For the past 7 days I've been re-exploring all of the amazing places I've seen earlier this year. I've had a close friend from back home visit and essentially I've been a personal tour guide of my own backyard. We've been camping, hiking, exploring, adventuring, boating, drinking coffee & more! It's been an awesome few days. This blog will be pretty short, it's basically just a little update, me saying "Hi, I'm still alive, haven't been eaten by a bear yet, also checkout where I've been!" So enjoy the enormous amount of photos in this blog, it's been a lot of fun! Our journey started at the Columbia Icefield where I work/live, which is where Georgia and I re-connected after not seeing each other for around 2 years! This is what followed...
TANGLE FALLS
Tangle Falls is the closest waterfall to the Icefield where we live. This was the first stop on our epic journey. This waterfall at the start of the year was an epic frozen wall clinging to the cliff, seeing it melted looks so different and I cannot wait for it to freeze again! ATHABASCA FALLS
The second stop was the well known Athabasca Falls. This one of the easiest waterfalls to see along the Icefield Parkway. It's right off the road and less than a 5 minute walk from the carpark to the actual waterfall. It's one I always recommend to my guests on my tours.
SUNWAPTA FALLS
Thirdly, Sunwapta Falls. This was my first time at Sunwapta Falls and I don't know why I've never stopped before...It was awesome, and surprisingly close to the Icefield! So close to the road, wasn't much of a walk to get to it, and the falls were amazing! There were not too many people there either which was nice!
WABASSO CAMPGROUND
Waking up early, leaving our campsite at Wabasso (just outside Jasper, Alberta) and heading into town for a much needed coffee & breakfast. The cloudy views along the way were too gorgeous to not stop and look at. The campsite itself was nothing special, hence no photo of the actual camping.
THE VALLEY OF FIVE LAKES
This is still one of my favourite lake locations in the Rockies. The still water creates the most beautiful reflections, the range of colours in the forest, and the mountains behind are always amazing. It's also a really great hike to do, it doesn't take all day, and the scenery you get is way more than you would expect from such an easy hike! LAKE ANNETTE
This area never ceases to impress me, stunning turquoise crystal clear water. We were both so out of it, after a food coma from having a massive brunch. That combined with our
not-so-wonderful sleep after camping made it a little bit of a slow walk around, but stunning regardless. MALIGNE LAKE & MALIGNE CANYON
Maligne Lake is one of those iconic Canadian lakes. It's stunning and the road there has some incredible stops. It's well known for it's beautiful turquoise water, animal sightings and the stunning Medicine Lake on the way. We made a stop at Medicine Lake on the way in as the water was glassy, the mountains clear and the lighting was perfect for those epic reflection shots.
Our cruise/tour on Maligne was awesome too, wonderful guides, good entertainment and the sunshine came out just in time for our arrival at Spirit Island as you can see above.
Beauty Creek
This is one of the last stops along our mini road trip adventure. Beauty Creek is one of the best hikes near the Columbia Icefield in my opinion. It's one of those hikes that anyone of any fitness level can do. It doesn't take too long and for the amount of effort you put in, the reward is so worth it! After following the river for approximately 30 minutes you arrive at Stanley Falls which is a beautiful glacial fed waterfall.
PRIDE ROCK
This was our last big adventure together. Pride is one of the first challenging hikes/climbs I did upon arriving at the Icefield. It sits behind our campsite and is an amazing viewing point for the entire Sunwapta Valley. I first did this hike in the snow, and this day was no different. The first day of Autumn, almost perfectly on time....the snow came. The hike is pretty challenging, even without snow so we took out time and enjoyed the epic views at the top with a hot chocolate!
Pride was the end to our epic adventure. The next morning Georogia packed her car and set off on her own again to continue hiking, camping and exploring the rest of this awesome country!
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