Canada (iv): Misty Mountains

After a fitful few hours of sleep huddled in the cold in the back of the Jeep, I awoke to the metallic cacophony of a train speeding by just behind where I was parked. Rubbing the cold and sleep from my eyes and joints, I got back in the driver's seat and set off south back toward Banff. It was raining, but the forecast showed sun below Jasper. It looked like I had beat the rain up north and it had caught up with me. On my return journey on the Icefields Parkway, the scene was a different one. Instead of bright, sunlit peaks framed against a clear sky, the mountains were now shrouded in cold, low hanging clouds. I had intended to participate in a guided hike out onto a glacier about halfway down, but the rain dissuaded me.

As I drove further south, I began to see the sun breaking through the clouds on the horizon. The warm morning glow grew stronger until the clouds had dissipated and I was back in Banff. Before I reached the town, I decided to make my way back to Lake Louise and take advantage of the sun. I rented a canoe and paddled out onto the water and just sat in the center of that azure pool for a good hour.

I made it back to the town of Banff in the early evening. I ran up one of the bordering hills to catch one last sunset before concluding the trip in my mind. I spent the next couple of hours having a giant beer and ribs back at the Bear Street Tavern. The next morning I drove back to Calgary and finished off the last of the This American Life episodes I had loaded just minutes before getting to the airport. Perfectly planned. 

Canada (iii): Sunset On Maligne

Maligne Lake is about a 40 minute drive from Jasper. Through some winding mountain roads and around Medicine Lake, Maligne is quiet, secluded, and more serene, if not as surreally hued, as Lake Louise. I parked the Jeep and walked along the eastern shore to find a place to sit and watch the sunset. The shore was mostly devoid of any other people. I wound up at the Maligne Lake boathouse where some attendants were closing up for the day. When they had left, I hopped up on to dock where a row of jewel toned, upturned canoes rested like a pack of Skittles slowly melting into one solid glob in the sun. 

I poked around a bit and discovered a weathered antique leather chair in the boathouse. I pulled it out on to the dock to watch the sunset in retro style. As I sat ensconced in the rust and teal colored leather and the sun crept closer to the trees across the lake, dark clouds rolled in over the mountains to the east. As they crested the mountains, they seemed to linger as if a black sheep with its wool snagged on the jagged peaks. A vivid rainbow, backdropped by a faint echo of itself, materialized and split the sky between light and dark like a meteorologic prism.

I feared it would rain and ruin the show, but the ominous clouds passed without incident. I spent the rest of the remaining daylight on the dock accompanied only by the sound of waves slapping against the metallic hulls of row boats and the creaking of wood.  After the sun fell below the mountains, I drove back over to Medicine Lake to catch the dramatic colors of the last minutes of sun. 

That evening, I found my way back to the town of Jasper and stopped by a local bar, the Whistle Stop Pub. I had only planned on having one drink before finding a place to sleep that night. I found myself speaking to a fellow named Ryan who told me he owned a trucking company and was on the way down to Vancouver from Great Plains, Alberta. Ryan decided it was too quiet that night decided to buy everyone in the bar two rounds of drinks. Oddly, he only finished one beer and left while everyone else drank on his tab (which ended up being ~$500 after his first credit card was declined). Random acts of kindness? Afterward, I slept in the back of the Jeep in a remote parking lot and prepared myself for the drive back to Banff the next day. 

Canada (ii): Highway Giants

I headed north in the morning to outrun the rain. Emerging from the clouds on the Icefields Parkway I found myself surrounded on either side by towering peaks and more glacial lakes glimmering in the early morning sun. The Icefields Parkway is rightfully considered one of the most scenic drives in the world. I stopped almost every 15 minutes to step out of the car into the crisp, mountain air to just stand at the feet of geologic monoliths.

About an hour up from Lake Louise was Bow Summit. A short and easy trail up to a viewing platform over Peyto Lake. Bare faced rock reaching up above the tree line dotted with fat, low hanging clouds resembling sinking dirigibles rising up to frame another pristine aquamarine lake and a valley of evergreens. Breathtaking is an adjective I've used before, but none so aptly as when I was standing there. 

Further north, just before reaching the divide between Banff and Jasper National Parks, I pulled over to a trailhead by the highway. Parker Ridge is a few miles up a seemingly featureless plateau. Switchbacks through a brief section of alpine foliage and then just a clearing for the last mile or so. At the top is a broad, flat headland that was backdropped by a thick veil of mist. As I approached the edge, the last wisps of cloud floated by and revealed a dramatic glacier hewn gorge in front of me. It's trails like this that make this place so satisfying. Short hikes with minimal effort yield such spectacular rewards. I sat in the grass and ate a granola bar while I watched the glacier drift in and out of view behind the swift clouds. 

Nearby was a mound of loose shale framed in front of mountains that looked like it would make for an interesting photograph. In order to get the kind of perspective and depth of field I wanted, I set my camera up on a tripod about 20m away and zoomed at 70mm.  I put it on a timer and hit the shutter. Bear in mind, that means that in 10 seconds, I have to run 20m and up a hill of loose shale (which is sharp) and stand in frame. It took several tries to actually get myself in the shot, including one attempt where I almost slipped off the other side down a very steep slope. Thankfully no one was around to see my ridiculous scrambling. 

For the rest of the afternoon, I made my way slowly toward the town of Jasper as I meandered the different sights along the Icefields Parkway. Once there, my first stop was the gondola to a high peak with another dramatic view of mountain ranges and the town of Jasper below. It felt almost like cheating to get so high without actually hiking. The view was also not as dramatic being so far removed from the other formations.

Afterward, I made the drive to the nearby Maligne Lake for one of the most pleasant sunsets of my life.