Climbing Over Rocky Mountain

Dated 13-15 August 

(As an aside, I finally figured out how to get the blog formatted correctly. I don't know why I had been stuck in html the whole time but it was driving me crazy that I couldn't get the paragraphs spaced properly. Now I can also do italics! Doesn't do me a whole lot of good now that this blog is pretty much over, but I'll know for the next one - and I'll go back and fix the most recent ones I posted, to make them pretty...)

Onto the Helen Lake adventure (aka the Jeff Hike)…Monday we packed up to leave with Jeff, who had brought his two dogs, Evening (a black lab) and Cricket (a border collie). We left a bit later than we had planned, because we had to get camping stuff together, but soon we were on the road to Banff, which is about 2 to 2 ½ hours away. I was in Little Red with Alec and Jo, which quickly devolved into me reading the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, which hopefully didn’t annoy Jo too much. Alec was insistent that there be a Jamaican character, which isn’t really in my dialect arsenal, not to mention the fact that it kind of needs to be written in that style to make sense (yah, man) but whatever, I made the Emcee at the Restaurant Jamaican, which was kind of fun, although half the time it just sounded like an alien dialect (which wasn’t entirely inappropriate). 

Anyway so we were following Jeff, who wanted to stop and get a campsite before starting our hike, since Banff is notorious for filling up daily and often in advance. We got two spots, though, and then set off for Helen Lake, which we thought was close by, but turned out to be another 45 minutes or so from the Banff campsite (I kept stopping reading, thinking we were there, but then starting up again when we clearly weren’t). We were all getting pretty hungry by this point, and Kaitlin had bought chips for when we were camping in the evening, but somehow they ended up in Little Red, so we started on them by the time we got to the hike spot. Once there we devoured our lunches, and got the dogs ready to go. 

It was supposed to be a six hour hike there and back, and we had wanted to start it by noon, but it was 2pm by the time we got there and were actually on our way. Alec started off holding Evening’s leash, and Jeff had Cricket’s, but when Evening pooped on the side of the trail a little ways in, Jeff gave me Cricket’s leash so he could run back to the parking lot and dump the trash, so I walked Cricket for a while after that. The two dogs desperately wanted to walk next to each other, so Alec and I were frequently tangled up because the trail was sometimes too narrow to walk side by side, and of course dogs are very good at walking around trees so that you have to follow them the whole way to get the leash detangled again. It was fun, though (many “yah, man”s were spoken through that part of the hike).

We started off walking in the trees, zigzagging up hill at a steady incline, but not too steeply. There were lots of roots and tiny creeks to cross, but it was nice and cool. At some point we reached a slight opening in the tree cover, and I got my first photos of the day. This is the view of the mountains in the distance, where you can see the road winding through.

Kaitlin was committed to getting the best shot of…something.

We could see this bright turquoise lake in the distance, below some snow-covered mountains. Jeff had picked the hike because Helen Lake was supposed to be pretty (a different lake), and we were even going to be able to see glaciers once we got high enough, which sounded pretty cool.

At one point we got confused, because we thought we could see a thin bridge connecting two parts of the mountain with just air between. Can you see it, that little bridge bit in the middle?

 

Turns out it was just a snowdrift that had melted off the top of ridge, so it looked like there was white above and below the mountain, which was kind of cool. Jeff took Cricket away from me to make sure he could guard her against other dogs (she gets rather excited and barky with them, and is very jumpy in general, hence the name) although I couldn’t get a good shot of him with her together.

Jo, on the other hand, didn’t want to be photographed at all…

Separated from my dog, I moved further back in the lineup (the dogs pushed ahead quickly, of course) and it was nice to be walking a little more leisurely. Soon enough we rounded a bend in the path, away from the first batch of mountain views and towards another. This mountain looked so much like a fortress, although it would be difficult to transport goods there, you would have to grow everything yourself (we had a discussion about this, lol).

Cricket found something fun to roll in, which hopefully didn’t smell too bad (Rotten Meat, anyone?).

We had one last view of the first mountains we saw from the trail behind us, before we moved onwards towards Helen Lake. Kaitlin is once again photographing something intently, and Jo is pondering the view.

The walk became flatter and more open as we continued straight between several mountains and scree slopes on either side. We found some of our friends as we were journeying.

