Spray Lakes

This morning, we woke up to -5 C. It was our plan to head out to Kananaskis to do one of the many day hikes in the area. It seemed like a good idea with a sunny day and +10C forecast. It all looked good until we started into the mountains behind Canmore. It was overcast, cold and looked like it wasn't going to get much better. We pushed on along beside Spray Lakes (below). It's a great little scenic drive along a well graded gravel road. (The new car was great, by the way).

You will have seen many shots in previous blog site entries of lakes with mirror reflections of mountains. This one fits the description, but with a difference. It didn't come out too bad.

Thanks to the high altitude of the Spray lakes trail, the cold is so much more severe and it showed its face today. The overcast weather turned to snow and the smaller lakes along the trail had started to freeze over. This one is called Mud Lake, and has a nice thin crust of ice across most of the surface and a light dusting of snow from the last day or so.
You may be able to see the white streaks of snow in the photo. It's somewhat different to last weekend's fantastic weather.

Here's a different lake that was just starting to freeze over. Looks cold doesn't it?!

All along the road to the Kananaskis Lakes, the signs of winter were obvious. Freeze burnt grasses dusted in snow, white mountain peaks and waterways beginning to choke with ice build up.

Spillway Lake

In the Rockies, even the man-made waterways are capable of a nice photo. This one is the river that runs away from the foot of the Lower Kananaskis lake dam. Unfortunately the overcast conditions prevented the photo showing up the fantastic greens in the river.

We did have a look at Upper Kananaskis Lake but the icey winds and flurries drove us back into the car rapidly.

We make a couple of failed detours into the higher altitudes on the way back where the fresh snow was coating the vegetation. Winter had definitely arrived.

The gloomy skies coupled with the shortened daylight drove us out of the mountains pretty early. Although not a particularly good day for photography, it was an interesting outing to see winter regaining its grip on the mountains. No doubt Calgary's turn will come soon enough.

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Yesterday Kerri and I decided that it was too nice a day to hang around Calgary. Now that we have wheels, we have so much freedom and we were able to just jump in the car and go.
The destination of choice this time was Dinosaur Provincial Park about 2-1/2 hours drive East of Calgary. You basically head out across the prairies along Hwy 1 for a couple of hours then turn left at Brooks. Suddenly (like Drumhellar) the featureless prairie gives way to the canyon pictured. This one is way bigger than Drumhellar, but most of it is closed to the public so that people don't go stealing fossils.
Dinosaur Provincial Park is one of the richest fossil beds in the world. The evidence is in the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumhellar. It's also known as the Badlands.

We headed straight to the Dinosaur Provincial Park visitor centre expecting to grab some maps for all the walking trails in the park. We turned into the car park and were pleasantly surprised to find a family of mule deer. I'm fairly sure they're the smallest type of deer in this part of the world. They weren't at all worried about our presence.

Another tick for the wildlife spotting list.

Drumhellar and Dinosaur Provincial Park are not as spectacular as the Rockies, but are very interesting all the same. The rocks are very soft and susceptible to erosion. Between the rain, the winter snow and the wind, the effect on the landscape is quite dramatic. This photo is somewhat typical for a particular layer of sediment in the Badlands and is a bit like the moon.

This is a fairly typical formation in the Badlands. You can see how the layers of sediment have been laid down over millions of years, only to be washed away in a relatively short time. You can see a couple of red layers. Apparently those are as a result of volcano activity at one point.

After the dreadful disappointment of "Piss Weak World" at Drumhellar, we found some proper Hoodoos in the Badlands. Not only were they not trampled by tourists, but they were bigger and dotted around the park.

The Badlands aren't just about the rock formations and dinosaur bones. The Red Deer River runs right through the middle and is actually responsible for cutting the canyon. As for everywhere around the world, water means life and this river is no exception. These trees grow very slowly and with the cold and windy winter on the prairies, they end up all twisted and creepy looking.

This cottonwood was the most normal looking one in the park. The rest of them weren't as straight as this one. Most of the trees around Calgary are yellow like this one, or have already dropped their leaves.
It was a belter of a day and the sky was as blue as I've seen in the 4 months we've been here. It makes for a really nice contrast against the yellow leaves, don't you think?

This tree is more typical of the weather beaten cottonwood trees in the valley. The winds in winter rip through the valley and with no protection from mountains or forests, the cottonwoods end up all mangled and broken. They survive but end up looking like the one pictured. This one is alive, but has lost all its leaves in preparation for winter.

Pictured above is the Red Deer river that runs through the Badlands. The photo tells this story. It was a surprisingly pretty place in an otherwise harsh landscape.

After the visit to the Badlands, we took a detour to the south of the Trans-Canada. The route took us past a huge reservoir/lake near brooks that I assume has something to do with irrigation. After that we headed West across seemingly never ending wheat fields. We crossed and followed the Bow river briefly, then more wheat fields.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pair of lakes appeared in the middle of the featureless prairie. Lake McGregor (above) and Little Bow Lake (below) are apparently quite popular with the water skiing fraternity around here.

