Iceline Trail Hike, Yoho National Park, BC

Now that I have internet at my new apartment, I can do another update!

A couple of weeks ago (5th August), I went for another hike. I had heard about this one through a group of people and wanted to try it out. So a few of us (~10) decided to head out.
It's called the Iceline Trail and is in the Yoho National Park in British Columbia (BC) province - my first time in BC and the furthest west that I have been! It was around 3 hours drive from Calgary, past Banff and Lake Louise.
The trail is around 14km (return) and had an elevation gain of around 700m (classed as Moderate).
It starts at Takkakaw Falls, which is a fairly large waterfall, which is sourced by a glacier at the top of the mountain behind it. The power of the water was amazing (and for those of you who didn't know, big walls of water, like water falls, dam walls, etc, kinda give me the chills...). The water coming off the edge of the mountain hit a ledge or a narrow part of the cliff wall, which directed the water outwards from the wall, so it gave it a stepped look. 
The environment / surroundings along the hike changed quite a bit - it was really interesting! We started out in a damp forested area, with many trees and limited view of the mountains around us, it then thinned and dried out a little, but still had trees, but more shrubs and flowering plants (it was very pretty). It got rockier and fewer and fewer trees, until there were no trees, just rocks and gravel, etc, with the ridge of the mountain next to us and the glacier(s) in the distance.
Toward the end of the hike (one way), we came to the glacier(s) and many streams and lakes that were running off the melting glacier. It was very pretty! 
There was also this surreal view, where the gravelly and rocky environment abutted a lush green grass area... it felt like something out of Lord of the Rings and a friend of mine said she felt like she'd see a golf buggy scoot along at any moment.... a rolling grass field, next to a harsh rocky environment.  

On the way home, we stopped for dinner in a small English pub in Canmore which no one had been to before and were pleasantly surprised by it! The Canmore Folk Festival was on, so we couldn't get a table at our usually preferred pub, which has a gorgeous view of the mountains, but this was a good alternative.

Below are some photos from the hike

Takkakaw Falls

 About half way up

 Glacier

  Glacier

 Lord of the Rings ;)

 The Top! (kinda - more the end of the trail)

Ha Ling Hike

I have finally been for a hike!!

We had a long weekend here last weekend for Canada Day, so a few of us went into the mountains for a hike.

We went to Ha Ling, which is just behind Canmore and only about an hour drive from Calgary.

It was a 2.3km hike with a 750m elevation gain, so it was fairly steep, but it was great!

This is me about half way up

 View from about halfway

View from about halfway

 View from the top... maybe a little over-exposed, but.. oh well!

Me at the top!

We went to a pub in Canmore for lunch after the hike - it has the best view of the mountains from the decking, so was a lovely way to end the day.

A few days later I did my first outdoor climb!! It was great and I am hooked! I went with a guy that I met during training. He has all the equipment and has been many, many, many times. He is also very patient and a great teacher. We went to a place called Wasootch, which is just before Canmore. It is situated in the loveliest spot! It is a small valley, that has a little creek trickling through it, lovely big green trees and hardly anyone around. So we could hear the water running as we were climbing... so beautiful. I can't wait to go back.

I only took one photo, and this is it... not sure if it does it justice.

The Calgary Stampede is on at the moment, so everyone is out in their finest cowboy / cowgirl outfits. I went into the grounds today, and it's just like the shows that we have in Australia (Royal Show, etc), but a little bigger and has rodeos and chuckwagon racing (which I haven't seen yet). I am going to a stampede breakfast tomorrow (I am not too sure what it will entail) and we have a Stampede BBQ lunch at work on Thursday this week. It's huge here. I think some people just party for the whole week! 

We had a girl's afternoon yesterday - these are our finest cowgirl outfits :)

It's 32 degrees here, so it lovely and warm!

Canmore, Spray Lakes & Calgary

Hello again,

We had a long weekend here in Alberta province last weekend (May 21). I did have big plans for going hiking in the mountains and possibly camping, but then I started to freak myself out with the thought of bears and cougars... so I just went for an afternoon drive instead! :) 
I plan to get hiking in the mountains soon (and hopefully bike riding, camping, etc), but I think I need to get a few things first (like hiking boots, bear spray, etc)...