As we walked, we kept hearing this high-pitched whistle that sounded almost like a bird, but was a little too drawn out and strident. Turns out it was a marmot, although we couldn’t see them. We could see a mountain in the distance that we were moving towards, but we weren’t sure whether it was the mountain we were going to climb (Kaitlin was really hoping it wasn’t).

We had to cross a small stream (no wading required) that took us from the side of one mountain towards the direction of the focal mountain.

Soon after crossing the stream we arrived at Helen Lake, where we could make out the path going up the mountain in front of us – the mountain we were destined to climb.

Jeff and Cricket began the ascent…but actually not, this was just him climbing a short hill up from the lake, I thought it looked kind of cool, though.

We rested by the lake for a bit, taking pictures of each other (I got some nice ones of Alec wading into the water on his fancy camera, which he promptly deleted) and the dogs. Here’s a contemplative shot of Cricket (I think…). The dogs were instantly in the water once we got there and we had to watch out for them splashing us, although it was pretty warm and we would all have liked to swim in the water, if it had been a bit easier to jump in (it would be nice to be a dog).

Jeff said, “Let’s do this,” and we started on the trek towards the mountain’s peak (a good distance away). I was at the back of the line and had to catch up with the others as they started towards the initial scree cliff (it wasn’t that bad, there were basically steps up the edge).

Alec and Jo (with Evening), the two youngest, were at the front of the line, and dramatically posed at the top of the first ledge.

Soon we could see back the way we had come, to the mountains that we strolled beside and the lake where the dogs bathed.

And right about that time someone noticed a marmot on top of the ridge, shrieking away. I thought the marmot’s call sounded particularly mournful, like a melancholy whistling of loneliness, but the others thought it sounded fine. Here is the Marmot of the Mountain, and I have a video that includes the peeping sound (took me 45 seconds of waiting to get it on tape).

From there on in the climb got a bit trickier, because we realized that the path wound alongside the ridge, and sometimes we had to almost traverse it, with a steepish drop on the other side. I didn’t think it was too bad, but some of us were a little on edge (haha, sorry that was terrible) and the dogs were not too happy. We realized that the path wasn’t really going anywhere vertical, and that maybe there was easier pathway up, so we decided to climb up the side to check it out. It wasn’t that hard for humans, but it took a lot of coaxing to get the dogs up there. Cricket in particular was stressed out because Evening was having trouble getting up, and she was trying to come back down to help him, and it was just generally difficult. We eventually succeeded in getting the quadrupeds up the ridge, where we saw the path winding back along a nice flat surface that we had missed before.

We came upon our first patch of snow, which was kind of exciting, and a short snowball fight ensued.

Once on the ridge, we could see yet another range of mountains, and Alec was kind enough to pose with them.

We took another break before starting the real ascent up the mountain, and the dogs rested for a little while, in between investigating my orange and sugar snap peas, which they decided were not to their liking. Alec had run out of water so I gave him some and we all set off for the final push. This is where we were going, and it was pretty steep.

Alec and Jo were in the lead again, and I was right behind at the beginning, after my boost from my snack, but soon I was gasping. Even with the path slightly zigzagging it was slow going, and I had to stop and take a breath at almost every turn, because oxygen was increasingly in short supply. The dogs were alternately running back and forth between those of us at the front, and Jeff and the rest behind, and I felt bad for them because the scree and the rocks must have been sore on their feet. After traveling a good distance I could see the path back the way we had come.

Alec and Jo stopped to rest at this one big rock, and I was determined to make it there before they kept going again, which I mostly did. Jo pushed on ahead, but Alec was slowing down, so I tried to keep up with him.

Even though it was getting steeper, it was somehow easier walking with someone else, because you had to stop anyway to make sure they were still with you in single file, and there was a bit of a competitive edge to keep up with the other person. I saw this cool spider, which was impressively large, though I don’t know what it was eating at the top of a mountain with no vegetation or other insect life in sight!

