Day two: Lake Louise Area.
Day three: Lake Boom and Environs.
Day four: Emerald Lake area of British Columbia.
Day five (Sunday): Banff (Bow Falls).
Address your comments to hiker_guy@hotmail.com
At the tea house at Lake Agnes.
Left to right: John, Fred, Jim
Maya enjoys a relaxing lunch at the tea house.
The Whislter Jays are quite friendly -- if you have food!
Word gets around fast! We soon had quite a menagerie of Whislter Jays.
On Highway 1-A.
Left to right: Denise, Jim
Jim checks the snow quality on the "Telemark Loop" (trail 5).
Crossing a meadow on the "Telemark Loop" (trail 5).
Looking toward the mountains just East of Lake Louise.
Crossing another meadow on the "Telemark Loop" (trail 5).
Note meandering creek beds in meadow.
At Lake Louise's outlet stream.
(Lake Louise is the flat, white area to our rear)
Left to right: Jim, Carol, Denise, Maria, and John
Climbing up to Lake Boom
Left to right: Debbie, Denise, and Gene
Another photo on the trail up to Lake Boom
Left to right: Debbie, Denise, Gene, and Jim
At scenic Lake Boom -- quite a backdrop!
Left to right: Gene, Debbie, and Denise
The temperature on the lake was 5' F with a slight breeze. Quite chilly!
At scenic Lake Boom -- quite a backdrop!
Left to right: Gene, Debbie, and Denise
Along the shore of Lake Boom.
Left to right: Jim, Debbie, Denise, and Gene
Another shot on the shore of Lake Boom.
Left to right: Jim, Debbie, Denise, and Gene
Note: this shot was taken by a very polite, well-mannered 8th grader who volunteered,
as far as we could tell, to take our picture with out the prompting of his teacher.
We were all quite surprised to see an entire 8th grade class of Canandian children from
Calgary come upon our wilderness idyll. We were even more surprised that they were only
supervised by one adult and that all of the children were allowed to carry swiss army
knives and fuel for their backpacking type stoves.
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore..."
(this is definitely NOT the way things are done in Los Angeles).
Debbie on Lake Boom.
View is toward the outlet stream of Lake Boom (roughly East).
Jim and Debbie on Lake Boom.
View is toward the inlet stream of Lake Boom (roughly West). Above the inlet stream is a
vast ski bowl area. We saw one Telemarker heading up. The lake was mostly frozen as
solid as a rock, but, toward the inlet stream, things got a bit mushy --
needlees to say, we made a hasty retreat!
Another shot of Jim and Debbie standing on Lake Boom.
Can't get enough of that great Canadian countryside!
On the Natural Bridge overlook of the Kicking Horse River, near Field, BC
Left to Right: Fred, Maya, and Jim
A good view of the Natural Bridge on the Kicking Horse River.
Note: many of the photos taken on this trip were done using the camera's timer while
the camera was sitting on my rather unsteady backpack. Those photos turned out fine, but
this somewhat cropped photo was done with the "assistance" of another particpant on the
trip. Said particpant's name omitted so that I may go without fear of retribution on
the trip next year...
Water flowing into Natural Bridge.
Note that much of the "white water" around the opening is actually ice.
In the parking lot near the Natural Bridge.
At Emerald Lake
Left to right: Will, Debbie, and Jim
Because of it's lower elevation, the lake is not frozen.
Standing beside Emerald Lake
Another shot looking North at Emerald Lake
Emerald Lake
Note how shallow the snow is right at the edge of the lake.
We were fortunate enough to have some snowfall on our first day -- otherwise
this area would not have been skiable.
Lunch break beside the the main water source for Emerald Lake
Left to Right: Jim, Debbie
Debbie says "if you have Trader Joe's chocolate-covered English Toffee, why then I'm
your BEST friend..."
A break from skiing in the area above Emerald Lake
Debbie toasts the gathering snow clouds.
Will is to the right.
At a trail junction on the trail to Yoho pass above Emerald Lake.
Note the trail marker (not much sign of the trail this time of year!) between Debbie and
Fred.
Left to Right: Will, Fred, and Debbie.
Enjoying a cup of Debbie's delicious hot tea above Emerald Lake.
Near the trailhead at Emerald Lake
Left to Right: Jim, Debbie, and Will.
Accross the lake (beside Jim's right hand), you can see one of the buildings from the
Emerald Lake lodge where we enjoyed a fortifying Buffalo Soup apres ski.
Note that this photo was taken in an avalanche path -- it was the only clear shot of the
lake!
Bow Falls
Note that much of the Fall's "roaring rapids" are actually ice.
Left to Right: Zoud, Debbie, and Naia.
Jim beside the Bow River. View is downstream toward Banff.
Note the ice flows in the river.
Jim with Bow Falls in view to the rear.