Category: Rockies & Kananaskis Country

Lake Minnewanka, Two Jacks Lake and Johnson Lake in Banff National Park

10/4/2015

Wow- what a weekend! Atleast the past two days... Today was spent recuperating and relaxing... On Friday, we hiked to the famous Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park. Following that- visited Two Jacks Lake and Johnson Lake for some photo ops and finally ended the evening eating "Beaver Bites" in Banff town. Just FYI- Beaver Bites is a type of ice-cream... something like hot tim-bits with frozen yogurt topping... yummy... :-)

Note: our beautiful scenery needs no edits. So, untouched photos as always

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Marble Canyon, Paint Pots and Fireweed Trail in Kootenay National Park

10/4/2015

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After a beautiful Friday, Saturday started with mucky weather in Calgary. Rain, snow and maybe some sleet! So, it was a perfect day to get out into the Kootenays! It was warmer and thankfully no rain or snow...

We conducted three short hikes. First to Marble Canyon, second to Paint Pots and third was Fireweed Trail along the continental divide between Alberta and BC. All these places are not just gorgeous, but their history and geography really blows one's mind!

Almost 12% of the Kootenays was burned in a terrible fire in 2003- caused naturally from several lightening strikes. It was great to see nature at work- where new growth was growing from the ashes of the old!

Feels like I left a piece of my heart back in our parks. Can't wait to go back...

Now a little info. from wikipedia & Parks Canada site:
Marble Canyon: The canyon stems from a collapsed karst formation. The name comes from the brilliant limestone of its walls. The bedrock is microcrystalline limestone (sedimentary rock) rather than marble (metamorphic rock).

Paint Pots: The Paint Pots and the associated ochre beds form an area of unusual physical and chemical activity and have a history of use by both Aboriginal groups and Europeans. The yellow ochre was cleaned, kneaded with water into walnut sized balls, then flattened into cakes and baked. The red powder was mixed with fish oil or animal grease to paint their bodies, tipis, clothing or pictures on the rocks. These paintings depicted many objects from day to day life as well as more abstract drawings that may have originated in dreams or represented supernatural beings.

The Paint Pots site is still considered a sacred site by First Nations today.The three 'pots' are formed by the accumulation of iron oxide around the outlets of 3 cold mineral springs. Native tribes used the ochre for paint. White settlers mined the ochre beds until the late 20's.

Fireweed Trail & The Continental Divide: Stand in two provinces at once. This is the continental spine of western North America. At this location, it separates two watersheds, two provinces, and two national parks.

Note: untouched photos as always...

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Arethusa Cirque and Lower Lake Kananaskis Trail

9/20/2015

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Yesterday was a pleasantly tiring day! We went up to Arethusa Cirque- on Highwood Pass, which is the highest paved drive-able road in Canada. We did not realize that there would be that much snow on the trails and so without micro-spikes, it was quite crazy getting up and back! But, oh well- as they say, what does not break you- makes you stronger... :-)

Then we went on the Lower Lake Kananaskis trail... very beautiful with all the fall colors...

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Frozen Lake and Fox Mountain

9/12/2015

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Yesterday, thru serendipity, I was able to accomplish a super strenuous hike for my level and move on to the next grade! Yeeeah...

Our original trail to Fox Lake was closed, so we ended up going further to Frozen Lake which was thankfully "unfrozen" in summer. Typically this tends to be a super muddy, slippery and gradually climbing trail which even seasoned hikers in our group had left half-way off. So, it was particularly wonderful for a fairly novice like me to make it all the way to the top- around 445 m elevation and total distance of 17.25 kms.

Also, the other fun thing was to jump in-and-out between Alberta and BC! These lakes and trails are right on the border and there are parts where we were actually walking on the inter-provincial line.

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Lake Minnewanka, Two Jacks Lake and Johnson Lake in Banff National Park

Marble Canyon, Paint Pots and Fireweed Trail in Kootenay National Park﻿

Arethusa Cirque and Lower Lake Kananaskis Trail

Frozen Lake and Fox Mountain

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Marble Canyon, Paint Pots and Fireweed Trail in Kootenay National Park