New Wheels

After much contemplation and money saving, I was finally ready to buy a car over here.
Originally I had more or less decided to hire cars occasionally when we wanted to skip town for the weekend. Unfortunately it restricted us too much and I decided that being able to just jump in the car and get away from the city was too important.
Last weekend we spent half a day looking around the car yards. Turns out the first car yard we looked in had the one. It's a 1999 Subaru Outback with all the options including heated leather seats (they'll come in handy after snowboarding). 92,000 kms (very low) and in great nick. $10,600 CAD (incl GST). A bargain considering what else is out there including private sales. Getting one that old with such low k's just doesn't happen. And it's clean as!
The AWD will be a great in the ice and snow, and the wagon will be great for carrying snowboards. It's a really nice car to drive as well.
The only kicker is the insurance. The insurance companies think that anyone outside Alberta can't drive & treat you as a new driver. They should give me a discount! $2100 p.a. ! I also had a quote for $3750.

Orphans Thanks Giving and Rugby

Today our good friend James (mad Pom in shot) had us orphans (including Shane, Kirsty, Dale, Kerri and me) around for the afternoon for a bit of a thanks giving dinner and rugby watching afternoon. James's friend Shannon (a local) appeared just after the Australia v England game.
Friday, we had all decided that paying $20 cover charge to go to a pub at 7am to watch the rugby live was a bit cheeky so we decided that watching at somebody's house on Sunday was in order. James suggested his place and he would cook up a turkey dinner. DONE! All we had to do was avoid finding out the results of the Aussie and Kiwi rugby games so we could watch them a day and a half later. Shouldn't have been too hard being that most North Americans haven't even heard of rugby. Unfortunately both Kerri and I had spoken to folks back home and before we had a chance to say "Don't tell me the result", it was too late. They know who they are and thanks very much!
Anyway, Kerri and I managed to keep it too ourselves, but it took the fun out of it a bit. James was the only Pom there and was the only one happy about the result. We chased him out of his own house and up the street. He didn't seem to worried. Look at the smile on his head.
Despite the rugby results, we had a time and many thanks to James for his hospitality and for cooking up a storm. Great job mate!
You're a wasted talent in the piping design game.

New Snowboard

I picked up my new Snowboard today!

It was the final and biggest piece of the snowboarding kit to be added to my collection. I wondered into the local snow shop last weekend, apparently on the right day. I managed to pick up the board & bindings for less than half the price I've seen them for up to now.

For those who know their snowboard gear, the bindings are the "Flow" brand. (Flow Bindings.) The basic difference from the conventional design is that the boot lock in happens from the back of the boot rather than the top. Apparently saves time at the top of the hill. TBA.

I'm pretty sure I have everything now. If I've missed anything, it won't be anything too significant. The photo is annotated to show all the different components. Some of them, like the boots, pants & wrist guards, I already had from back home, but most of the big ticket stuff I have accumulated over the last few months.

I'm good to go!

So, where's the ski lifts?
The lift discount cards and passes go on sale in the next couple of weeks and the lifts open November 8.

Johnston Canyon

Friday afternoon in Banff was quite wet and miserable with the clouds sitting very low on the town. The weather bureau had predicted more of the same for today. We figured, sleep in and see what the day would bring after that.
We woke around 7.30 and looked out the window to this.

It was apparent that the rain in Banff the afternoon and night before meant that the higher altitudes had received a good dusting of snow at the same time.
The morning sun had managed to shed a pink glow on the clouds around Banff. With this sight, we quickly got ourselves organised and hit the road before the weather closed in again.

In Summer, Johnston Canyon is absolutely crawling with tourists. It's the most heavily used hiking trail in the Canadian Rockies. Every day about 10am the buses arrive with hordes of tourists to add to the numerous hikers with camper van and car transport. We've driven past there before when there has been an overflow of cars out of the overflow car park (and it's a bigun') and onto the Bow Valley Parkway. Having been to the canyon now, I can't imagine what it would be like with that many people on such a narrow trail. Horrible I imagine.
Saturday we woke up to a cold but nice day and decided to try to get to Johnston Canyon before the crowds did. It worked because we only saw 1/2 a dozen other people on the 3km walk up the canyon.

The first stage of the trail runs from the car park along a walkway that's slung off the side of the canyon (below) with the stream, that's constantly cutting the canyon, below. The stream has the same blue as all the lakes around Banff National Park.
I'll let the photos do the talking from here on.

Water Fall 1
Johnson Canyon has 7 waterfalls along the 3km hiking trail. This is the first one you come to and is called Lower Falls. Inventive name yes?
It's the second highest of the seven.

Waterfall 2.
Only three of the waterfalls in Johnston Canyon have names. This one is the first of the unnamed falls.
I quite like the side chute to the left that appears to come from a hole in the rock.

Waterfall 3
This is the 3rd and most difficult to view of the falls. Again it's unnamed.
I did the wrong thing and went off the track and down a fairly steep hill to get the shot.

Waterfall 4
This is Stellar falls. No other explanation required.

Waterfall 5
Another of the unnamed falls in Johnston Canyon.

Waterfall 6
This is the tallest and most dramatic of the 7 waterfalls. The Upper Falls are near the end of the trail. You can view the falls from below or follow a short trail to the top of the falls.

