The Rockies, Eh!

After one year with four guys on the trip we were back to our original three in the Canadian Rockies. Conveniently, our flight times matched nicely so that we could make a clean break from the Calgary airport and proceed to Canmore. Our lodging was the nicest we've stayed in on the guys' trip, except that Erv got stuck on the fold out bed. Sadly, we couldn't even afford for him to drink enough so that it became comfortable. This brings me to the first hardship of our trip: Canadian booze tax. I am not exaggerating here, everything was 2-3x the cost of American liqour stores. I saw a case of Kokanee cans for 43 bucks. I wouldn't buy 500 cans of Kokanee for 43 bucks. In any case, we did the best we could to stock up for the week without breaking the bank, but more on that later.

Lunch was at the Grizzly Paw Brewery, an average at best brewpup with better food. After a quick happy hour we went to Zona's, a hip little place in downtown Canmore with an eclectic menu, for a decent meal. We returned to the condo for some Texas Hold-'em where I proceeded to take Erv and Paul for all they were worth. Maybe not that much, but I did end up a little ahead by the end of the trip.

Having learned our lesson on previous trips, we decided to hit some "low-hanging fruit" hikes on the first day as our tolerance for crowds at the parks decreases throughout the week. We walked Johnston Canyon which was quite pretty and not too busy on the way in. It might have still been pretty on the way out, but I couldn't see through the throngs of fat tourists. We continued on to Lac Boom, which sounds far cooler than Boom Lake. Though fairly easy and accessible, the trail was not crowded and we had a nice afternoon by the very scenic lake with the Rockies towering behind.

We started out easy and the following day undertook a pretty big hike with lots of elevation gain at the start. The trailhead was at the base of Takkakaw Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world at 1260 feet so we took advantage of the opportunity to warm up our legs with a quick jaunt to the base of the falls. Impressive.

After viewing the falls, we headed up the mountain on a rather steep ascent.  Fortunately for me, the elevation was lower than Boulder's.  Unfortunately for Erv and Paul, not much hiking takes place at elevations below Cincinnati's.  We tried to keep the pace reasonable, but the steepness and elevation made Erv decide to turn back.  With his blessing to continue, Paul and I continued on what would prove to be a greater than 12 mile hike.  Soon we punched through treeline and were rewarded with views across the valley to the falls as well as up and down valley.  Without much further ascent we topped out below the Emerald Glacier and were even granted views of a moderately sized avalanche as it thundered down from the snowfields to the glacier below.  We ate lunch beside a beautiful emerald lake and decided to take the long way home through the back of Yoho River valley past Laughing Falls rather than retracing our steps.  Though the skies had been threatening all day, a light drizzle started on our descent and worsened as we went.  By the time we were on the valley floor we were immersed in a downpour.  Only when the thunder and lightning started in the last of our 12 miles did we really hustle back to the car.  We had a cold ride home, but rewarded ourselves with a soak in the hot tub where Colleen the newlywed, despite her husband's presence, couldn't keep her eyes of our glistening, toned bodies.  She really liked Paul's black leg too.



Emerald Glacier





Laughing Falls

 The next day we saved our extravagant Canadian national park entrance fees and partook of an equally beautiful area, Kananaskis Lakes.  Aside from being beautiful and free, the area was free of crowds, a welcome change.



Upper Kananaskis Lake at the trailhead

  We hiked to Rawson lake and enjoyed a relaxing lunch surrounded by few others.  As we departed from Kananaskis lake, the rain started.  On our return to Canmore we knocked out another few miles on the way to Warspite lake.  Also on our return, we stopped at the liquor store where the clerk sold us 2 six packs of Lagunitas for the price of 2 single bottles.  At 13 bucks, we just bought the cheapest 12 pack of the best beer in Canada (American beer, by the way).  One six pack had cost us 16 bucks a few days ago.  Too bad we bought the last one.


Rawson Lake





Warspite Lake



View outside our condo

  Having heard the cycling along Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper was legendary, Paul and I were anxious to get a road ride in for the experience and a nice change of pace.  Erv provided a great sag wagon service, pulling over to check on us every 7-10 miles and he also got to spend some time soaking up the views along the road.  The weather was not as cooperative so we spent most of the ride in our rain gear.  We ate lunch in the car at the high point of our ride when the rain was coming down pretty hard.  A little patience in the dry car and we were able to avoid the worst weather.  Just as the sun was coming out and we were cruising downhill into the last 10 miles of the ride, Paul had the misfortune of hitting some scrap metal on the roadside and blew a tire.  We got it fixed up fairly quickly and completed our 50 mile ride without further incident.  After a scenic ride home (under luxurious gasoline power), we made another visit to the hot tub where the miles soaked away and Colleen avoided us because it was the only way she could resist ogling our chiseled bodies.

 In an attempt to get up close and personal with a glacier, we undertook the Stanley Glacier trail in Kootenay.  The hike was through what appeared to be (but wasn't) recent wildfires.   The lack of trees opened up the scenery, but the rain and clouds intruded.  As we closed in on the glacier, the rain closed in on us and we got pretty drenched at the end of the trail.  Sadly, our best views of the glacier were more distant.

 We're proud to say that in our 4 years of guys' trips, we've never been shut out by weather.  However, the forecast for the next day was less than promising.  In talking things over, Erv had no interest in spending an entire day trudging through the rain.  Paul and I, still fairly young and definitely dumb, decided a big hike sounded like a great idea and planned on THE definitive day hike in Kootenay - Floe Lake.  A 13 mile roundtrip hike would take us to a beautiful lake beneath the Rockwall formation. 


Half the people (Paul) that were stupid enough to hike today (the other half is behind the camera)

  Very quickly we learned that the current light drizzle was not going to soak us, but the combination of multiple previous rainy days and thick vegetation definitely would.  The trail was so overgrown for a popular day hiking and backpacking route that we couldn't help but think we were on the wrong path.  It turned out that we were on the right trail and after a long, wet, uphill slog we arrived at Floe Lake as its solitary visitors.  Though I think it lost some of its grandeur due to the low-lying clouds, they imparted a certain mysterious ambiance.  We ate lunch under the shelter of the uninhabited ranger's cabin and tried to stay warm.  Truthfully, I was hoping the cabin was occupied and the tenant had a roaring fire and some fresh coffee brewed.  No luck.  At least we only had about another 7 miles of hiking with our pants pasted to our legs in nearly freezing weather before we made it back to the car.  Though the return hike was long, it wasn't too miserable and the hot tub was waiting.  Still never been shut out by weather.



The thermometer above my head says 4 degrees Celsius...Ah, July in the Rockies!

  We had to leave on Saturday and return to Calgary to catch our flights on Sunday, but we wanted to check out some more scenery on the way back to reality.  Unfortunately, what was billed as an interesting walk took us past a large noisy factory along a gravel trail, up a creekbed to some non-existent petroglyphs and a poor excuse for a waterfall.  We returned to the car with heavy hearts knowing that our adventures together for this year were over.  However, we'd kept a very ambitious hiking schedule, threw in a bike ride and had our first endeavor in a foreign country.  Most importantly, we had a week of great company and fun that will never be forgotten.