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Post by Steelernation on Nov 2, 2023 18:27:13 GMT -5
Did a longer hike (9.2 miles) in the lake Louise area the next day, this one was called the plain of the 6 glaciers. View of Lake Louise at the start: >  < First 2ish miles were again really crowded. I always love mudflats, donβt get anything like this in Colorado. >  < Trail gets above tree line after the crowds thin out and the end is a rocky glacial area. Cool looking peak: >  < Lots of glaciers at the end: >  < Looking back down at Lake Louise: >  < Gorgeous view from our campsite, this is Mount Temple: >  < Couldnβt get shuttle reservations for the Moraine lake area so left the area early the day day after. Scenic overlook on the drive back down toward Banff/Canmore:  Great view from the disc golf course in Canmore: >  < Went to the cave and basin historic site in Banff the next day. Cave: >  < Did a short hike leaving from the site, nice wetland area >  < Mountain goat family near our campsite near Banff >   < Not much nice hiking in the Banff vicinity, everything seemed to be off the Icefields Parkway or farther north so we left early and headed up to the Jasper area on the 23rd. |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 3, 2023 20:13:25 GMT -5
July 23rd we hiked to Helen Lake and the ridge beyondβone of my all time favorite hikes, also did it in 2017. Was 8.4 miles, think the max elevation on the ridge was like 8200β. First views of I think Bow Lake and glaciated peaks beyond it: >  < The first 2 miles climb steeply but then it enters a wide, long alpine valley. Much fewer people than the lake Louise area. Cool looking cliffs: >  < In the alpine here the views are stunning. Lots of marmots too. Helen lake with Cirque Peak in the background: >  < Lots of tarns: >  < I climbed Cirque Peak in 2017 but my parents had no interestβitβs a long slog up steep scree. However, we did climb up to a ridge about several hundred feet above the lake which has views opening up to the other side of the ridge. Looking down at Helen Lake: >  < Cirque Peak, red color doesnβt really come out in pics: >  < Really neat long thin lake below the castle-like cliffs. Had much more water in 2017 >  < View across at the basin on the opposite side of the ridge, more alpine lakes and peaks: >  < Expansive view:  Everywhere you looked there were lakes, rocky peaks, snow, and alpine meadows: >  < Just untouched wilderness: >  < This peak looks so cool, had way more snow last time I was here >  < [/spoiler] |
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Post by Beercules on Nov 4, 2023 6:26:34 GMT -5
A blue bee, something I had no idea even existed, and even when I saw it, I started questioning my own reality, my sanity, and my living situation. Bees are orange and yellow. There is no such thing as blue bees. a freaking BLUE bee   |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 4, 2023 17:24:09 GMT -5
Drove to the Jasper area after Helen lake, hiked around the Cavell Meadows the next day. Shorter hike, only 4 miles but still stunning. Mount Edith Cavell: >  < A glacial moraine blocked the view for the first part of the hike but eventually there was a lookout over the turquoise lake and the glaciers on the peak: >  < Trail then entered the forest and climbed before another scenic view of the lake opened up:  After that, the trail entered a nice meadows area. You can climb up to the ridge in the distance for a long hike but I had a cold and wasnβt feeling up to it. >  < Gorgeous wildflowers: >  < Edith Cavell is one of the more imposing mountains in the peak: >  < View of the lake from the opposite direction on the way back: >  < Big bull elk on the drive back to the campsite: >  < |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 7, 2023 22:25:07 GMT -5
Hiked the Bald Hills in Jasper the next day. This is another hike I did in the past but we went farther this time. It ends in an alpine basin with various βbald hillsβ you can hike to, so you can make it as long as you want. We explored a lot of the bald hills so it ended up at 10 miles. Peaks behind Maligne lake from an overlook on the drive there: >  < The first 3 ish miles are on an old fire road through forest with occasional views. It was cold and drizzly but never heavy enough to be bothersome or obscure the view. Eventually, it broke out of the thick forest and panoramic views opened up. Long line of peaks >  < Opal Hillsβunfortunately the red didnβt come out great in pics. >  < In the alpine looking at 2 of the bald hills: >  < Maligne Lake came into view: >  < We hiked to the farthest baldy with an trail and at the peak a brief snow squall, yes snow, swept through. Maligne lake:  There were now beautiful views in new directions: >   < Just sublime up there: >  < View from the way down: >  |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 9, 2023 23:26:53 GMT -5
