Always Up For A Challenge: The Land of Waterfalls & Glaciers

Self-photo at the unreal looking Kinney Lake

Our 2-week adventure to the Canadian Rockies left amazing sights and sounds imprinted in our memories. We hiked to, around and nearby numerous glaciers. We heard them creaking, groaning and calving - at times even feeling the vibration of calving from 3 miles away. These glaciers fed blue-green tarns (small lakes), and turbulent rivers the color green of tarnished copper. In these frigid waters we witnessed a Dipper doing it's thing - a Dipper is an amazing aquatic bird that bobs upside down into the water to eat insects beneath the surface, and is able to stay stationary despite rapid currents. We slept next to a swiftly moving river such as this during our backpacking trip on the Berg Lake Trail at Mt. Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia. Being the "Wisconsin Wind Walkers" (a self-dubbed trail name based on our ability to move fast and light along the trail, always passing people, never being passed), we pushed uphill for 10 miles, crossing over a groovy suspension bridge to boot, to be the first to arrive at the Emperor Falls backcountry campground - an area with about 9 wilderness campsites. Getting there first insured we got the numero uno site, which happened to be the only private/secluded one with trees for protection from the elements, easy access to the bouncing Robson River for filling water bladders, and our own personal "beach" (packed dirt with some large rocks and logs to sit on) abutting an eddy of the pulsing river. ALL the scenery along the Berg Lake Trail was stunning and ever-changing, carving out a spot in our ranking of the top 5 backpacking trips we've undertaken. It's a popular trail for backpackers and for day hikers who "cheat" - for about $256, a person can be helicoptered in to the end point of the trail, and hike 15 miles out all downhill. We could understand this method for older folks, but some of the people that we passed coming down were clearly L-A-Z-Y with a bit of extra cash flow!

The Berg Lake Trail backpacking trip kicked off our vacation. We would end up hiking over 120 miles of challenging mountain trails (12 different trails of varying lengths), and ascending more than 22,000 feet, to earn the rewarding sights, sounds and smells that the roadside turn-out tourists can't get. These rewards included many hanging glaciers, waterfalls - raging death trap falls, glistening falls rolling down sheer quartzite mountain faces, gurgling playful falls. We hiked amongst stunted firs with dark green fingers pointing to bright wildflowers such as magenta Fireweed, cranberry & orange Indian Paintbrush, bright yellow daisy-esque quincunx, and multiple colors in the mountain Heather family. With eagle-eye focus, we carefully side-stepped down steep crumbling glacial fields on sliding beds of graveled rock - rocks pummeled by retreating glaciers and/or avalanche activity - while stealing awe-struck glances at the beauty of the harsh and stark landscape. We hiked to a high mountain tea house, to a small cirque with a defensive marmot whose whistle scream of warning pierced our eardrums, we hiked through black snags mixed with budding regrowth in burn areas leading to a violent canyon still being carved by glacial waters, and we hiked to distant summits to gain a 360° view of layer after layer of shadowed peaks. At night we could see the Milky Way surrounded by billions of stars as we hiked 1/4 mile to the outhouse (as opposed to 9 steps at home☺). These are just some of the things we saw.

We heard ravens vocalize a complicated language full of raven meaning and humor. We heard the wind in the trees, roaring waterfalls and rivers, calving glaciers, distant thunder, raindrops on our tent, the maddening hum of mosquitoes, the haunting hoot of a midnight owl, the "mweeeeeeep!" of Pika's, a persistent rooster cockadoodledooling (somewhere in the distance on the land where we rented a cabin for 2 nights), and silence. There is such a thing as hearing silence - a complete paucity of sound is rare on this continent, but it can be found.

And what did we smell? Sun-soaked pine needles, an indescribable fresh almost-salty scent only found in certain mountain settings, decaying earth, and human funk - Joy can get pretty stinky in a jiffy!

Our adventures took us to Mt. Robson Provincial Park, Jasper, Kootenay & Banff National Parks. This is also the order of our preference and enjoyment for each location. Mt. Robson felt the least touched by human activity, it was wild and peaceful. Jasper offered us most of our wildlife encounters - mountain goats, elk and a herd of rams (Bighorn Sheep), grouse - and we regret not planning more time to explore this Canadian treasure. Banff, the famous ski destination, did not impress us. The town itself is attractive, but nothing special - overpriced stores offering nothing that you can't find in the United States. The town and the national park are infested with sloth-like tourists, some of whom hit the trails with no understanding of what they're getting into. We found all 4 parks attracted tour buses carrying the elderly or Asians. Roadside view points and visitor centers were crawling with the bent over bodies of the aged, or the incessant photo-snapping vigor of Chinese and Japanese visitors. We had no idea Canada would draw such company and were grateful to avoid the masses by slinking off to trails meant only for those of hardy mind and heart.

Our weather was ideal - 60's to low 70's everyday, generally sunny with a few afternoon storms, mild nights in the low 50's. At times mosquitoes, black flies and horse flies were a problem, but DEET was effective ... when we used it! Somewhere along our journey, I managed to get stung by a bee on the top of my left foot. Though I wasn't cognizant of it happening, the intense itch and swelling (oh, it felt so great cramming that puffy foot into a boot!) was a constant reminder that it did. Joe's shoulder offered no complaints, and yes, he diligently did his PT in the backcountry, wrapping his resistance bands around trees to complete his 30 minute daily routine.

The tidbits I've shared and the pictures below are teasers for a bigger story. To learn and see more, you will have to make arrangements to see us!