Happy Birthday Sunday Sevens! I've only been around a few weeks, but Nathalie's been going for a whole year. Hope I can keep it up that long! It's Labour day today, so I've been a bit lax in posting but here goes....
1. Went out for lunch with the neighbours (and friends/family) as it was Mr E's birthday. Mrs E just managed to pick the hotel where the Tesla tour was being hosted.... Funny that. They were lovely and let us have a look around/sit in/take photos even though we'd not booked a test drive. Very pretty....
2. Not much happening on work days as Mal was over for the week from the UK, but then I had a few days off and we went to the mountains.... First stop Johnston Canyon near Banff. A series of waterfalls in a steep sided gorge with a motorway style trail along the side. We miss timed the visit (lazy morning in Calgary) at got there at the same time as all the other tourists in the National Park. But we did walk all the way to the top to see the Inkpots, whereas most people stop at the top Falls. The Inkpots are a series of small pools from underground springs, and you can see the water actually bubbling up from the bottom. They're different shades of blue/green (hence the name) because of the variations in mineral content.
3. Next stop - Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park. We weren't really sure what to do on our big day in the mountains as the weather forecast wasn't looking great, and there was a high likelihood of getting completely soaked later in the day. As we were staying in Field, we could start early (no long drive up from Calgary) so decided on Iceline. You complete most of the ascent at the beginning of the hike to get up to the iceline (where the glaciers used to be, I guess) and then contour along the side of the valley before intersecting with Little Yoho valley, and then dropping down from there to the main Yoho valley. We hoped that we'd make it to Little Yoho (and the valley/tree cover) before the rain hit.
Well it turned out the forecast was a little out.... We had the most stunning weather! And the rain didn't reach us until about 45 minutes after we got back to the car! It really was a great trail. The switchbacks up at the start aren't too taxing and then you have the most amazing views across the valley
4. Sorry, I couldn't just give you one photo of Iceline.....
5. The forests in the National Parks are full of mushrooms and fungi, and I feel the need to buy a book and find out more. The first one to look up is this! It was about the size of my hand, with strange block texture on the top. Very cool!!
6. The best Nachos in the world! Slow cooked belly pork and BBQ sauce at Truffle Pigs in Field, B.C. We went there twice (as there is nowhere else to go in Field), and had Nachos both times!
7. Mal's birthday present (and the real reason we were in the mountains for a few days) was the Parks Canada guided hike up to the Burgess Shale Fossil Beds on Mount Stephen. This is a restricted area, and you're only allowed to go there on a guided hike (they have CCTV with a live feed to the Wardens smartphones so watch out!). Quite a steep hike up, but once you're there it is absolutely amazing!! There are literally trilobites in every piece of rock. You feel like you have to stand still and not move, as every step will be standing on fossils. Mal loved it (and I quite enjoyed it too!!).
