Friday, August 7, 2009

Roadtrip Week 1: Driving and Hiking in Canada


Today marks day 7 and 2100 miles of a 14 day/4000 mile roadtrip.



T -1: Surprise Birthday party for me! What a fun surprise - it was supposed to be a housewarming party for Paul and Rachael... sneaky friends!
Day 1: Winnipeg
Day 2: Regina, Swift Current, Medicine Hat
Many gas stations ran out of gas this weekend - it was a national holiday (Heritage Day) on Monday, August 3rd. Most of the country had the day off - so a run on the gas stations I guess. We were OK - but did pull into one station when our car said we had 2 miles left of gas!
Day 3-7: Banff National Park
It rained 3 of 4 days. Thankfully, we went hiking in the afternoon as soon as we arrived - it was the best day! We drove 2.5 hours to Jasper one day and found this little lake called Lake Maligne. There was only one road that took us to the lake - and it was about 50km from any town. I'm pretty sure it fit the definition of remote.

We saw a grizzly bear from a chair lift in Lake Louise, lots of elk in the towns of Banff and Jasper, a black bear on the side of the road and many chipmunks. We hiked up to Sulpher Point (skipped the 8 min gondola - it was much better to hike 2 hours), hiked around Lake Maligne, and hiked up Plain of Six Glaciers at Lake Louise. The lakes and rivers are fed by glaciers which turns them turquoise - a sight to see.

Last night was pretty spectacular. A full moon rising up behind the mountains that we see out our hotel window. It was so bright it turned the mountains two toned and lit up our room. A great ending to week 1.

2 comments:

Cathy said...

That sucks you are here while it's raining...Banff is even more beautiful when it's gorgeous weather. Although, we have been known to wake up to snow on the labour day weekend :) enjoy the rest of the trip!

Valerie Broughton said...

Sounds like you're having a great time. Karen and I were looking at your blog. It's great. We saw Julie and Julia on Friday. Good movie. Made us think of you two. See you soon. Hsave fun t his week.

Valerie