Moraine Lake views

a few photos of beautiful Lake Moraine in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

 

 

 

 

LINK:
Parks Canada

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

photos by me  © 2013   all rights reserved 

Plain of Six Glaciers

a favorite hike
in three installments

Part Three

The hike continues from last week's POST.

It's time to leave the wonderful teahouse with its delicious food and refreshing drinks and head down the path.  Going down is SO much easier!

Lake Louise is in the distance.  Can you see the 2 people?  Their size will give you an idea of the scale.  (hint:  They're on the middle left blending into the rocks.)

The path goes through this talus field but it has been cleared of rocks, so no climbing is required.

back down at the edge of the lake.  We've crossed the rocks-in-the-water path (6th photo).  The water really is silvery gray.


a truly wonderful hike with Jaw dropping scenery the entire way!  Then at the end of the upward/downward path, at the far end of the lake, I was totally enthralled by the colors.  the COLORS!  I took a bazillion photos.  I could have spent hours here just absorbing the beauty.  Joyful!

The silvery gray glacial water feeds into the lake turning turquoise.  It's September and Fall, so some of the leaves are becoming golden.  The yellow contrasts with the deep forest green of evergreen trees.  (Those are tall trees across the lake!)

The water is luscious and clear but oh so cold!  Later we dip our feet in but can bear it for only seconds!

commentary from the first 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 the first week's POST.  You can also see a map of this hike and will note that it is basically straight up.

The color of the water is due to the suspension of fine rock ground by the movement of the glacier and called glacier flour.  The milky silvery gray water has the most glacial flour suspended in it. 

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


 
 
photos by me  © 2013   all rights reserved

water

Water in its myriad forms, colors, strengths, and settings is such a compelling substance.  Below are just a few of these.

Waterfowl Lake along the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park, Canada

Athabasca River, Jasper National Park, Canada

Takakkaw Falls, Yoho National Park, Canada

The water, which is fed by the Daly Glacier of the Waputik Icefield, falls about 1260 ft (384 m) making it one of the highest falls in Canada.  Takakkaw means "magnificent" in Cree.

detail of water below Takakkaw Falls

LINKS:
more photos of Waterfowl Lake--my POST
couple photos of Athabasca River--my POST
past POST on water

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



photos by me  © 2013  all rights reserved

gorgeous Mount Edith Cavell

 

In September 2013, my husband and I hiked the Mount Edith Cavell trail to Cavell Pond in Jasper National Park, Canada.  It is a short, easy hike at 11,033ft (3,363 m) elevation.  The views along the way are spectacular!

There are several glaciers visible on the North face of the mountain.  Angel Glacier (above) forms in a bowl or cirque.  The glacier flows downward.  Some of the ice breaks over the vertical cliffs forming the angel's wings.  Because of the constant movement, this is an avalanche area.  We did see several while we were here and heard their resounding BOOMS!

I love the patterns, colors, and shapes of the plants, lichens, and rocks.  stunning decoration!

If you look very carefully in the middle of the photograph, you will see a person in blue.   This will give you an idea of the scale.

See the people--blue and red?

Cavell Pond is just below Cavell Glacier.  Ghost Glacier is the highest snow area above on the left.  In August, 2012, a very large chunk (equivalent to 1428 city buses) of Ghost Glacier broke off and avalanched down the mountain into Cavell Pond causing a tsunami that closed trails and the parking lot.  (video link below)

Icebergs float in Cavell Pond.

silly photo of me

pattern and texture

Back to the beginning of the trail, Cavell Lake can be seen in the distance, a gorgeous turquoise blue due to the suspension of glacial flour.

LINKS:
Banff and Beyond trail description and photos
lots of photos AlbertaWow
Parks Canada
Map  nearby roads and trails 
video of the avalanche (warning:  4 -letter word at the 5 second mark)

about Edith Cavell, a British nurse in WWI who saved many lives

My Post:
water  a couple photos of Cavell Pond and Cavell Lake

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



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

Athabasca Glacier

Located in the Canadian Rockies, Athabasca Glacier is one of six principal "toes" of the Columbia Icefield.

In the above photo, Athabaca Glacier is the tongue of ice in the valley between the mountains.


The cool thing about this glacier is that you can almost drive up to it.

This photo was taken through the front window of our car--see the wipers?  There's a small wooden building to the left of the parking lot.  You'll see that building again.


See that gorgeous aqua glacial lake on the right?  Here's another view.

We park.  We've already donned multiple layers of clothing.  We add jackets.  I get out my gloves and headband.  It's already cold and it will be much colder up close to the glacier.

We start up the path.

There is an "other worldliness"  to this landscape.

looking back.  See the building?  It looks so tiny already.  The trail is a little over a half mile in one direction, going uphill gently and steadily with short, steeper sections.  The trail begins at 6500 feet (2000 meters) elevation with a gain of 165 feet (50 meters).  not impossible.  The windy coldness increases as we approach the glacier.

informational signs

We have arrived at the toe of the glacier.  There is glacial melt--a small waterway--in the foreground. 
See the tiny people?

A plank has been laid to enable the fearless (foolhardy) to cross over to the glacier.

STOP

not a public 

access

DANGERS BEYOND THIS POINT:

crevasses and millwells (DEEP HOLES, SOMETIMES HIDDEN)

Changeable ice conditions

Swift flowing creeks with slippery banks

PARTIES PROCEEDING BEYOND

THIS POINT MUST HAVE:

Mountaineering and rescue equipment

The knowledge of how to use it

You may have noticed those people on the glacier.  Yep, a few folks wandered onto the glacier in spite of signs like this and one detailing the fall of a young boy into a crevasse a couple years before.  (It's easy to take a SnowCoach trip onto the glacier with a guide--see LINKS below.)

Glaciers form because more snow falls in a year than can melt during the short summer season.  Over time the accumulated snow transforms into ice and begins to flow outward through gaps in the mountains.  This creates great tongues of ice called glaciers.  The Columbia Icefield receives about 33 feet (10 meters) of snow annually, falling every month of the year. 
In places the ice is 2,952 feet (900 metres) thick.

Glacial ice is in continuous motion, creeping forward at the rate of an inch or so per day, flowing down the valley like a frozen, slow-moving river.  The Athabasca Glacier has been receding/melting for about 125 years because of a warming climate.  The extent of its retreat during that time frame has been about a mile.  Signs mark the years when the glacier reached farther.  The shrinking glacier has left an other worldly landscape of rocky moraines in its wake. 

The Columbia Icefield at 126 sq miles (9325 sq km) is the largest icefield in the interior of North America.  It feeds six glaciers, of which Athabasca is one.  However, this glacier makes up only 2% of the total mass of the Columbia Icefield.

Through the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, fresh water flows into three oceans--east to the Atlantic, west to the Pacific, and north to the Arctic.  This forms a triple continental divide.  Since Snow Dome is the highest peak in the Icefield, it is the hydrographic apex* of North America which means that this is the center of water distribution to the continent.

Meltwater from the Athabasca Glacier feeds into the Athabasca River which then flows into Lake Athabasca in northeastern Alberta. 

LINKS:
Parks Canada  Columbia Icefield Area and Athabasca Glacier
satellite view of the Columbia Icefield 
Banff and Beyond  photos and information, including SnowCoach trips 
Climb Wild great information on the Columbia Icefield with photos

my post--peaceful  Athabasca River in Jasper National Park 

*One other apex exists on the continent of North America--Triple Divide Peak in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA.

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


photos by me © 2012 all rights reserved