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A week or so after Mary and Co. had left the other half of the family came over. Mum, Anne, Gary, Jordan and Sam were treated to more or less the same trip as the other guys. After a couple of nights in Banff we headed for Jasper. We were lucky enough to catch Lake Patricia on a calm morning - thanks to Gary for this shot (voted nicer than mine by the kids - allegedly with no bias...). |
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The wter didn't stay calm for long - Sam had other ideas. |
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All that stone chucking can wear a young man out, and I had to carry Sam too. Mum took this about 2 minutes before we almost bumped into a couple of black bears on the trail. Unfortunately they left before we got a decent photo - intimidated by Sam's cat-fur-ball cough impersonation, sorry, I meant lion impersonation. |
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I took this one of Jordan and Gary at the Athabasca Falls - you wouldn't think that further back up the trail, i.e.. nearer the car park, there's hundreds of people... |
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Out on my bike I came across Lake Annette - would have been great for swimming, but when we went back the weather wasn't great. From speaking to some locals its sounds as if its been like that all summer. Still had fun though. |
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Oh, come on - we had to. |
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From Jasper we headed West along the Yellowhead Highway 16, which eventually leads to the coast of British Columbia at Prince Rupert. After passing through Mount Robson Provincial Park we turned South onto the Yellowhead 5 that follows the Thompson River down to Kamloops and the Northern end of the Okanagan. Its an impressive drive and the guys saw their fifth bear - in fact the girls and Sam saw 6 and 7 - this black bear's cubs, that Gary and myself didn't spot. There are a lot more bear sightings as the Buffalo Berries ripen - unfortunately many of these are found by roads and trails leading to many more encounters.
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We had a vague idea of stopping near a lake for a couple of days - maybe even rent a house boat. Unfortunately we hit a long weekend - but in the end it worked out fine - a cheap cabin and a couple of hours on a ski boat. We stayed near Sicamous - "Canada's house boat capital". From where we rented the boat you could head for Shuswap Lake or the smaller Mara. We opted for Lake Mara - a little calmer and less house boats to avoid. You can't see Mum's right hand because its pushing the throttle as far as it will go... |
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Ah, loving it, eventually. It took them a little while to get used to the idea that speed is your friend ;) Jordan was gutted we weren't staying here for the rest of the holiday - apparently boats and beaches are infinitely more enjoyable than traipsing round mountains. |
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After a couple of nights near Sicamous we headed back to Banff and Lake Louise. There are some nice easy trails near to the Lake - this is around 3/4 of the way up to the Tea House by Lake Agnes. Looking directly back across Lake Louise from here you can see Mount Fairview that I hiked with the other half of the family. From the actual Tea House area you get great views of Lake Louise Ski Area across the Bow Valley. |
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I promised Jordan and Sam something a little more adventurous - so it was back to the boulder pile at the head of Moraine Lake. Took them a lot less time to negotiate the log jam than James, Jonny and me. |
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CHAV Mountaineering 101. Long live the hoodie I say. For a 6 year old Sam is very competent - very sure footed and a natural route finder. I didn't get a photo of Jordan climbing up as she was too quick for me. |
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Back on the top of the boulders and who did we find? The wonders of cheap photo editing software... |
