stops.. What you have to realise about these trains is that they are the slowest trains you can imagine.. South West trains beats the speed hands down.. I am not sure but the fastest these suckers seemed to go was about 30 miles an hour.. When you look at the size of Canada.. you can understand why it takes so long by train.. They really need some high speed Japanese style bullet trains.. ! There was some good scenery on the way - but frankly most of it was just flat and miles and miles of trees... Not sure if it was on the news - but the province of Manitoba had some severe floods like in the US - where people lost there homes.. . This was terrible and we did notice the high waters along the route..
The really good scenery comes if you get past Winnipeg and head head into the Rockies. Anyhow the reason we went to Winnipeg is that we could not face 4 nights on the train in a row a! So we stayed 4 days in Winnipeg but only because the next train to Edmonton was not due four 4 days !
Oh by the way..we met some more friendly Canadians on the train.. A lovely lady called Gloria gave us the name of someone in Jasper who might be able to put us up and we had some good conversations.
So we arrived in Winnipeg and sat in the train station which had a free wifi signal to look for somewhere to stay ( we had originally thought that the trains had WIFi.. nope.. I have to say the website was a little misleading..) We found a B&B that did not seem so far away in the french quarter of town - St Boniface ( once an independent city from Winnipeg) The landlady - Jacqueline was lovely and welcoming but did not have all the nights we needed but she recommended an old folks home ( more like a posh hotel) down the road that she said rented out rooms.. We went over there and they had 3 nights available in what turned out ot be effectively a one bed flat for half the price of the B& B's.. So we stayed one night with Jacqueline and 3nights in the old folks home.. .. The old folks home was great. We brought down the average age in the place dramatically and for that they were happy !
Winnipeg itself is a place with a fair bit of history. It was a place where the Natives of Canada -" First Nations, Inuit & Metes" had a strong connection before us Europeans showed up... When we did - the area became a major trade hub due to the fact that two major river arteries join here in an area now known as "The Forks"
It is a pretty small place and honestly there is not that much to do or see. We felt we had pretty much seen everything after Day 1.. Kizzy was not found of the place but I found it fairly relaxing.. In the main part of town it seemed a little depressed - although there are some cooler artier - warehouse development sort of areas called the Exchange District..
In St Boniface along the river and the Forks it is just lovely.. very quiet and relaxing and some good walks.
The Forks seems to be the center of activity in the summer months - loads of people converging here for festivals, BMX and skateboarding etc.. It seems that Skateboarding and BMX is really big in Winnipeg.. Even in the winter when it gets down to -20 degrees on average.. (brrr...) they have indoor facilities..
We also went to Osbourne Village - an area of town.. which seems to have a young arty metropolitan feel.. We met a waitress from Ipswich in a Mexican restaurant..
Ok - so that's Winnipeg. For me relaxing - for Kizzy a little dull. Here's a few more pics to round off.. and then a very brief blog on Edmonton..
Ok - so we left Winnipeg and had another over night journey by train to Edmonton. We stayed in Edmonton for 2 nights - time needed to sort out a car rental. It seems that the most famous place in Edmonton is the West Edmonton Mall - once the largest mall in the world and now fifth - number one is now Dubai - surprise surprise... As we were leaving we heard that there was a really nice park alongside a river that runs right through the city... I quote - "Edmonton's river valley constitutes the longest stretch of connected urban parkland in North America, and Edmonton has the highest per capita area of parkland of any Canadian city; the river valley is 22 times larger than New York City's Central Park.." Doh !. Edmonton was always a stopping point on the way to the Rockies..
To cut a long story short... The mall was ok - it's big but we expected it to be bigger and more impressive. We spent the day on some rides in an inside amusement park, went to the cinema, played more mini golf.... and generally arsed around..
One thing to mention - hiring a car in Canada when you are going to drop it off in a different province is prohibitively expensive.. The best price I got for 15 days was $2500 CAD. Around £1600 . Strangely after lots of searching I managed to get it from a company called Canadian Affair based in Canada and UK - If I booked it from their UK office ( toll free number) I got a price of around £400.. Very very odd. Ho hum..
Ok - love ya and leave ya.. I am feeling good that after posting this I will only be 5 days behind on the blog and I can now start blogging about the good stuff... The Rockies.. Truly inspirational...
Colin
Hi All.... Ok - Today is Tuesday 21st June and we arrived to Canmore ( just outside Banff) in the Canadian Rockies last night... So much hiking over the last week that my legs are killing me and Kizzy is actually limping.. So - we have decided to take a day off and that means that I am determined to get u to date on the blog. The last post was about New York and so I will take it from there....
Ok - so - I am not sure if Kizzy mentioned it.. but when we left New York - we had an 11 hour train journey on "Amtrak" from Penn Station to Toronto. We then had 2 hours in Toronto before picking up "The Canadian" for a 2 night trip to Winnipeg.. I have never been so long on a train ever...
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| Tracks. |
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| Kizzy on the Canadian |
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| Train |
Oh by the way..we met some more friendly Canadians on the train.. A lovely lady called Gloria gave us the name of someone in Jasper who might be able to put us up and we had some good conversations.
So we arrived in Winnipeg and sat in the train station which had a free wifi signal to look for somewhere to stay ( we had originally thought that the trains had WIFi.. nope.. I have to say the website was a little misleading..) We found a B&B that did not seem so far away in the french quarter of town - St Boniface ( once an independent city from Winnipeg) The landlady - Jacqueline was lovely and welcoming but did not have all the nights we needed but she recommended an old folks home ( more like a posh hotel) down the road that she said rented out rooms.. We went over there and they had 3 nights available in what turned out ot be effectively a one bed flat for half the price of the B& B's.. So we stayed one night with Jacqueline and 3nights in the old folks home.. .. The old folks home was great. We brought down the average age in the place dramatically and for that they were happy !
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| Colin, Jacqueline & Kizzy |
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| Sign for The Forks |
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| Exchange District Signs |
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| Exchange District Police Station.. |
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| St Boniface Cathedral |
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| Me with Art in St Boniface.. |
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| Fur traders fort reconstruction |
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| The Forks, BMX & Skate Park |
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| Graffiti |
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| Graffiti |
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| Arty house spotted in St Boniface.. |
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| Art... |
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| Kizzy with Ghandi |
To cut a long story short... The mall was ok - it's big but we expected it to be bigger and more impressive. We spent the day on some rides in an inside amusement park, went to the cinema, played more mini golf.... and generally arsed around..
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| Ice rink in the mall |
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| indoor roller coaster. ( yes we went on !) |
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| I actually got par on this 18 hole course. ! |
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| The rental car to take us through the Rockies and to Vancouver.. |
Colin
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