That was July 26th, the next day was going to be our last Jasper but the weather was showing cold and rainy, so instead of hiking we drove down the Icefields to Calgary. The Icefields Parkway is one of the best scenic drives out there. Clouds added to the scenery: >  < First glimpse of the Columbia Icefield: >  < So much ice: >  < Canβt ignore the scenery across the way from this overlook either: >  < Across from the Icefields center, you can now drive down to near the Athabasca glacier and do a short 1.5 mile hike to near the base of it. It was in the high 30s with blasting winds so the hike required all our layers. Looking down on Lake Sunwapta: >  < Athabasca Glacier:  Thereβs giant trucks that drive you onto the glacier but that was expensive and it didnβt like you could do more than stand on the glacier. All rocky tundra and rugged peaks >  < Saskatchewan crossing: >  < Weather eventually cleared up and we did another short 2 mile hike north of Lake Louise. No pictures from that. Spent the next day in Calgary, before my parents flew home the next morning and I started a roundabout route back to Colorado. Another big glacier from near Blue River, BC. >  < |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 10, 2023 21:03:49 GMT -5
After leaving the Canadian Rockies, I went to the Mount Baker area of the North Cascades. Several trails leave from near the Mount Baker ski area, I did one back in 2019. This time I took another trail, the Chain Lakes, that diverged from the one I did last time. Immediate views looking at Canada: >  < Trail started by climbing down a huge rock slab down to a lake with cliffy peaks towering over it. >  < Trail skirted around the lake then climbed steeply to a saddle. Here views opened up to Mount Shuksan, partially in the clouds. >  < Equally stunning views on the opposite side of the saddle: >   < Views opened up even more:  After the saddle, the trail descended, passing several more lakes with scenic backdrops. >   < Gorgeous wildflowers, not sure what plant this is. >  < Mount Shuksan back in view: >  < The last mile of the loop was the same as the start of the Ptarmigan Ridge trail I did last time I was here. It affords views in new directions: >  < |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 11, 2023 19:51:00 GMT -5
Did another hike from the same area but starting a bit farther down the road and going in a different direction. First few miles descended through forest before we came to a large meadow with a view of Mount Baker: >  < Views of plenty of other peaks too: >  < Trail ended at Lake Ann:  Great close up views of Mount Shuksan here: >  < Mount Bakerβs peak was no longer cloud covered on the way down: >  < Views on the way back: >  < View from the White Bird overlook in Idaho: >  < |
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Post by nei on Nov 13, 2023 21:56:00 GMT -5
posting my old August photos. first day I got to Canmore around 2:30 pm and it was kinda late to do a mountain hike and there were thunderstorms building. Was going to do HaLing Mountain but with the storms and late start did a very crowded trail that climbed above a lake. not that special but nice first impression of the Rockies  I guess this is Canmore's drinking water? and power source. got drizzled on and heard a lot of thunder, saw some big cells nearby, got caught in something moderately strong after I was done driving to Banff  nice rock shape, different shape than the North Cascades or Sierra  had dinner in Banff town and walked along the river before dinner. I think this is Mount Rundle  |
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Post by nei on Nov 13, 2023 22:04:33 GMT -5
next day was the worst full day of the trip. really smoky, air smelled nasty. Went to Helen Lake and a ridge few hundred feet above rather than the higher crumbly looking Cirque Peak that I was planning of going to. Bad air from smoke + low oxygen from nearly 10,000 feet sounded terrible. Forest also looked very dried out; bad drought  smoke improved as I was heading down, and stopped at a lake a couple miles from the trailhead off the road. dipped my feet in the lake |
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Post by nei on Nov 13, 2023 22:21:42 GMT -5
next day was also off to a bad start. smoke and rain clouds.hopefully the rain clouds would clear off the smoke, eventually but it was rather thick looking. Had a long leiusrely breakfast at Lake Lousie (the tiny tourist town a few miles away from the lake). Was planning on going all the way up to the Icefields Parkway to the Visitor Center but decided against, figured the mountains would socked in clouds and smoke looked worse going north. Restaurant staff suggested I check out the lake, just take the bus rather than deal with parking. made sense, at least I'd see the lake instead of hike into a cloud. Lake had 500+ people on the shore but was pretty. Raining not too hard, and smoke going away  day turned out better than I expected. walked along the lake to the "plain of six glaciers"; a narrow and deep valley and then over a ridge Agnes Lake got rather soaked but sorta dried off in a "teahouse"  glaciers and outwash plain? looked huge  got far less crowded at the end   looked better with the fog imo  from the ridge in between Lake Louise and Lake Agnes  looking down at Agnes  from the bottom  back at the lake  |
