Hello blog! It’s been a while. A lot’s happened since I last updated. There is so much to say that somehow I always put off writing for fear of getting arthritis in my wrists from over excessive blogging.
I just got back from a trip to the Rockie’s and Edmonton.
Tuesday - Thursday, August 15-17, 2006
Bus ride of my lifeI met up with Gabe, Jason, Carmel and Carmel’s friend Victor at the Greyhound station in downtown Toronto for a 2 day (52 hour) bus ride to Banff, AB!!!!
I know Greyhounding across Canada sounds crazy, and it really is. We drove through Thunder Bay, Sue St. Marie and a bunch of little towns in between before leaving Ontario. What a huge province we live in, add a couple of highway fatalities along the way and we made it only 8 hours behind schedule. Other cities we drove through include Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary. We were so beat and dirty at our destination. We were greeted by Gabe’s friends; four smiling and cheerful girls Tracey, Katrina, Silvie and Carol. We walked to the Hostel (Hostelling Internationale) for a much needed shower and sleep. I snored the entire night (people learned to tune me out.)
Banff is a great town. You can walk from end to end in a half hour, but it’s hard to tell where the town ends exactly, it’s simply bordered off by the mountains in the distance. Every street is named after an animal, Moose St, Marmot St, Otter St, you get the idea. The buildings look like ones out of a Christmas village, I can just imagine how awesome it is in the Winter time.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Painful first dayThe 9 of us got up at around 6am to visit the information centre right when it opened. We planned out a hiking route and set off. The camp site was 16km away, which doesn’t seem like a lot of walking for a day, but add a 30kg back pack and the uphills and downhills, well there was a lot more walking than we all could have anticipated. We stopped and took a long rest at Healy Pass. It’s at the top of a hill where you could see all the surrounding mountains, glaciers and even a waterfall. It made everything worth while.
The group was going at a very slow pace, and Carmel and Jason pressed on without us after lunch. Victor and I let Gabe and the girls for a while too, we like running down the trails and waiting for them to catch up instead of walking continuously with heavy loads on our backs.
We all arrived at the camp site around 8, brushed up and slept. It got extremely cold at night. Mountain weather is crazy that way. Everything gets so much colder after the sun sets. Temperatures reached below zero at night. Jason, Victor, Carmel and I slept in Jason’s 4 person tent while Gabe cuddled up with the girls. (we hope he finally got his orgy.)
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Less is so much more.We did nothing today but lounge around the camp site. There was talk of venturing out for a day hike, but everyone was exhausted beyond curiosity. Some of us went down to the creek to skip rocks. I am the rock skipping champion :D Victor and I took out our blue mats and laid in the shade for hours (a place I will have revisited in my head many times since then).
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Egypt Lake and Whistling passWe left everything at the camp site to take a day trip to Egypt Lake, around 5 km away from the camp site. Hiking is SO much better when you don’t have to carry anything but yourself. The water in the lake was beautiful; it was teal coloured and calm, surrounded by cliffs. We figured the lake got its name from a cliff face that resembled the Sphinx. After having lunch by the lake, Gabe suggested we talk further (another 5km) to a place called Whistling pass. Jason and a couple of the girls were too tired and worried they wouldn’t have enough energy for the hike back to civilization tomorrow. Silvie, Gabe, Carmel, Victor and I (being the irresponsible ones) continued on to Whistling pass. The hike had the harshest trail I’ve ever walked on. It was full of pointy rocks that elevated erratically and steeply. We were literally walking beside cliff drops and avalanches. By the time we made it over one big hill, there was another… we didn’t think we would make it and wanted to give up after 30 minutes of this shit.
I am so glad we didn’t turn back. It may have been the best decision of the trip. We did another hour of ridiculous hiking… going over that last hill, Whistling pass came into view. We sat on the slopping downhill looking on, into complete silence and serenity. The photos really don’t do it justice.
We got back to camp pretty late; it had been a great day and night.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Journey back
One thing I forgot to mention is that, hardcore camping doesn’t come with showers. We were filthy and just wanted to bath and sleep in a warm bed for the night. The hike back wasn’t as bad because it was mostly downhill. Carmel, Victor and I played sex ABC’s to pass the time and distract ourselves from the pain in our feet and backs. I got a picture of the gang as the cab to take us back to the hostel came into view. Their expressions were priceless, so were the showers that soon followed.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Sulphur Mountain, Banff Golgola and the hot springsWe all slept in that morning. Some of us were up late last night playing pool and foosball at the hostel bar. Silvie’s bf Raza joined us last night too. We did some shopping in Banff and took a trip to a place called Surprise Corner and took pictures of the mountains and Fairmont hotel like good tourists should. After a quick dinner we took cabs to Sulphur mountain.