As we continued we started moving up the scree itself, which was really tricky to keep from sliding out from under you, although I liked it because I could move more steadily climbing close to the mountain and I didn’t have to catch my breath as often. At one point we rested on this big rock, which was the only stable thing in the area until you got to the top, and was a very nice spot to chill out and watch the others slowly working their way towards us (I don’t think Jeff realized that the hike involved a steep scramble through scree, and it was definitely more than the dogs had bargained for). Jo, meanwhile, had reached the top of the scree bit, and was waiting for us before climbing up the rocky outcrop to the very top of the mountain. There was a lovely view of another mountain lake once we made it up there, and we saw a lot more snow.

Here are Jo and Alec chilling at the top (quite literally, since it was really windy up there, and I had to get out my rain jacket to stay warm).

We could see Jessica and Jeff still climbing painstakingly towards us, but Kaitlin had had enough, and was resting with one of the dogs on our favorite rock a ways below. We had rested enough by the time the two J’s got there, and climbed up to the top to give them enough space to sit on the ledge. Cricket had somehow made it up there, but was whining a lot and looked kind of unhappy, though she was determined to go wherever Jeff did. We climbed the last bit of rock and reached the summit – which turned out to not be quite the tip top of the mountain, but the real highest point was reached through a scary-looking scree ridge walk, and we didn’t think we could do it if we’d wanted to. We decided we were at the top of the mountain! Here are a bunch of shots of us from various angles at the top. 

We could really see the glaciers in the distance! Check out all the snow on one of the slopes below us. 

Jessica made it up shortly after, but Jeff had to take care of Cricket so I think he went back down to hang out with Kaitlin and Evening.

It was funny, because we had made it to the top in basically reverse age order. Jo got there first, then Alec (technically Alec was the youngest, but close enough), then me, and then Jessica, while Kaitlin decided not to go the whole route, which was fine, especially because the dogs needed her. Funny. 

I couldn’t resist doing the triumphant Titanic pose…

This was the nearby peak that we think was really the highest, but we weren’t going to go there.

Jo, however, was fearless and walked out in the other direction along a short ridge to do her triumphant pose. Such excitement!

I set up my camera to get a group shot, and Alec determinedly lay down, but then started complaining that it was too painful to lie on the rocks, but he refused to get up, so we got one group shot of Alec and the ladies.

And then a more normal shot of us all together.

Because Alec really wasn’t prepared enough for this hike (although, to be fair, none of us expected such an intense climb to the top of a mountain), he got cold, so I lent him my fleece sweater (of course I was over prepared, which is why I had ample water, food, and clothes available, although I was also lugging a larger bag up the slope). It didn’t quite fit him, though, so we laughed at his absurdly small baby blue attire.

Here are both of us in my various blue jackets.

We finally had to come back down to rejoin the others, but it was a pretty epic view from the top, and more snowy than the view from the mountain I climbed in Colorado, which of course makes sense. Those glaciers and icy patches were pretty awesome!

We met up with Jeff, Kaitlin, and the dogs, who were probably looking forward to getting off the mountain, but put up with it well.

Coming down was pretty fun, though, because first we had to slide down the scree, and then I just found it easier to run a lot of the way down, because it was better to keep up the momentum.

We negotiated a much better path down than the way we had come up, and got the dogs along it a lot quicker, so that we soon made it back to the lake, where we took an official, full group shot.

I have another one that’s good as well, but the camera was slightly tilted and I can’t figure out how to straighten it (the computer fixed this one automatically). Anyway we trudged back along the flat bit and then down into the trees again, not talking too much because we were pretty exhausted and it was getting late. Every time we stopped to wait for each other, the dogs would flop down on the ground, completely tuckered out. I got to chat with Jeff briefly as we walked, which was about the first time I had talked with him on the whole trip, so that was nice. I also got a few pics of the beautiful wildflowers that were everywhere along the various parts of the trail.

By the time we made it back to the parking lot, it was after 9, so our hike had taken over 7 hours to complete – more than Jeff had suspected! We drove back to Banff for dinner, and I had Alec play his music while I drove so that I could stay alert (so many 80s tunes!). Following Jeff was an interesting adventure, though, because he was frequently going a bit faster than I would have liked on the winding roads as it got dark, but I had to keep up with him or else I would lose him, so I was frequently muttering things like “No, Jeff, don’t pass that car!” but we finally made it to town after 10.