So I headed back to Canmore, had a wander around and then drove up to the Spray Valley Provincial Park. It's a close drive from Canmore and the days are pretty long at the moment, so I had plenty of time to cruise around.

Below are some photos from my drive around Spray Lakes

This one is near the Spray Lakes camp ground. You can see that some ice is still melting

The pipeline that you can see in this pic is from a dam / reservoir just behind that wall. Even though there's that structure there, I thought that this was very pretty 

And, this is me :)
It was fairly windy, but lovely.


I'll update again soon

:)

Canmore & Banff - Rocky Mountains (1st trip)

Over the weekend I went to Canmore and Banff in the Rocky Mountains. The mountains are lovely.
The snow has pretty much all melted, except for higher up in the mountains.
I went with a couple that I have been hanging out with (climbing etc). We had planned on going for a walk / hike, but we decided to just hang around the towns instead (we had to be back in Calgary by ~5pm, so there was limited time). And I am kinda glad that we did decide that, because throughout the day (and over the weekend), I heard more and more stories about how it's active bear season... It makes sense, but it's new to me... They're coming out of hibernation so are around looking for food. When you go walking (in the mountains), you're supposed to carry bear mace (just in case). So I'll make sure that I have that for my next visit (likely this weekend).

The first two photos below are views from / within Canmore. It's a sweet town and apparently it has one of the best bagel cafes / shops around (I had a gluten free spinach scone, instead).

This next one was taken in Banff from the balcony of a pub where we had lunch. It was a beautiful day, so sunny and around 21 degrees.

I tried to take photos of the towns with the mountains in the background... to show you some of the buildings and things around.

I'll take some more pics when I head back this coming weekend.

I'm moving into my new place on Friday after work. It might only be until 1st August (or August 1st as it is in Canada), which might be a good thing. I am not sure if I will like sharing... so I will just see how it goes.

:)
I'll update again soon

Calgary - first impressions

On Sunday I went to the Nose Hill Park, it's a large nature reserve that sits on the edge of town and has good views of the city and the mountains. It was lovely and sunny. And I saw my first deer!! The park wasn't very green, but given that the snow and ice only recently melted from winter, it's a little too soon to be green. Hopefully that will come soon.

The weather changes quickly here too. On Friday it was lovely and sunny (14 degrees), then Saturday morning it was snowing... and Sunday was back to being sunny and warmish (~15 degrees). Today was around 18 degrees and tomorrow (Tues) will be ~21 degrees, before it drops off again with snow and rain on Wed... but the weekend will be warm again... confused yet? Point is, it's up and down. 

 This is near Nose Hill Park, in the NW of Calgary

 Deer!!!

 Nose Hill Park, NW Calgary

 Me in Nose Hill Park

View of Calgary from Nose Hill Park

Last couple of days in Australia

I was able to re-activate the blog that I used when I went travelling around Europe! :)

My last weekend in Australia, mum, Leonie and I toured around McLaren Vale before a family gathering.

 The top photo is a building at one of the wineries we visited... I can't remember which one! It was either Coriole or Chapel Hill... :)
The next photos is a view from the Hugh Hamilton winery...

It was my first time on a wine tour around McLaren Vale and was lovely to share with Leonie, Mum and Mitchell.

On the way to the airport in Adelaide, there were some crazy clouds... looked amazing... see below.

It's just unfortunate that the service station is in the foreground too... but still pretty awesome.

My couple of days in Sydney were great too. I caught up with a few of the guys from RPS Sydney and got to hang out with Michael, Gayle and the kiddies in their busy house under renovations. 

It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, but Christmas 2012 will come around quickly. I'll have experienced a Calgary summer, autumn and some of the winter... and I will definitely be hanging out for some Australian warmth and sunshine! Hopefully by then I will have been out and about a little, hit the mountains for some hiking and hopefully some snowboarding!

Soon I'll post some photos and things about Calgary

:)

Arundel Castle

5th May 2007

Arundel is a small town in West Sussex and it has a lovely big castle and grounds. A group of us went there the other weekend and had a look around and then went at sat at the 'local' pub (which isn't very local) on the water and drank a few pints in the fading sunshine!

Very nice!