Rocky Mountain Trip 2004
For a small holiday in the summer of 2004, I signed up for a 10 day tour of the Rocky Mountains with True North Tours, their 'Rocky Experience' package. With transport, park fees, accomodation and most food the total came to $580.00, which was very reasonable for this student's budget.
Actually a combination of two tours, first one that went for six days in Banff and Jasper national parks, linking to a second one that spent the remaining time in the much lesser known Waterton.
The first tour picked me up in Calgary on the morning of August 4th.
After picking up the rest of the people (backpackers from Holland, Switzerland,
Japan, Taiwan, England, Scotland and Los Angeles) and getting groceries
in Banff, we headed straight to Lake Louise...
...which was as beautiful as ever. We split into two groups to hike.
The 'hard group' was rewarded for the tough slog up Mt Fairview by
getting caught in a nasty storm and getting soaked, while the 'easy group'
relaxed in the tea house on the top of their mountain, ate pie and drank
hot chocolate until the rain quit.
Weather was destined to be not so good for this week. A Goretex jacket
and shoes with good grip are handy for this type of thing.
Anyway, typically after a day of hiking or whatever we arrived at a new hostel where we unloaded the van and hauled our stuff in.
Bunk beds at Athabasca hostel. Think of it like luxurious camping
instead of an extremely cheap hotel room you share with 20 other people,
some of which snore (like me).
Supper was made for us by our guides Karen and Owen (who appreciated
some help), and was always very good.
Afterwards, depending on the hostel, there could be a hot tub, sauna,
drinking, visiting, playing cards, etc. The wilderness hostels tend to
be very social. Accomodations varied from extremely modern and nice (Lake
Louise) to very rustic (Rampart Creek, Athabasca).
The next few days we kept busy with a variety of things as we moved
around the parks. Including river rafting on the Kicking horse....
....hiking up Coliseum mountain in Nordegg...
...and a guided hike on the Columbia glacier.
It paid to be careful when taking photos....
...something that numerous signs on the way up made abundantly clear.
Starting from the back left: Fabian (Switzerland), Leila (England),
Me (Canada!), Tim and Leia (Scotland/England), Laura and Elwin (Netherlands)
From the front left: Yu-chun Chien (Taiwan), Yukie (Japan), Aafke
and Marian (Netherlands), Satomi (Japan), and Adriana (Italy/US)
Other things we did included a look around Morraine lake, soaking
in Miette hotsprings, a short hike around Maligne lake, and going out for
supper in Jasper.
The tour ended with a variety show that was put on thanks to the
energy of Adriana, and after a long night ended by drinking games
and shooting stars that tour was over.
So the three of us that were continuing said goodbye to our mates
and headed off on to Waterton with Viviana our new driver/guide and more
backpackers from assorted places. This time Singapore, Japan, Spain, and
Switzerland.
En, Yong hui, and Adrienne from Singapore smiled a lot...
....so we killed them (kidding, I kid, I kid)
The drive down to Waterton was broken up by stops for groceries at Okotoks, lunch at High River, and a tour of the site at Head Smashed In buffalo jump. Otherwise uneventful and we slept in the van : )
Our tour leader was a little intimidating....(Oh alright, I'll
stop)
Fixing the 'bear warning' tape on the way. Day-oh!
