Day Eight - 10/24/07 - water, glaciers, and bears, oh my

After packing up camp, we backtracked a bit to get to Lake Louise – one of the main attractions in Banff. Clouds began to gather and a light rain sprinkled. Wandering the visitors’ center,

we were told that most hiking trails were closed except one that led to the Plain of Six Glaciers. Setting off past the enormous hunting-lodge style Chateau Lake Louise, the first part of our hike was along the electric blue lake.


The color, scientists say, is due to “glacial rock crunching.” In laymen’s terms, heavy pieces of ice crunch rocks into a fine powder which, spread throughout a body of water, make the water appear bright baby boy blue. Most of the hike was uphill, and the drizzle kept us cool. Stopping for a food break on the porch of a closed tea hut, we layered up for the short hike to the glacier.


Quickly, we found ourselves in a frozen Mordor; the landscape below the jagged mountains was piles of rocks that had crumbled off the rock faces.


At the end of the trail, we set out to explore. Darren looked up a sheer face, I sat on a rock to meditate, Bryan descended the scree to climb on the glacier, and Brad paced about for a while until he decided to join Bryan.


Once the warmth of the climb had been blown and washed away, we quickly descended and attempted to find a fire in the Chateau to warm our soaking bodies. There was no fire, but we did find a wedding party that warmed our hearts. Nothing is more touching than the horrified gasp of a bride’s mother witnessing four haggard hoboes hoovering the whole top layer of the matrimonial cake. After a change of clothes, we attempted to drive through the Canadian Rockies into Jasper National Park, adjacent to Banff’s north. Finding ourselves in a snowstorm unable to drive faster than 30mph, we pulled off the highway into a campsite with a beautiful welcome side which read “Closed.” Heeding the “Warning: Bear Habitat” signs, we set up our tent and strung a tarp over the picnic table so we could begin cooking a fantastically fragrant meal to fill up our growling bellies.


Over dinner we discovered the strobe feature on our headlamps. We warmed up before bed with an exuberant dance party, where the only rule was speaking Spanish.