The lure of the Rockies - a Canadian adventure

Canoeing on Emerald Lake,  Yoho National Park, BC, Canada
Two Weeks in the Rockies!

 The long awaited trip to Canada was finally upon us and on Saturday 15th September 2012 we left dreary London Heathrow on Air Canada flight 851 headed for Calgary.

 The only real plans that we'd made for the stay were for the collection and drop off of the tent as well as the first and last nights' accommodation in Canmore, AB.  Other than that we had some ideas and places we wanted to visit but ultimately the Rockies of Alberta were ours to explore!

 I spent most of the trip home planning how I'd put the Canada blog post(s) together as we packed so much in to the two weeks that we spent in the Rockies that trying to cram everything into one post just wouldn't work and would make for pretty dire reading for those poor soles that look at this blog!  

 So, I've decided to run though the day-by-day agenda (below) with a general overview of each day that will then link to the detailed post - as and when I get around to writing them, here goes!

 Agenda (September, 2012)
(The images and titles of the day's below will link to the blog posts as soon as I've managed to write and upload them)
Day 1 - Saturday 15th

Arrival in Canada - Calgary International Airport.  Picked up rental car and tent (rent-a-tent-vancouver) and headed up to Canmore for our first night and itinerary planning for the rest of the trip!

Day 2 - Sunday 16th


Campsite - Castle Mountain, Nr Banff, AB
Travel from Canmore to Castle Mountain campsite and walk to Boom Lake
Read the post here

Day 3 - Monday 17th


Campsite - Castle Mountain, Nr Banff, AB
Sulphur Mountain, hike to summit of Sanson's Peak (2,256m) and visit to Banff Hot Springs
Day 4 - Tuesday 18th


Campsite - Lake Louise Campground, Lake Louise, AB
Travel to Lake Louise campsite and visits to Takakaw Falls and Lake Louise
Read the post here

Day 5 - Wednesday 19th


Campsite - Lake Louise Campground, Lake Louise, AB
Hike to summit of Fairview Mountain (2,744m)
Day 6 - Thursday 20th


Campsite - Lake Louise Campground, Lake Louise, AB
6 Glaciers walk from Lake Louise and Plain of 6 Glaciers Tea House
Read the post here

Day 7 - Friday 21st


Campsite - Lake Louise Campground, Lake Louise, AB
"The Ice Line" trail from Takakaw Falls
Post coming soon!

Day 8 - Saturday 22nd


Campsite - Whistlers Campground, Jasper, AB
Travel to Jasper (Whistlers Campsite) via Columbia Icefield Center and the Ice Field Parkway (Highway 95)
Post coming soon!

Day 9 - Sunday 23rd


Campsite - Whistlers Campground, Jasper, AB
Mountain Biking! Valley of the 5 Lakes trail, Jasper
Post coming soon!

Day 10 - Monday 24th


Campsite - Whistlers Campground, Jasper, AB
Sulphur Skyline hike and visit to Miette Hotsprings
Read the post here

Day 11 - Tuesday 25th


Campsite - Whistlers Campground, Jasper, AB
(rain day) - Jasper and Maligne Lake
Post coming soon!

Day 12 - Wednesday 26th


Campsite - Kicking Horse, Yoho National Park, BC
Travel to Kicking Horse Campsite
Canoeing on Emerald Lake and visits to; Spiral Tunnels & Natural bridge
Post coming soon!

Day 13 - Thursday 27th


Campsite - Kicking Horse, Yoho National Park, BC
Pagett Peak climb and Grizzly bear encounter!
Post coming soon!

Day 14 - Friday 28th




All in all we had an amazing 2 weeks and it was a holiday that neither of us will ever forget.  Our best decision by far was to not plan a rigid agenda and to decide "on the fly" as this gave us so much more freedom to explore the Rockies and to change plans at the last minute if needed.

I hope this, and the day-by-day, posts will inspire you to head out to Canada, there is more to see and do there than you can possibly imagine!
Location: Alberta, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wild camping on Cadair Idris

Image
Leaving Romsey behind at 2pm on a Saturday may seem like a crazy idea when the aim is to travel to the foothills of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia National Park but there is method to my madness! The idea was to arrive around 6pm, park the car and then head up to Llyn Cau (Lake Cau) and set up the tent for a night of Wild Camping and then set off early the next morning on a circular route to the summit of Penygadair (893m) via Craig Cau and Mynydd Moel (863m) before returning to the car and heading home! So it was almost bang on 6pm that I pulled into the car park just off the A487 at Minffordd - unfortunately there is no ticket option for an overnight stay so paying £6 to the (very eccentric) owner of the campsite a few hundred yards down the road achieved the required parking spot for the night. Heading off up the very steep steps that follow the course of the Nant Cadair river from the visitor center takes you up to around 400m and the split of the paths where you fork off to th
Read more

You can't win them all - short walk to Llyn Cau at the foot of Cadair Idris

Image
You always hear it don't you, said by other people, they're the classic words of mountain wisdom: "knowing when to turn back is the most important skill" and for most people who walk, hike and climb in the hills and mountains this saying is never anything more than that - a saying or a phrase to remember just in case.   But sometimes a situation presents itself and you find yourself thinking and remembering that phrase and you realise why it really is the most important skill you can take with you into the hills. Monday 26th August 2013 From the small cottage in Snowdonia national park where we were staying for the August bank holiday weekend we headed out towards Dolgellau and car park at the foot of the Cadair Idris range just off the B4405 in the small village of Minffordd (pronounced "Min futh") which was to be the start of our walk. We'd planned a circular walk from the car park; up towards Llyn Cau ( where we've wild camped before ) vi
Read more

Winter walk on Pen-y-Fan

Image
Back again! Pen-y-Fan summit Somehow it's taken me nearly 3 months to write this walk up so, for those who were with me on the walk, please excuse any bits that I've missed and put them down to poor memory, nothing else! In preparation for a more arduous walk in the summer (a Triathlon of sorts on Ben Nevis to be precise) and as a "intro" to the mountains for Gareth, who'd be part of the Ben Nevis team and who had no real mountain walking experience, I'd planned a trip to Pen-y-Fan and a slight variation on a mountain I've walked up numerous times. The plan was to head up to Wales fairly early and start walking before 9am ideally - mainly so that we'd encounter fewer people on the hill and also to make the most of the snow that would hopefully still be on the mountain after a few days of rain and warmer weather. As mentioned earlier I'd planned a slightly different route for this walk as all of my previous walks on Pen-y-Fan have started
Read more