Sulphur mountain is one of the only mountains with a working gondola for summer, compete with a lookout tower at the summit. Gabe, Carmel, Victor, Raza and I thought we’d try hiking up Sulphur mountain instead of paying $23 ridiculous dollars to take the gondola up. It took us an hour and a half of climbing. It didn’t seem like a lot, but looking down from the top, it was hard to believe we did that on foot. It also got very cold up at the top the air was thinner too, we climbed into thin air!! I’m glad we didn’t take the gondola, because we earned the view, gave each other mad high fives and just stood at the summit until the sun set and the cold penetrated us.
The gondola ride down the mountain was free. We saw Banff light up below us; it was a sweet and gratifying ride back.
We met up with the girls at the hot springs. The spring was a temperature controlled pool of 39 degrees. The water was just perfect. Victor and I were off on our own for the most part. We knew it’d be the last night we’d see each other in a while. (I had decided to forgo the 2nd part of the trip to visit Edmonton instead). I’d gotten to know and like Victor a lot during this trip, he made me want to stay.
It was Carmel’s last day in Banff too, she had to be somewhere back home. The alcoholics of the group (Carmel, Victor, Katrina and I) + Gabe the water drinker went to the Hostel bar and played some more foosball and pool. We toasted to a whole lotta stuff, but mostly just asked ourselves if it got any better than this. We figured, probably not.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Goodbye’s and Hello’s.Of the original gang, Jason, Carmel and I were leaving early. Jason had a leg injury and couldn’t continue on. We said our goodbyes to the remainder 7 who were getting ready to go on an 8 day hike that morning. It doesn’t get any more hardcore than that I don’t think. They are going to smell SO bad at the end, but wouldn’t trade it for the world I bet. I’m crazy jealous of them all right now. Victor gave me his necklace and I gave him my big bulky sleeping bag to take on the trip. Wherever he is right now, I hope he’s warm.
Jason, Carmel and I took the morning bus from Banff to Calgary. There we split up. Alex picked me up in Edmonton at 4pm. He looked worn out, but handsome. He told me his grandfather was dying in the hospital. It was expected he said, because his grandfather was 91 years old already and was ready to die, felt it was time. Alex had been in the hospital with the family all night, and was glad to get away for a while.
I met Alex’s nice family. We played guitar at his friend Drew’s house (who is definitely going to be a famous jazz guitarist one day), rented a couple of movies and took it easy for the night.
Thursday - Friday, August 24 – 25, 2006
EdmontonAlex’s grandfather passed away in the middle of the night. The family was calm with moments of stress. I felt bad about being there at such an unfortunate time, but Alex told me to stop being stupid. I met most of Alex’s extended family because of this, including the grandmother, who’d been with her husband for 65 years. That’s a long time to be with someone. Alex was too drained from everything still, he played piano for his grandma and I and then we went to the Fringe festival (which was a theatre festival in the arts district of Edmonton). We saw a totally hilarious play that cheered him up a lot. We bought soap stone and carved stuff out of it in his backyard and played with Toby the dog and Pepper the miracle cat, who’d been run over twice by cars and still managed to remain one solid cat.
Alex convinced me to stay one more day because we never got to go out to a bar. I spent the day at West Edmonton Mall by myself while Alex and his family worked out funeral arrangements at his house. West Ed is just a really big… mall… I don’t know what I was expecting really. There was an amusement park, a wave pool and a petting zoo there… it was odd to see a lady walking a cow in the middle of the mall, but the cow can’t walk itself you know. Alex and I hit the bars after I got back. We opted to have one pint in each of his favourite bars. I was nice and buzzed when he took me to the bus terminal for my 12:01am journey. I was knocked out for the entire night and woke up the next morning in Saskatoon.
Saturday - Monday, August 26-28, 2006A long way homeLongest day in the history of my life, because it was actually a 52 hour bus ride back. It’s good to be home.
I finally checked out the marks. I did splendidly for not doing any work this summer. *A pat on the back for my Machine Design mark*. Best term EVER.
Healy Pass
Egypt Lake
Looking onto Whistling Pass
At the end of the first hike. From left to right:
Carmel and Gabe at the Sulphur Mountain Lookout
Last night in Edmonton