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Post by nei on Nov 15, 2023 10:24:49 GMT -5
Stayed at the Lake Louise Hostel overnight then went to Yoho National Park, a 30 minute drive away. Ate dinner with a guy from Edmonton (who I was sharing a hostel room with) who had done a multi-day backpacking trip in Mount Assiniboine, energetic guy. Managed to squeeze good trip with having kids. He saw a grizzly on the trail that refused to move even when more hikers came, and he had to do a long bushwhack around the bear. He had also cycled the Icefields Parkway when he was in college; definitely something I wanted to do when I was younger, similar to me said he said he won't it do that now due to low reward / high time cost. Similarly cloudy and rainy morning. Smoke was totally gone, it was fading yesterday afternoon with the rain. Rain was light and off and on. Hikeable but clear the clouds would hang on the mountain tops. so another lake day: Emerald Lake in Yoho. Hiked above the lake just to have something to do since the lake wouldn't take long. Trail had no people on it for hours, was getting nervous about surprising a grizzly but it was fairly open and didn't looked like the right habitat for them anyway (not alpine but forest was kinda barren)  lake was also crowded but not as crowded as Lake Louise on the trail to go above the lake, this is the river that flow into the lake. weirdly rocky forest floor, not exactly pretty but interesting. brown color from glacial meltwater sediment  looking back down, not the most impressive view in the Rockies but felt wild and liked the moody sky  cascades on the way up  big waterfall near the top  i'm getting rain on  back to the lake with some light   ate dinner in lake louise, then drove up the icefields parkway  Peyto Lake had great post-storm light, started drizzling on me just I was about to leave. Quite empty  continued driving off the Icefields Parkway to a motel. wild open country off the tourist path. 9 pm so felt emptier |
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Post by nei on Nov 16, 2023 22:22:59 GMT -5
motel view. managed to snag the shuttle for Moraine Lake that morning drove up to the Athabasca Icefield visitor center. The glacier was impressive but I was hoping to get a good view of the icefield; I'd actually get much better icefield views near Whistler in a few weeks, not sure if that's due to the mountain topography, trail network, icefields are larger there (they're not). Really busy visitor center, got some liquid meth and then looked at maps and visitor info. Glacier parking lot on the other side had a bear jam. didn't get a great photo but it was the only grizzly sighting of the trip. Mama bear and cubs. Rangers with an amplifier to shoe the bear away⦠or people. Mama bear was hanging around the crowds deliberately? Didn't want male bears around her cubs as male bears don't look people and will kill cubs. Vicious creatures nice glacier but I didn't linger because I wanted to do a hike and climb a mountain  obvious the west side of the highway was glaciated, east bare. Steelernation has more photos of that spot and spent more time in that area, so just check out his hiked wilcox trail and pass. trailhead had a bear warning, wonder if it was the same mother bear and cubs. lingering clouds from yesterday's cold front, they were hanging right around the crest of the Rockies. Trail opened up fast stunning open views lots of photos by the photos but light was better in the evening on the way back. long loose slog up to 9300 feet Wilcox Peak. First part simple, last part tricky with a few spots requiring careful holds and routefinding though nothing was cliffy or completely loose  had snow flurries briefly. it was the sort of sky that signified a steep temperature post-cold front. would have been squally if more intense. steep lapse and dry air below = light snow in the low 40s. I had a fleece on. snow only lasted 5-10 minutes, worried me a little but seemed a bit in and out. peak is kinda ugly  almost there  met 5-6 people, all coming down. two confident german women, another guy saying the last part was kinda hard and a guy from brooklyn who seemed to have gotten experienced at scrambling in his travels. sketchy feeling side traverse   across the valley  on the way down met sheep by the pass |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 16, 2023 22:42:47 GMT -5
Fun seeing pictures from all the same places I went. Yoho is the only place so far youβve posted Iβve never been. Well Wilcox Peak too but Iβve done the hike most of the way there. Cool you got to see grizzlies, only two bears I saw were black.