We ate at a brewing company bar, and we were pretty famished. I had a nice mushroom sandwich and some fries that didn’t quite fill me up. Kaitlin tried their Saskatoon berry beer, which was pretty tasty, although I didn’t get any because I was already close to falling asleep at the table. We made it back to our campsite by around 1, quickly set everything up, and then collapsed, which was too bad because we had brought firewood and everything and had been planning on some fun campfire chatting, but the hike had been more arduous than anyone had expected, and we just started everything too late. Oh well, it was an awesome adventure regardless, and a great way to wrap things up before Alec and Jo left.

Tuesday we slept in until 10, since we didn’t have to leave the campsite until 11am, which was a godsend because I would have been so miserable trying to function the next day otherwise. Jeff traded passengers, since he wanted a chance to talk with Jo and Alec before they left, so I returned to Little Red (once again – I think every time we’ve driven somewhere in multiple cars, I’ve always been in Little Red, haha). It was the Original Three on the drive back to camp, which was such a throwback, and I finished up Artemis Fowl for Jessica as she drove. We were already getting a bit sad about the others leaving, so when we got to town Kaitlin treated us to milkshakes. I got a tiger shake (the Tiger flavor is orange ice cream swirled with licorice) and it was pretty good, despite being kind of unusual.

Back at camp we had several different activities going on between cutting up exclosures, fixing data, and making collars. Occasionally I checked on the two dogs, and they were pretty pathetic. Cricket was still bouncing around a bit, but Evening, the older one, was slumped in the back of the car the whole time, looking thoroughly exhausted and world weary.

Jeff left before dinner, which was too bad since I really hadn’t had a chance to talk with him that much, since I was always in the other car. Oh well. After dinner we were talking about games and watching Star Wars and I finally convinced people to play 3 Things (which is an improv game where someone makes up a list, like “3 things to do in the desert” and then the next person has to quickly list 3 things, which don’t have to make sense – like sand-bathe, jump, see mirages, which is what I just thought of right now). So that was pretty fun, it was just me, Alec, Kaitlin, Greg, and Lee (who had more struggles saying things quickly, which is understandable since English isn’t his first language) and I tried to get people to say the first things that came to their heads, but sometimes we thought about them too much, which was still okay. I also figured out the best way to put duct tape on the collars using as little tape as possible (so the squirrels don’t have to carry too much weight) which involved cutting a triangle off the top of the strip of tape and carefully weaving it around the collar, so I finished up that set of collars as we were enjoying the hilarity that is 3 Things!

It was supposed to rain the next morning, so we planned on going to Chuckwagon, this breakfast place in town, for brunch if it did. We were feeling pretty good about starting the 2^nd Star Wars movie (episode 5, just to be confusing) late in the evening as it rained outside. I enjoyed finally seeing the classic “I am your father” scene, and I feel like I’d seen bits of the movie already, but it was nice to see it all the way through.

Sadly, it was not raining when we woke up on Wednesday, so we all glumly readied ourselves for more squirrel trapping. I went up to Hailstone with Kaitlin, but we were going to have to leave early so that we could finish up stuff with the others before Alec and Jo left that evening. Because we are magic, we still collared 3 squirrels between us, which is more than the others who had been to Hailstone had been able to do in like 3 days. For one of them, Kaitlin had to call me over so she could use my scale, because this male was so fat he overwhelmed our 1-kilo dangling scales (including the pillowcase)! We suspect that he will be hibernating any day now, since he weighed about 900 grams, not counting the bag. He looked pretty funny with his collar on, since his chubby cheeks were puffing over the edges. I need to get some more pics of the collared squirrels, they look pretty silly.

When we got back everyone decided to make and bake tasty things. Kaitlin was making a pear cake with these almost-rotten pears we had left in the kitchen, Jo was baking cupcakes because she said it would annoy Alec (who was always confused by her random baking outbursts), and I decided to finally try making biscuit dough to take and use while camping (I kept looking for a magic recipe, but all the ones I found said things like: “Open can of biscuits. Wrap biscuit around stick. Cook over fire,” which may as well not be a recipe at all). I also organized my photos so I could give Alec and Jo all my people pictures (including the classic hike photos) and we swapped music. The cupcakes and the pear cake (with cardamom in it, yum!) were very good, although saying goodbye was not. We’ve really loved having the young’uns with us, and things will definitely be a lot quieter without them around. Missing them already, it’s so tragic…Bye, guys.