Saturday 31 August 2013

Emerald Lake - A true Gem in the Rockies

Our second day in the Rockies began early. It rained over the course of the first night so when we woke up we had to pack our tent up somewhat wet and get on our way. We stopped at Two Jack Lake to take a few photos as well as Lake Minnewanka.

Two Jack Lake

Mama and Baby Big Horn Sheep

Lake Minnewanka


Lake Minnewanka

Fairmont Banff

Our intenerary was to hit Emerald Lake, do some canoeing around the lake, leave, set up our camp at Lake Louise Campground then go for a small hike or sight-see and then head back to Emerald Lake Lodge for a mouth-watering meal. Since we had a bit of a drive from Banff, we stopped at Starbucks in Banff for a latte, went up to Fairmont Banff to check it out, and were on our way. You can stay at the Fairmont in the summer if you want to pay $499/night. I'm not really a hotel person, so it's not an option for me when I'm in the outdoors, but for those who need the fresh linens, showers and hot meals I'm sure you can't go wrong here.
We stopped at the Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park (the full day was spent in this Park). For a description of the falls you can visit http://www.field.ca/yohonationalpark/naturalbridge/ it's on the Kicking Horse River in Field, BC.  Below are some of the shots of the mountains on the way to the Natural Bridge as well as the Natural Bridge - this was one of my favourite places. We ate our breakfast on the rocks - Yogurt Parfaits (delish). Beat the traffic and busy people by going early to see the falls, you'll get better shots for sure.











Top of the Natural Bridge


Natural Bridge, Field, BC (sorry for the smudge on the lens)

Looking through part of the bridge

watching the plunging water through the rock

Most beautiful shot for the morning
So after we hit up this amazing splendor of the morning, we went right to Emerald Lake. I have a lot of shots from the time we spent there so I will try to keep them to a minimum. We first hiked around the lake which took approx. 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the sign says about 3, but we're quick because we were blessed with long legs (LOL) Jacq may be the only girl of my friends and fam who has longer legs than me :P They can come in handy, but also be somewhat of a challange haha (like being couped up in vehicles for longstanding periods) I don't know how super tall people do it.

Anyhow, here we go, please enjoy these shots as much as we did by being there. It did rain for part of the hike, it quickly cleared. The weather changes almost with the drop of a hat in the rockies, which is nice. Theses shots are from the walk around the lake (very flat, not much elevation) as well as the lodge view, canoeing etc. There were some pretty neat species of berries and mushrooms along the walk.

Jacq figuring out the distance and where we are headed :)
 This was by far the most impressive of all the lakes we had visited. I know there are more to come, but just the colour and the stillness. All the wildflowers and everything encompassing the lake really takes your breath away. You could grab some fold out chairs and just sit watching the lake and it's surroundings all day. Well I could anyway (lol) and I'm not really one for sitting.
 




 The above are shots where we were just getting started. The benches have a really rustic feel, very suiting to the lake :) On to more shots.


Indian Paintbrush








Woodpecker

Thimble Berry - first time seeing these!

One of the lodges you can stay in at Emerald Lake Lodge



Ok so on second thought I will need to split this day into two posts. There are so many beautiful pictures and I want to add them to the blog. They are a bit time consuming to go through and pick out which ones to add/upload. I have too many VIP things to do today and I don't want to rush my day (my last day with Amanda...boo hoo)! Stay tuned for day 2 in the Rockies...

Monday 26 August 2013

Rewinding and Unwinding - Taking it back to the 15th of August

August has been grand. I have had such a great summer. The weekend prior to the 15th we threw somewhat of a housewarming/backyard party for my brother and my Aunt who were celebrating their birthdays, it was a success, quite a large turnout too. I really enjoyed myself, I believe most everyone did. One thing I forgot to do was snap photo's of everyone, I was running around quite a bit so it was kinda hard. There is always next time.

On the 15th I set off on my trip to the west, I had to be at the airport for 6am (boarding was 6:15), you can only guess what kind of a morning approached. I didn't get to sleep until late (which isn't a huge suprise). I had a leave a key for my friend to get in and feed Storm over the course of the 10 days I was away and I forgot where I placed the key I had made the day before. I purposly left it on a wrist coil and put it out of sight while packing so I didn't accidentally pack it in my suitcase or carry-on. I rechecked all my bags three times, checked the car, checked under the plant pot... no where was this key to be found. So here I was driving to grab a coffee to wake up and head to the airport (time was running short and I had to park 'N fly), so what do I do when I'm in the drivethru to get my coffee? Look up at my rearview and see the damn key hanging from it on the coil. I bolted out of the parking lot, all the way back to my place (2 blocks away) and placed it where I told JK she could find it. Once that was settled I finally made it to park n' fly it was already 6am, I asked the rest of the people waiting for the shuttle how long it would take and they said their flight was at 7am (mine was 6:50) so if I wasn't going to make my flight neither were they, but they were confident we'd have plenty of time. I wouldn't say I had plenty of time, but I did make it and I was some glad.
Also worth noting - when/if you park 'n fly look for deals online, the cost without it is double, I woudl have paid $160 for 10 days where I actually only paid $87.

The flight was 4 hours and some, there is a 3 hour time change flying to Edmonton, so in one sense you feel like you gain some of your day back, but it totally catches up to you at night and when you return home. I couldn't believe how long the flight was, getting out of Ontario was the longest part, and boy is it flat across the praries. Quite a few pretty skylines I captured, but I fell asleep as it was so early. I also had to block out the grumpy couple beside me, it was one of those days where the man can say nothing right and the woman makes him very aware (LOL).




 

So I landed, Jacq picked me up, it was so great to see her! She gave me a tour of Edmonton, we took Will (her hubby) some coffee, picked up groceries for camping, made the salads, packed everything, drank some wine and relaxed. We set out early Friday morning (6:30am 'ish), made it to Banff around 11:30/12 we stopped a few times, couldn't get a campsite at Two Jack Lakeside but got one at the main campground, it was nice, lots of privacy. The weather held nice for the first day, it rained at night. There was a grizzly feeding on a black bear carcass in the sunshine meadows area so we didn't really want to be too close to the water or hike in lots anyway. We fit in the upper and lower canyon of Johnson falls - what a great steep hike for day 1 and beautiful set of water falls. We saw bighorn sheep the first day, some eagles, Lake Minnewanka and Two Jake Lake, also part of Bow Valley river/summit which was beautiful.

setting out
Setting up camp was fun, building a fire was a bit of a challange as the wood was a bit damp, making food was the challange. The campstove Jacq's ex-coworker gave us didn't work properly, so we had to make our ravioli over the campfire, this was after multiple attempts of getting the campstove to work and the fire going out. So after restarting the fire, getting the food hot, you could only imagine how greatful we were to have a warm meal, the fire roaring, and to be able to relax. I'm attaching some of our shots from the day I arrived and from the first day in the mountains, enjoy, the best part was Johnston Falls - super pretty.


Our Campsite



Big Horn Sheep
Bow Valley River
 
Bow Valley River


Large Raven @ Johnston Canyon


Castle Mountain


Upper Falls - Johnston Canyon
Second shot of Upper Johnston Falls

 


Lower Falls - Johnston Canyon
 
Two Jack Lake



Johnston Canyon
Johnston Canyon


Lower Falls - Johnston Canyon




Lake Minnewanka