Plain of Six Glaciers

a favorite hike
in three installments
 

PART TWO

 

The hike continues from last week's POST.  

surrounded by Intense beauty

Look closely and you will see that there is a metal chain along the rock wall.  Using it wasn't necessary because the path was wide enough and not slippery.

looking back at Lake Louise

almost there!

a bench on which to sit and absorb the views and pristine air

the tea house!  where fresh bread, soup, sandwiches, sweets, and tea are offered 

I love the idea of a tea house high up in the mountains where one can relax and revive after a hike.

How do all the supplies get way up here?  What happens to the garbage?

 

The scenery at this point and along the entire hike is Intensely beautiful.  From here there is a trail that climbs up to a glacier.  That's a hike for another trip!

 
commentary from last week:
Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada is one of the most spectacular places on Earth.  My husband and I were privileged to visit twice in 2 consecutive years.  The Plain of  Six Glaciers is my top, number 1 favorite hike I've ever done.  This is because the scenery is breathtakingly spectacular every single step of the way!  My photos do not do justice.  Yet I offer them as a small taste of possibility.

There are links in last week's POST as well.  You can also see a map of this hike and will note that it is basically straight up.

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is  "I."   --for Intense Beauty--  Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun!  


Thank you, Ms Jenny, for hostessing another round! 
 
photos by me  © 2013   all rights reserved

a few favorites

(very random)

In the Spring of 2011, we re-nested 3 baby barred owls.  This is "Barry," the first baby owl, so named by the neighborhood children.
I blogged about the owls:
Re-nesting 
Baby Owl #2 

I love exploring nature with my camera.  The tiny details of flowers fascinate me.  Sometimes I'm lucky and capture a creature as well.  This photo is my blog avatar which I've used since I started blogging in January of 2009.

I love to hike, especially in the mountains.  This photo was taken at the end point of a hike in Lake Louise, Canada--The Plain of Six Glaciers.  It is one of my all-time favorite hikes.  The scenery along the entire route is stunning.  To the tea house is about 3.5 miles with an elevation gain of 1200 feet. 

photos of the hike on AlbertaWow

I love the beach and the ocean.  I grew up 3 hours from the Eastern shore of the US, so trips to the beach were frequent.  This is a photo of Cupecoy, a beach on a favorite Caribbean island--St. Maarten.  

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter  is "F."  Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 



photos by me  © 2007-2013   all rights reserved

Animal Bridge

in Banff National Park, Canada

Wildlife crossings exist in many other countries as well.  The first of these crossings were constructed in France during the 1950s.  Studies have shown that these structures--bridges and tunnels-- greatly reduce the conflicts between wildlife and roads.  


 
LINKS:
1.  ecoducts in the Netherlands, photos 
2.  ARC Wildlife Crossing Competition 2011 design winner HNTB + Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates, designed for West Vail Pass on I-70 in Colorado--scroll down to see the bridge
"The primary goals of the competition were to re-imagine how we create structures to ensure the safe mobility of humans and wildlife by allowing them to coexist, and to inspire the next generation of wildlife crossing structures."
3.  Nutty Narrows a squirrel bridge!  constucted across Olympia Way in Longview, Washington in 1963.  Check out these photos!  (Thanks for telling me about this, Cynthia!)

We've begun round 8!!
Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is "B." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 


photo by me © 2012 all rights reserved

Waterfall

along the Johnston Canyon trail, Banff National Park, Canada.  Located in the Rocky Mountains, Johnston Creek is a tributary of the Bow River.

LINK:
photos and videos of the hike can be found on this website--World of Waterfalls

Wordless Wednesday--where I linked up:

The Art and Tree Chatter of Aquarian

Create With Joy

 

Sarah Halstead of The Naptime Momtog

photo by me © 2012  all rights reserved

Rivers (and rocks)

On a recent vacation, my husband and I traveled to 4 of Canada's National Parks in the Rocky Mountains--Kootenay, Yoho, Banff, and Jasper.

Bow River

Driving the Icefields Parkway in Northern Banff and Jasper, the scenery is gorgeous.  The valleys are surrounded by mountains.  Rivers and lakes abound.

The above 2 photos are of Bow River north of Lake Louise in Banff.  The Bow River begins as meltwater from the Bow Glacier on Mount Gordon on the Continental Divide.  Its waters eventually end up in Hudson Bay.  The river was so named because the Cree Indians made bows from the douglas fir trees that grew along its banks.


 Kicking Horse River

view of Kicking Horse River in Yoho National Park

The water was milky gray seafoam-bluish-green.  Can you picture that?  milky silver with undertones of very light blue-green.

This is a view of the Natural Bridge, a formation that spans the flow of the river west of the town of Field.  This bridge was sculpted by the erosive forces of water rushing over what had once been a waterfall.  The harder limestone has remained while the softer rock below eroded more rapidly.

another view of the Natural Bridge with people for some perspective.

The sand on this small beach of the Kicking Horse River is gray.  (This is the same view as the first Kicking Horse River photo above.  Here I've climbed down onto the beach which is in the foreground.)



Nearby is the stunning Emerald Lake.  

How could we resist enjoying dinner with this magnificent view?! (@ Cilantro)

I'm linking up with my favorite teacher, Ms Jenny Matlock, as we work our way through the alphabet.  Please do go visit the other students, for you never know what gems you may find--humor, poignancy, information, visions of far away places, stuff you've never even dreamed of!  Check it out HERE.  You may even wish to join in yourself!  This week our letter is "R." 

PS:  These photos are straight-out-of-the camera.  There is a bit of a haze in the first couple photos for 2 reasons--the lighting in the sky and the fact there was a fire not so far away sending smoke everywhere.

photos by me © 2012 all rights reserved

peaks

I just returned from a wonderful vacation to four National Parks in the Canadian  Rockies--Kootenay, Yoho, Banff, and Jasper.  Driving through these parks, one is surrounded by mountains.  endless mountains!  such a variety of peaks!  jagged, rounded, striated, glaciated, buff, slate gray, silver, sandy brown, green, snow-covered.... 
The cloud formations were mesmerizing.  such a variety of moods!  That variety is evident in the sky above.

Look carefully in the valley formed by the two peaks.  That's a snow covered mountain which practically merges with the clouds above.

The water is a lovely turquoise due to a high concentration of minerals "scrubbed" from the land by moving glaciers and carried out by meltwater streams into the lakes.  This is called rock or glacial flour.

☆ one of the Vermillion Lakes in Banff National Park

I'm linking up with my favorite teacher, Ms Jenny Matlock, as we work our way through the alphabet.  Please do go visit the other students, for you never know what gems you may find--humor, poignancy, information, visions of far away places, stuff you've never even dreamed of!  Check it out HERE.  You may even wish to join in yourself!  This week our letter is "P." 

 

photo by me © 2012 all rights reserved