This rock wall wraps around the corner to the left of picture (below) and forms part of the Upper Falls. This wall is 30+ metres high (I don't know exactly). The photo doesn't really give it perspective.

This picture below puts the wall's size into some perspective. The platform I'm standing on there is the lower viewing platform for the Upper Falls.
Notice the leaching colours on the wall. Some of it is from minerals and some from algae.

Waterfall 7
This little waterfall sits just above the Upper Falls. I suspect most people would see the Upper Falls and think that was it. In fact you need to walk a little further along the path from the top of the Upper Falls.
The trail actually heads way into the hills to the Ink Pots and beyond, but that's a story and a hike for another time.

Copper Mountain

The Johnston Canyon hike is mainly focused on the waterfalls and the trail is surrounded by forest. You tend to forget about the surrounding mountains. On the return journey, you notice many different things to the way in.
There was a break in the timber at one point, letting the mountains on the other side of the valley show themselves. The big dump of snow over night made for some interesting scenery.

Mt Norquay Lookout

Mt Norquay is the nearest ski mountain to Banff. It's not that exciting at this time of year with the lack of skiing options, but it's an interesting short drive from Banff, across the Trans-Canada and up the hill to the lookout point. You get a pretty decent view over Banff and the surrounding mountains. About 1km up the road is the Norquay Ski Resort.
For the record, that's Mount Rundle to the left of picture and Sulphur Mountain to the right with Banff in the valley below.

Bow Falls

You may recall a photo from our last trip of the Banff Springs Hotel taken from across a ravine. Well, at the bottom of the ravine is the Bow River and a little downstream, Bow Falls. After a great morning walking through Johnston Canyon, we went to see what Bow Falls was all about. Unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment in comparison, but I thought it was worth the comment.

Golf Canada Style.

Back in Australia, playing golf with Kangaroos is "par for the course" as it were. In Canada they basically substitute elk for roos.
We were doing a "ticky tour", as Kerri likes to call it, around the Banff Golf course when we came across this family of Elk. They didn't seem too worried about anything other than eating the lush green grass on the 3rd fairway. It was about the last place I had expected to see wildlife (around stacks of people), but in hind sight, probably not that surprising. The same theory applies back home. Why eat the tough vegetation when you can eat the manicured grass of the golf course?

Introducing mum. There were actually three elk cows in the family, one was only half gown.

These two little ones were a little more skittish than the older animals, but they still weren't exactly worried about us.

This guy was the one I was most weary of. That armoury on his head was very impressive, but I wasn't going to be on the wrong end of those antlers. Many people have been nailed thinking these animals are like placid domestic cattle. These are wild animals and, just like kangaroos, will dish out a hiding if you piss them off.

Moraine Lake

Last weekend was another of my 3 day weekend thanks to Jacobs' 9 day fortnight policy.
Kerri and I booked into our usual hotel, grabbed a car for the weekend. The car was a Buick and a complete pile of crap. It is typical of most of the North American built garbage cars you can buy here. They're even worse than the Aussie Falcons and Commodores! The Buick had poor steering, poor visibility, dreadful fuel economy and the turning circle of a bus. The brakes were the worst of all. When you even stand on the brake pedal a little the whole front end shuddered! Needless to say, I was giving other vehicles plenty of space during the weekend, particularly with wet conditions at times. End Rant.

Moraine Lake is the pick of the sights we've seen in Canada to date. The weather wasn't at all helpful over the weekend. The overcast and sometimes rainy conditions weren't at all conducive to great photos. Having said that, the lake makes it very difficult to take a bad photo. This particular shot (above) is on 1000s of postcards around here. You can see why. No reflections this time, but there has be some significant snow falls in the last week or so, taking the dirty grey look away from the high peaks.

We are all familiar with the Road Runner cartoons and have always felt sorry for the skinny, desert living coyote.
Well, we spotted a pair of them on the Bow Valley Parkway. They look nothing like the cartoon. These ones looked quite healthy and well fed (probably from the numerous rodents on offer in this part of the world). They weren't hanging around to see what we were up to and I only managed this rubbish shot as one of them was running away. They're about the size of a midsized dog. I hope I can get a better photo of one at some point. They're one of the 3 elusive true carnivores I have been so eager to see. The other two are Wolves and Cougars. Bear's are also on the list, but aren't exclusive carnivores. In fact they are more partial to berries than meat.

The mountains are spectacular at this time of year. The deciduous trees are all turning in preparation for the harsh winter and the green colours that greeted us four months ago, are now giving way to yellows and reds.

Vermillion Lakes

Nature is going all out to flower & seed before winter sets in properly in about a month.
This marsh is less than 5km from the centre of Banff and skirts Vermillion Lakes.

The Bow River

I just can't emphasise enough, how much the minerals enhance the waterways in Banff national park. The Bow river (below) is a classic example of how those minerals act to change the water to the distinctive blue colour that is so typical of the area.
Also notice the mountain peak behind still has the dirty grey appearance that all of them have had during summer. This shot was taken before two days of snow fall.