I think Canada is the most beautiful country on Earth. Chris and I are currently on a hiking holiday, traveling around the Rocky Mountains, and although it isn't running, I am going to share some of our experiences, as it is still training.
Jasper NP
Our first hike in Jasper was a fairly easy backcountry hike called the Saturday Night Lake Loop. This really could have been done as a day hike fairly easily, but I wanted to camp in the back country so we split it over two days. On the first day we saw two black bears which freaked me our a fair bit and absolutely thrilled Chris. They weren't interested in us though and wondered off so we continued. As it turned out, I should have been more concerned about mosquitoes than bears, as we were swarmed by them. I even had mosquito bites in my ears, on my scalp and on my face. I reapplied bug spray constantly but it didn't seem to help. After completing our first back country hike we went to Maligne Canyon which is an incredibly deep and narrow canyon.
On our third day in Jasper we headed up The Whistlers Mountain in the morning, summiting in just over two and half hours. It was a climb of 1250m over 8km. The first 6km were a fairly moderate incline, but it got a lot steeper for the last 2km and my legs felt like led. I did feel superior to the gondola riders though. I thought they were kinda cheating when they took their photos at the summit cairn. In the afternoon we did some easy walks in the Maligne Lake area and then a short trail run along the Jaques Lake trail off Maligne Lake Road.
Yoho NP
On our first day in Yoho we hiked out to Twin Falls which was about 17km return. We followed the Yoho river most the way until we reached the beautiful Twin Falls. We then drove to Emerald Lake which is a gorgeous Emerald Green colour (never pick that from the name). It is one of the most beautiful lakes we have seen yet. We just walked around the lakeshore circuit. Our final walk for the day was to Wupta Falls. Unlike the other falls we have seen here, these were short and wide rather than tall and thin.
Day two in Yoho involved going to the most beautiful place on Earth - Lake O'Hara! This gorgeous teal coloured lake is nestled in amongst snow capped mountains with amazing hiking trails abound! We walked around the lake a bit and then headed to Lake Oesa. There was a fairly steep switchbacking climb where we saw a very large golden eagle flying over us (and I didn't freak out despite bird phobia). The grade then flattened a bit and we climbed over rockfall, passing several lakes before we reached Lake Oesa which was still frozen over. From there I made a very dumb decision to follow the Yukness Ledges Alpine Route. The story is far too long for here but let me give some advice. If you head out on a trail that is largely snow bound, exposed and that involves a lot of trail finding and navigation, make sure you have your gps before you go, or at least a compass! Things could have ended badly as we lost the track and ended up significantly above where we needed to be. Scrambling down rocks and dumb luck eventually got us back on track. We still had to walk over several snow bound ledges which freaked Chris out, but eventually we made it to the end of the trail at Hungabee Lake where we got to see hairy marmots. Finally we headed back to Lake O'Hara along the East Opabin Trail. It was quite a stressful but amazing day!
Now we are in Banff, hoping that the weather turns good. We have lots planned! My mosquito bits are almost gone too and I haven't had a bear encounter in days. :)
