The Rocky Mountains

From Vancouver I took the overnight Greyhound to Banff. Surprisingly the 13 hour ride wasn't too bad and I managed to get a few hours sleep here and there. It was largely uneventful however I had a little chuckle to myself when a 14 or 15 year old boy got on at one of the stops and despite trying very hard to act tough he ended up falling asleep on my shoulder.

In Banff I had a day to explore before the Moose tour started. Even though Banff is incredibly touristy I really liked it. It was a beautiful town with some great little shops and it was not hard to spend the day with a coffee in hand just wandering around. Personally I recommend paying a visit to Canada's Best Ice Cream, where the flavors wowie-cowie and messy-bessie were definite winners.

The following morning I jumped on the Moose Tour and we set off to explore the Rocky Mountains. As a general statement the Rocky Mountains would have to rate right up there as one of my favorite places, SO incredibly stunning. Everything in the Rocky Mountains seems to be on a 'massive' scale. Enormous mountains, massive glaciers, huge lakes, rivers and waterfalls. Words really can't describe how amazing this part of the world is. I found myself constantly repeating the words 'wow, that's so beautiful'. I decided I had to learn some Dutch words for 'nice' and 'very beautiful' from Iris, a girl from the Nederlands, just so I could mix up my vocabulary a bit. Pa- I'll test them on you when I get back!

Our first stop on the tour was Lake Minnewanka where an incredible reflection of the mountains appeared on the surface of the lake. From there we headed to the famous Lake Louise. Honestly I would have to say that Lake Louise was probably one of my least favorite places. The lake was beautiful and the hotel was massive but overall very crowded and touristy. However, from Lake Lousie we did a 14km hike up to the Plain of 6 Glaciers which offered great views of the lake and glaciers (and some good exercise)!

Lake Minnewanka

Lake Louise

Lake Louise. Plain of 6 Glaciers in the background

The Hike

The Plain of 6 Glaciers lookout

After the hike we took it easy and stopped off to check out Crowfoot Glacier (the lower toe now melted), then Bow Lake and Bow Glacier before arriving at our wilderness hostel, Rampart Creek. Such a awesome hostel, just a few shacks in the middle of the forest. While there was no running water the hostel had a great little woodfire sauna shed and after sweltering, a dip in the 4C river was very refreshing! Also that evening Iris from the Netherlands, asked me cut her hair. All we could find were blunt scissors. She was well aware of the risks (and my previous lack of hairdressing experience) however after quite a bit of laughing I am pleased to report that she loved it, so much so she wanted me to cut it shorter. I suggested she should probably wait for a professional.

Crowfoot Glacier

Rampart Creek Wilderness Hostel

The next day we headed off to Athabasca Glacier at Columbia Ice fields. It was a massive glacier and really interesting to see the markers pointing to how far it had receded in the last 100 years. Apparently it recedes 2-3 metres per year and has receded over 1.5km in the last 125 years. From there we checked out Tangled Falls then headed to Horseshoe Lake which was one of the big highlights of the tour. Not only was this lake incredibly beautiful and such an amazing colour, I think I loved this spot so much because I got to swim in it! It's hard to describe the feeling of swimming there, it's like you can't humanly get any closer to the beauty, you're in it! It was amazing!

Athabasca Glacier

Tangled Falls

Horseshoe Lake

Swimming in Horseshoe Lake

After our swim we spent some time exploring the town of Jasper which was a lovely little town. Jasper is smaller than Banff and definitely less touristy but just doesn't quite have that same mountain feel. We then headed to our wilderness hostel, Edith Cavell Hostel, at the base of Mt Edith Cavell. It was another beautiful hostel in the middle of the forest and was a perfect evening for a BBQ dinner and campfire.

Edith Cavell Wilderness Hostel

Off to the stunning Mt Edith Cavell where we hiked up the mountain, through the beautiful mountain meadows, to the lookout which offered amazing views of surrounding mountains and the stunning Angel Glacier and glacial lake at it's base. It was another big hike but whilst you feel like you're going to die as you go uphill the feeling and the views at the top are definitely worth it! The mountain was named after English nurse Edith Cavell who was executed buy firing squad after treating and helping allied soldiers leave occupied Belgium during World War I.

Angel Galcier - half way to the Mt Edit Cavell Meadows lookout

I definitely wasn't smiling on the inside - so steep!

The top! 

The lake at the base of Angel Glacier

The lake at the base of Angel Galcier

After our big hike we headed to Leech Lake to rest our weary bones and get ourselves a natural pedicure. By sticking our feet into the lake large schools of small trout would surround our feet and nibble off all the dead skin. It sounds totally gross but once you got over the initial ticklish feeling and the desire to let out girlish screams it was actually quite relaxing and I can honestly say my feet had never felt so smooth!

From Leech lake we headed to Maligne Canyon and took a walk along the canyon taking in the many amazing rock formations and waterfalls before arriving at the hostel in Jasper.

Maligne Canyon

The next morning we set off once again and checked out Athabasca Falls and then off to a shorter hike up to Parker Ridge. The views of the Saskatchewan Glacier from the ridge were really stunning and it was one of my favorite views. Just for some interesting facts (well interesting to me) the Saskatchewan Glacier is the source of the North Saskatchewan River which flows east through Canada and is the biggest river system in the country. Apparently it takes over two and a half years for the water from the glacier to get to the Atlantic Ocean.

Athabasca Falls

Parker Ridge Trail (felt like I was in a scene from the Sound of Music)

North Saskatchewan Glacier

After lunch at the weeping wall we finished up the tour with two of the most spectacular lakes, Moraine Lake and Peyto Lake. I could have sat overlooking both of these lakes for hours they were just so beautiful. To view Moraine Lake we climbed up a mountain of rocks and sat in the nature made 'rock sofa' where as at Peyto Lake we hiked up to a lookout. The colours of these lakes, like Lake Louise, were spectacular and I learned that the colour was due to the sediment called rock-flour that the water collected on its way over the rocks into the lake. Depending on the time of year the colour of the water may change due to the amount of rock-flour that is in the lake.

Peyto Lake

Moraine Lake

Back in Banff we all had dinner together and said our goodbyes.  It was such a great tour, fun people and a great combination of good hiking and spectacular sights! I also loved that I learnt so many new things. Not only have I learn't how to keep away bears (I listened pretty closely) but I know know about glaciers and ice-ages and elk and moose, and things that I never thought I'd be so interested in. LOVED IT!!

I know this is a long post... I won't be offended if you only look at the pictures!