Jasper part 4/4- Geradine Lakes

This is the final post in a four part series about my hiking/camping trip to Jasper. You can read part one here, part two here, and part three here.

So, on our last day of hiking, we went up on the Geraldine Lakes trail. I've done a little bit of hiking on it before, and it's just gorgeous.

A view of the first lake.

 

 And a view from higher up.
 

We stopped for lunch by the base of a beautiful waterfall.

 

My feet were starting to get sore (thank you plantars fasciitis), so I stuck my feet in the ice cold mountain creek. 

 

I loved watching all the fish in the lakes. Just ask anybody who was there or anyone who has travelled with me. I'm pretty obsessed with fish-watching. 

Look below: It's a fish!

Another shot of the waterfall from further away.

 

 Kind of a wacky shot of a the lake, from a different angle. I happened to catch a dragonfly in the photo, which adds a certain element of quirky character to the photo.

So that's it! The end of this "series" of posts. I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip. It was a really great trip. I hiked over 30 kilometers and gained over 1600 meters of elevation. And best of all, I had time to think, reflect and appreciate our world. 

Thanks for reading.

Jasper part 3/4- Mt. Edith Cavell

So, that night, the Venturers arrived (all except one, who came the next day). The next morning, we set off to Mt. Edith Cavell, a merry group of seven.

Our plan was to hike up the main trail, up to the top of the "Cavell Meadows" which offer great views of Mt. Edith Cavell (we weren't actually climbing the mountain). Here's a look at the Angel Glacier, which is the "icon" for Mt. Edith Cavell.

 

A couple of the boys.

The view from the first viewpoint.

 

My dad has this little plush penguin that he takes hiking and uses for scale photos. Here's a loverly photo. of Monsignor Penguin (not real name)

 

And after a steep climb, we're at the top of the meadows!
 

At the bottom of the glacier, there's this pond/lake with all these ice chunks that fall off the glacier.
 

And that's all for today! Hope you enjoyed! 

Jasper part 2/4- Athabasca

So, on the second day, my dad and I decided to hike up to a little cliff that he calls "Little Athabasca". He calls it that because it has a great view of the wonderful Mt. Athabasca.

The photo below is a picture of my finger pointing to the cliff that we hiked up. I'm standing beside our car in the Columbia Icefields parking lot, and we hiked the rest of the way.

Here is close up of the cliff.

 

My dad hiking up. What you see in the photo is average terrain, and no, there wasn't really a path.

  

The wonderful Mt. Athabasca

 

There were some climbers coming down from Athabasca. Inspiring! I took some photos of them through my binoculars.

 

This is the stuff we were climbing up for the last part till the very top.

 

And without further ado- the view from the top.

A cool rock I found with a hole in it. No, I didn't take it home (it's a National Park)

Gotta love snow patches in summer.

 

I love the plant life that survives in the mountains way up high. Don't you sometimes feel like you're all alone in the wilderness?

 

  

The pictures just don't do it justice. It was just incredible. I'll probably post more photos from this hike, as it was so good. I think it was the best hike I've ever done.

Jasper part 1/4- Wilcox Pass

Hey everyone,

So, as you probably know, I got back from six days of camping and hiking in the Rocky Mountains (Jasper area). I went for a three day camp with my Venturer company, and my dad and I went three days early to do some extra hiking.

Below are some photos.

The first day, we hiked about 12 kms (with about 400 meters of elevation gain) in Wilcox Pass.

There was a herd of 11 bighorn sheep in the pass

 And down below, we visited Horseshoe Lake which is one of my favourite little lakes in the Rockies. It's very beautiful ( and really deep and full of fish!). Actually it's deep enough that people like to go to a little cliff ledge and jump in, just for kicks. We saw a whole bus load of people in swim suits going to jump into the water. It was pretty funny.

More to come tomorrow.

Gone camping!

Hello my lovely blogging buddies.

I'm going camping and hiking with my Venturer group, and  so I'm leaving today for the mountains! Actually, our camp officially starts on Thursday, but my dad and I are going a few days early to get some extra hiking in beforehand. Once the rest of the Venturers arrive, we're going to be doing some long dayhikes in the mountains, and just getting more experience camping in the mountains. I'll be back on Sunday. Meanwhile, I've got some posts written that are scheduled to be posted while I'm gone. I'll try to have one written for everyday that I'm gone, but we'll see.

Take care everyone!

Camping, mountains…

I just got back from camping in the mountains. It was a really great vacation. It’s been said hundreds of times before, but there really is something about the mountains that is so rejuvenating, awe-inspiring, spiritually-provoking, or something. It gave me a lot of time to think and read, and I’m thankful for that. We did a whole bunch of hiking and saw some incredible views. It was seriously breathtaking. I feel like it was just what I needed. Now my challenge is: How can I better appreciate all the beauty and goodness that is all around me?

Quebec

As some of you know, I just came back from almost two weeks in Quebec. The reason I went was to go to a large Scout Camp: Scouts Canada Jamboree 2007. There were scouts from Ireland, USA, Kenya, Switzerland, Taiwan( and other countries, I forget) and of course, lots from Canada! It was really great. There were almost 8,000 people there! Located about an hour north of Montreal, Camp Tamaracouta was the perfect place to hold CJ. It is right next to a really nice lake, and even though there were almost 8,000 people there, it really didn't feel like it! One of the highlights for me came when I got to meet Adam Baden-Clay, who is Lord Baden-Powell's great-grandson! It was neat meeting a living relative of the man whose started this great movement. I didn't bring my camera to CJ (intentionally, so I wouldn't lose it), so I don't have any photos to post, but you can find some on the site I posted above.

The "actual" Utah post!

Here it is: the big Utah post!

We did so much that I won't possibly be able to write as much about our trip as I would like to, but here goes! The first two days of our trip were mainly just driving. From where I live, to where we were going (Cedar City, UT) is about a 24 hr. drive so it can get loooong and boring. However, I was in the USA, a place I had never been before. How cool is that!
We passed through:↑Observe the snow in the background...This is June, remember!
And finally:
The first night, we stayed in Helena, Montana and drove past their State Capitol building, which was really neat. Here is a photo:↓
We arrived in Cedar City, and poked around there. It is a really neat city with lots of character. It is quite small, around 10,000 people.
My YFA began the next day. We had three book discussions, three excellent speakers and two simulations. Besides that, we had a formal dance (ball room dancing, not that random bobbing up and down that you find at most dances) and lots of quiet conversations. What was really awesome is that everybody there is really, really, really nice and is really trying to make a difference in the world, which is cool.

My YFA was just a tiny bit of what we did while we were in the States. The evening that I came back, we went to Kolob Canyon, which is quite close to CC. In the evening, the red rock there is very beautiful.↓

We went to Grand Canyon. Its HUGE!!!
↑We saw lots of these lizards at the Grand Canyon. I have to admit, I sort got obsessed with them, and my sister would groan when I zoomed off in search of them...


The next day we went to Bryce Canyon. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I am going to post lots of them.





Kathleen had her YFA then we went headed home! We stayed overnight in Salt Lake City. I am not Mormon, but is was really neat spending time there and learning more about LDS. Sunday morning we poked around on Temple Square and went to the dress rehearsal of "Music and the Spoken Word" and heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir live!↓




↑This is on the roof of the LDS conference center. In the background, dead center, is the Salt Lake Temple, of which there is photo (5 photos up) of it at night.

All in all, it was a great trip, and I learned loads.

Anyway, thanks for reading!