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Post by nei on Nov 20, 2023 11:07:00 GMT -5
next day I did the Iceline Trail loop in Yoho. Got a late start for no particular reason, so felt unreasonably rushed. Beginning part was spectacular. Narrow curvy road to get to the trailhead, though in good condition. only real "mountain road" I drove on the trip, rest were straight roads in flat valley bottoms. Icefields Parkway does climb a bit by Peyto Lake but at a very gentle grade; gentler than White Mountain passes. after climbing halfway above the valley floor. reminded me a bit of Yosemite ice at that top though valley to floor not quite as high  that waterfall up close, most people come up just to the waterfall, highest easily accesible waterfall in the Rockies. Trail was still popular. got close to the waterfall somewhat gloomy day looking across, still a nice sky imo pretty but a bit barren cool to see the glacier that feeds the waterfall went off trail with some fun scrambling to get close to the foot of a glacier, assumed that would be the closest I could get to a glacier on my travels until I did Mount Weart near Whistler a few weeks later quite barren up here, got a bit bored of the barrenness though was excited at first at how close up to the glacier I was peaks look big long nice forest walk which didn't stand out photo-wise. another smaller waterfall on the way back I lingered a while above treeline exploring the foot of glacier, most people hiking had finished so it was very quiet until I got backpacker camp, and then still fairly empty afterwards. back on the valley floor really peaceful at 6 pm. there was a nice frontcountry campground near the trailhead that I wished I stayed at; I didn't plan very well |
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Post by ππΏMΓΆrΓΆnππΏ on Nov 20, 2023 16:30:36 GMT -5
damn nice pics neimust've been a great time out there |
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Post by nei on Nov 21, 2023 8:14:49 GMT -5
next day went to Moraine Lake. Lucked out and got the shuttle bus. Planned to do two passes, Wenkchemna Pass and Sentinel Pass. Park Ranger told me doing both would fine yesterday morning (I stopped at the Lake Louise visitor center and a very energetic French Canadian park ranger said it was a good idea and I'd be fine. Also said Wilcox Peak had moderately tricky route finding, didn't feel bad I had a bit of trouble on it. the pass area used to have a minimum of 4 people late summer for grizzly bear safety. ranger said "there's enough people there we don't put the restrictions up any more"). I'd say this was the best day of the trip, and it was nice to have a goal (both passes) that I needed finished before the last shuttle bus (7:30 pm). Stayed at Banff, planning didn't quite work out. Was staying at Lake Louise previous nights right near Moraine Lake so had an extra 40 minute drive in the morning. Didn't get a great sleep in the noisy, stuffy Banff hostel room. Was very groggy at Moraine Lake and got overpriced coffee and snacks. Dreary, blank white sky not the "interesting" cloudy sky I like. Most photographed view in the Rockies? 500 tourists not shown; still felt a little less overwhelmed than Lake Louise.  The hiking trails weren't overcrowded at all; it was mostly tourists (often Indian / Chinese) snagging the postcard view. Downside of not that crowded trail is didn't feel that bear safe. Someone yesterday got bluff charged. Walked by an organized hiking group. I asked "how do you tell it's a bluff charge?", his answer "when the bear stops". After 45 minutes in the woods, trail openned up looking down at the valley Moraine Lake is in at some point the trail to Wenkchemna Pass forks off from the Sentinel Pass trail, I decided to do Wenkchemna Pass first, which is much less popular and most people turn around by a lake on the way to the pass. looking down at what I think was the lake almost to the pass, could hear noises from glaciers cracking and