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Club Events 2004 : 2004-08-20 : COC - Columbia Icefield and Jasper Sampler

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Eight of us set out this morning from Calgary with best intentions of meeting Hana at the Parker Ridge trailhead. Due to some equipment complications at carpool, we were late leaving town, and the trip took longer than anticipated, so by the time we got to Parker's Ridge at 12:15, Hana had already started the hike without us. We decided that the weather was too nasty to do Parker's, as it was raining and windy, and the hike is pretty much exposed all the way up the side of the mountain. So, we said a silent farewell to Hana, and continued on to Stanley Falls, which Dave figured would be a good hike even with the rain. Well, he was right. This was a beautiful little hike into a great canyon which is reminiscent of Johnston Canyon, but without the boardwalk and the go-zillion people. After Stanley Falls, Carissa and Stuart, who were driving back to Calgary rather than camping for the night, decided to take their leave of us, and relieving me of my "Columbia Icefield" GemTrek map, started heading back toward Calgary hoping to do a hike in the Columbia Icefield area, or perhaps in Lake Louise or Banff, depending on the weather. The rest of us continued to Honeymoon Lake to pitch camp for the night, and then on to Mt. Edith Cavell, and Mehran's favorite mountain road (note sarcasm). It was quite cloudy/foggy, and raining slightly as we went up the hill. The glacier and pond here are AMAZING - we definitely have to come back here sometime for more hiking. We walked up in the moderate rain to the pond, where Super Dave took a dip in the pond with the icebergs. Suddenly, the sky opened up and it was the four horsemen of the apocalypse (or was that just rain and mudslides?). We high-tailed it back to the cars, absolutely and thoroughly drenched. We thought briefly about going into Maligne Canyon, but mother nature seemed to want us to head into the town of Jasper instead, which we did. The rain had pretty much stopped, so we took a quick walk around Jasper and had dinner in a nice family restaurant which, to our dismay, did not have a fireplace for us to warm our butts at. It was at this dinner where Vampire Kate got her nickname. She was telling us about how she doesn't care for the meat in North America because in China they prefer to drink the blood of the animal first. The meat just doesn't taste as good if you don't drink the blood first. We were all a bit taken aback at this (after all, we thought the Chinese were much too civilized) until Kate realized that we were misunderstanding her - she was actually saying DRAIN the blood, but because of her accent, we were hearing her wrong. After dinner, a bit more Jasper, and then back to the campsite where, thanks to the Parks strike, we were able to camp for the night for free. The next morning, while the others slept in, Mehran and I jumped in the car and headed back into Jasper for Smitty's pancakes. Along the way, we visited Athabasca Falls, which had NO other people at it. It was awesome! The Smitty's pancakes were pretty durned good, too. Meeting up with the others back at the camp site, we checked out Honeymoon Lake, and saw the very rare Rocky Mountain Pterodactyl out for its morning cruise around the lake. We packed up and headed out - John back to Jasper for more solo adventuring 'til Sunday, and Kate joined the rest of the group who were heading to the Athabasca Glacier for the Ice Hike on Saturday. -- Rhonda

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Eight of us set out this morning from Calgary with best intentions of meeting Hana at the Parker Ridge trailhead. Due to some equipment complications at carpool, we were late leaving town, and the trip took longer than anticipated, so by the time we got to Parker's Ridge at 12:15, Hana had already started the hike without us. We decided that the weather was too nasty to do Parker's, as it was raining and windy, and the hike is pretty much exposed all the way up the side of the mountain.

So, we said a silent farewell to Hana, and continued on to Stanley Falls, which Dave figured would be a good hike even with the rain. Well, he was right. This was a beautiful little hike into a great canyon which is reminiscent of Johnston Canyon, but without the boardwalk and the go-zillion people.

After Stanley Falls, Carissa and Stuart, who were driving back to Calgary rather than camping for the night, decided to take their leave of us, and relieving me of my "Columbia Icefield" GemTrek map, started heading back toward Calgary hoping to do a hike in the Columbia Icefield area, or perhaps in Lake Louise or Banff, depending on the weather.

The rest of us continued to Honeymoon Lake to pitch camp for the night, and then on to Mt. Edith Cavell, and Mehran's favorite mountain road (note sarcasm). It was quite cloudy/foggy, and raining slightly as we went up the hill. The glacier and pond here are AMAZING - we definitely have to come back here sometime for more hiking. We walked up in the moderate rain to the pond, where Super Dave took a dip in the pond with the icebergs. Suddenly, the sky opened up and it was the four horsemen of the apocalypse (or was that just rain and mudslides?). We high-tailed it back to the cars, absolutely and thoroughly drenched.

We thought briefly about going into Maligne Canyon, but mother nature seemed to want us to head into the town of Jasper instead, which we did. The rain had pretty much stopped, so we took a quick walk around Jasper and had dinner in a nice family restaurant which, to our dismay, did not have a fireplace for us to warm our butts at. It was at this dinner where Vampire Kate got her nickname. She was telling us about how she doesn't care for the meat in North America because in China they prefer to drink the blood of the animal first. The meat just doesn't taste as good if you don't drink the blood first. We were all a bit taken aback at this (after all, we thought the Chinese were much too civilized) until Kate realized that we were misunderstanding her - she was actually saying DRAIN the blood, but because of her accent, we were hearing her wrong. After dinner, a bit more Jasper, and then back to the campsite where, thanks to the Parks strike, we were able to camp for the night for free.

The next morning, while the others slept in, Mehran and I jumped in the car and headed back into Jasper for Smitty's pancakes. Along the way, we visited Athabasca Falls, which had NO other people at it. It was awesome! The Smitty's pancakes were pretty durned good, too. Meeting up with the others back at the camp site, we checked out Honeymoon Lake, and saw the very rare Rocky Mountain Pterodactyl out for its morning cruise around the lake.

We packed up and headed out - John back to Jasper for more solo adventuring 'til Sunday, and Kate joined the rest of the group who were heading to the Athabasca Glacier for the Ice Hike on Saturday.

-- Rhonda