Alaska, 2.1

Glacier National Park to Lake Louise, Banff and Jasper National Parks

(I’m going to back track a little here, I wanted to add some more text and photos from Glacier National.)

The final day at Glacier, we did some supply shopping in Kalispell while Monika and Al did some laundry. Walmart and Kathy’s favorite gluten free bakery were our top spots. Everything they bake is just wonderful so we went home with loaves of bread and some other small goodies. Then in the afternoon, we went on a one hour boat tour on Lake McDonald. The weather was a little warm that afternoon, but we still enjoyed the ride. I did some film photography on that trip, so no photos from that boat trip just yet.

These photos are from the first couple days while the weather was still very rainy and dramatic. Also, Going to the Sun road was closed, so we could only get access up to Avalanche Campground. We never did receive an answer as to why it was closed, we just assumed here was still too much snow around. I had my sights set on hiking one particular trail, but that will have to wait now.

Waterfall and cascades on McDonald Creek

The next day we departed the campground on time at 8:30 and made our way torward the Canada/US border at Roosville. We didn’t have long to wait and we were passed through with no problem. We then enjoyed the Canadian rural countryside on our way to the closest large town to resupply with fresh veggies and food. On our way over to Lake Louise, Al spotted a black bear along side the road, but Kathy and I didn’t see it! We made it into the campground at Lake Louise around 4PM and were happy to be off of the road again.

Without going into any detail at all here, I’ll just state that the trailer suffered a significant event while doing the set up at Lake Louise. We now use a fabricated step to enter and exit the Airstream. Both Kathy and I have heard that if you camp long enough, something like this can happen. Everything is repairable though. Kathy and I spent the morning of our first day resolving this issue, which meant a trip to the local hardware store in Banff, where we were assisted by a very nice store employee. We came home with the necessary items to build a solid step which we hope will keep us happy for the rest of the trip.

Once my dander was settled, we started having regular camping fun again. Our first day out was out on the Icefields Pkwy. Even though Kathy and I saw many of these sites before, these Canadian Rocky Mountains continue to be awe inspiring. I could certainly spend many hours and days here with my camera. The weather was very dramatic during our visit. Very changing conditions with fast moving clouds and rain showers and sunny times. On our 2nd day, we all did a gondola ride to the top of the ski resort mountains. The views got even better from high up. The mountain was steep as was the ticket costs! Thanks Monika. (-:

The final day at Lake Louise, we hiked Johnston Canyon which leads up to two waterfalls. The lower is about 5 meters high with a cave next to it. The trail was once again filled with many, many, MANY other visitors. This is probably the second most popular attraction in the park. We made the hike in good time, took our photos, and then headed back to the trailers to change into clothes that were appropriate for afternoon tea at the Fairmount. This was an experience that Kathy and I did on our 2019 trip and wanted to do again. This experience was the first time for both Al and Monika. We helped them through the “tea etiquette” procedures and we all totally enjoyed all the very delicious sandwiches and deserts. The grounds were going through summer renovations which meant we couldn’t go down by the lake. But we still had a great view while having our tea.

The next day we packed up and headed out to Jasper, about a four hour drive to our next camp site. We stopped at Columbia Icefield to enjoy the views and take some photos and have some lunch. I put on my very long lens and was able to find three very brave snow hikers on the top on this ridge as you can see in the photo! I was sort of looking around the peaks and ridge lines for people and actually found some. I wasn’t sure they were actually people though until they started moving and then disappeared behind the peak to the right. The glacier coming from the snowfield seemed to be even less than what it was 5 years ago during our last visit. There are still many, many large snow machines hauling paying customers up onto the glacier. We all couldn’t help but wonder if that activity is helping the retreat of the glacier. I suppose the park management would know best about that. We then continued our drive through the rest of the parkway and found our campsites. At check-in, we were informed of a single grizzly bear that had been roaming the campground and had succeeded in catching a baby elk for dinner. It’s calving season here for the elk, so the bears have more choices for dinner this time of year. We are certainly keeping an extra eye open as we walk and drive around the campground.

Our first video call with our family happened last night thanks to the wonders of Starlink. It seemed to work very good although there was a little buffering going on. Our grandson, August is growing so fast. It’s so nice to be able to do video calls and stay up to date on his growing progress.

First day of Jasper was spent at Athabasca Falls and Edith Cavill trail. We did both on our last trip but this time I tried to find new and different compositions at the falls. I think I succeeded. There were less visitors there this time, so it was a little easier getting my tripod set up at the locations I wanted. Monika asked me about how comparison comes into play when visiting a place more than once. My answer was YES, I’m good with visiting a photographic place more than once. The main reason is things are usually different each time. One main thing that is different is that I am different now than I was 5 years ago. I see and feel things differently. So, that results in different and more intriguing images. At least that is what I want to happen.

Day two in Jasper, we decided to go the Meitte Hot Springs which is located inside the Jasper National Park. This hot springs has a long history dating back to the early 1900’s when native Americans found the hot springs and discovered its healing characteristics. It went through many different evolutions to come to what is there today. All four of us had a great time in the 104 degree water. There were four pools of which one was around 104 degrees, one was around 75 degrees and one was around 67 degrees. So Al and I were going from the coldest to the hottest to get the full effect. Going into the 67 pool and then going back to the 104 was quite the exhilarating feeling! On the drive to the hot springs, we stopped at a historical marker location along the highway. This was a fur trader site but the structures have long been gone. Kathy did however find many flowers along the path to the ruins. This yellow lady slipper orchid is one of them. They were plentiful along the path and we were so happy to have found them. Kathy has an eagle eye to find flowers in the wild.

Our final day in Jasper was spent at Maligne Lake. This is a pristine glacial lake that we visited last time. We first did a hike to Moose Lake which is in the area and then had a quick lunch in the pickup and then boarded the boat with a destination of Spirit Island. The mountains surrounding the lake are named after Queen Elizabeth and are just spectacular. The light on our mid-day trip was not as good as our last visit, but it was still beautiful. On the way to the lake, the road takes you by another lake named Medicine Lake. Maligne Lake feeds into Medicine Lake. We spotted a huge nest at the very top of a skinny pine tree. We presumed it was an eagles nest, and this was confirmed on our boat ride. And on our drive back home, we did see one of the parents and one of the young in the nest. We didn’t stop to take any photos though, so nothing I can share here. Very fun to see though!

I have been shooting some film on the trip too. I went out for a little bit this morning with the pinhole camera and found a few compositions. I’ll keep shooting film along with digital, but I won’t develop the film until I return home in mid Sept. It will be fun to go through that long process of developing and scanning those rolls. I’ll have forgotten for sure what content is on them.

So far, the trailer and everything is working very well. Other than the damaged steps, I have not had to fix anything! Plenty of wood in the airstream to knock on. (-:

Next up will be from Dawson Creek and starting Mile “0” on the Alaska Hwy.

Alaska, 2.2

Alaska, 2.0