We'r Haarkin in the Rarckiiiies!! Tuesday, May 30

We had a quiet start to the week after the long weekend until Paul Secombe (ex-Darwinite, current nomad) arrived via Chigaco and Seattle. Ian had a driving lesson late Friday so we embarked very early (0500hrs) on Saturday to do the Banff - Jasper Icefields Parkway road with a few hikes thrown in.

Arrived at Lake Louise about 10.00 am and headed off on a walk to the other end of the lake and up the valley on the Six Glaciers trail. It was suitably snowy and glacial and we couldn't get to the last lookout because we couldn't find the track under the snow cover. It snowed intermittantly and was a bit chilly occasionally, but better than walking in the rain! Actually it made the hike seem like a winter wonderland!

We detoured via the Beehive and Lakes Agnes and Mirror so as to make a loop on the way back and totalled about 14 km in 6 hours. There are a number of other tracks around this area and we will be back for more.

Stayed the Saturday night at The Crossing again (the Oilers won another game and are now in the Stanley Cup Grand Final of the ice hockey), and did a 5 km hike up Parker Ridge the next morning. The trail goes straight up a ridge to get great views of the Saskatchewan Glacier on the other side. The trail was very snowy and the snow was very soft (up to our waists) and we ended up getting wet and cold on the way down mainly due to idiocy (the video is hilarious). We found out later that day that the walk was closed due to avalanche danger, but it seemed OK to us snow ignorants at the time.

We also saw two black bears, lots of mountain goats, and small cute furry critters of various sorts. We may have to invest in a veg. and animal guide book as apart from being carefuly researched on Grizzlies, we don't have a clue.