releasing rocks. not too worried about surprising a bear given how open it is (actually those photos were on the way down, not that it makes a difference). from the pass, looking back. group of 1 is lower than the park service recommendation. was a guy visiting from upstate NY, I think near Rochester Steelernation. his brother moved to Seattle and they were doing a road trip from Seattle and his brother wasn't interested in long hikes. talked to him for 15 minutes, was kinda chilly at the pass. Breezy and no sun  pass is on the continental divide and Yoho park is on the other side, looked interesting but didn't stand out photo-wise back to the trail fork at the trails. after 10 minutes on the sentintal pass trail  getting up⦠pass is less open felt a bit steeper. lots of people coming down from Temple which looked really intense (Temple is the highest peak in Banff, doesn't need climbing equipment besides a helmet) from near the top |
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Post by nei on Nov 21, 2023 8:27:18 GMT -5
next morning did a small mountain that can hiked from Banff town center (banff is both a national park and town)  really nice with the early morning light. last day, flying out in the evening to Vancouver. Stopped to hike Ha Ling Peak near Canmore on my way out.  not big or any route finding trouble but fairly steep and a bit loose. Really popular, surprised how many people brought young kids up it. They looked like they were doing fine. Did a side peak called Miner's Peak which was nice. meant to do HaLing on my first day in the Rockies but it was late and risk of storms; definitely made the right choice, didn't have time for anything bigger since I did a morning walk. about the same trailhead as the hike I did the first day near Canmore. looking down to the valley Canmore is in, Canmore area feels drier than closer to the divide about to drive back to the airport, unfortunately hit a lot of traffic. Got held up by goats on the road leaving the trailhead  |
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Post by Steelernation on Nov 21, 2023 18:31:51 GMT -5
nei Moraine Lake and Sentinel Pass look great. Iβm bummed I wasnβt able to get shuttle reservations to go there
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Post by nei on Nov 26, 2023 23:22:36 GMT -5
Few days afterwards (flew to Vancouver Sunday, went up to Whistler) did the same climb I attempted the summer before: camped at Russet Lake above Whistler then goal was to climb Overlord Mountain. Tried summer 2022 but route to peak was blocked by snow. cheated and splurged on the gondola from whistler to the hiking trail. path above Cheakmus Lake was beautiful but earlier summer snowmelt = wildflower season already over  evening light getting to the Russet Lake campsite overview of the peak I was attempting to climb  next morning left my camping gear at the backpacker's campsite and start my peak attempt. quickly turned very barren  faint path up  at least got to the point where I could above the glaciers. not as pretty as the canadian rockies but better glacier views. overlord is along the steep scree slope following near the cliff edge. not technical but not comfortable either. took much longer than I expected; started a little late then wasted time getting around a tricky snow patch (completely icy crust early morning, would be crossable by noon). the loose scree felt like I had nothing to grip, felt like there was a risk of sliding on the dirt. but it was actually fine, on the way down (which should be less comfortable) I was more confident and faster. Got to the subpeak Whirlwhind and kept going a bit, but near a cliff edge on loose stuff it was slow going and eventually turned around. Shame, summit photos I'd be surrounded by glaciers below almost 360Β° (except for the ridge i climbed to reach the summit). more views  other direction, just choss all the way down  impressive crack  |
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