Rafting
What's this- a post on time? Amazing. Don't expect this to form a trend though.
To segue from my last post, I did end up hiking up to the Plain of Six Glaciers teahouse, on a very pleasant, though quite hot, day off. It's a different kind of experience compared to the other one at Lake Agnes, really. First of all, while the hike is longer, it's much less vertical distance to travel, with several long stretches that are relatively flat. The surroundings are also quite different- while the Lake Agnes hike is through the mountains and forest, making it decidely boreal in ambience, the P6G is much more rugged and rocky, especially for the last half or so. A good part of the trail goes along the side of a moutain looking over what I can only assume is the plain referred to in the title. The best part of this is that the wind was blowing across the plain, and since there were still glaciers on it, it was a very cool and refresing breeze indeed. And there is a lot more snow. We only saw a patch at the very top of the Lake Agnes trail, but on P6G there are two major encounters with the white stuff.
The first such encounter, I didn't even realize it was snow at first. As the trail bends at one point, there appeared to be a small cave leading into the cliff face, with a small waterfall overtop of it. Instead it was actually a large pile of snow that had melted in a very unique way, effectively producing a tunnel through it, I would assume from the influence of the waterfall behind it, reaching all the way back to the cliff face. I only actually noticed this because it seemed like a good place to rest, as two other hikers and their dog were taking a breather at the mouth of what I thought was just an odd cave. As one can imagine the snow tunnel created a very cool current of air, which is why these two girls chose the spot. After a brief chat, I pushed on, and encountered even more snow- what I'm told is a permanent sheet of snow across the path and well up to the mountain. Navigating it was not that difficult as the portion covering the path was mostly melted, and there was only a dozen metres or so to cross.
But finally I arrived at the teahouse, which was quite busy, likely due to the advantageous weather. I had to wait a few minutes to get a table, and unfortunately had to buy a bottle of water with my tea as I had already exhausted the supply I brought with me- A note to myself to fill the thing all the way next time. The two girls I met at the snow tunnel arrived a short while after my tea (which, I should note, was just a teabag, not loose leaf, which I was a bit disappointed by), so I sat down after and talked a bit more, since we were not so winded from hiking. Turns out they were actually from South Africa- one of them had moved to Calgary, and the second was visiting her for a couple weeks, and they were just touring around the various sights Alberta has to offer. It was an interesting conversation- I always like talking to people from far away places. The hike back down was, like the Agnes hike, quicker but harder on the knees. Still, definitely a fun hike and I will continue to try making such excursions a regular thing.
The way the schedules work at the deli is like this- they display from Friday-Thursday, so that is how a work week goes. This work week I had Monday and Tuesday, and for some reason, Thursday as well. On next week's schedule, I have the first two days off- AKA Friday and Saturday- combining to give me a lengthy 3 days off in a row. Now, even though my DS does still provide a valuable way to waste time (still only up to 340 lines in Tetris) keeping me occupied for three days is a lot to ask of it. So I set about looking for things that could keep my attention diverted. Drew happened to also have Thursday off, and suggested going whitewater rafting. Since the opportunity for that fell through when the parents were here, I was quite enthused with the idea. It was good timing when we bought the tickets as well, as they asked me at work yesterday if I could come in today, but unfortunately since the trip is non-refundable within 24 hours, I had to say no (darn, eh?)
There was one possible snag though. The forecast for the day was rain, and the morning dawned cloudy and pretty cold. Of course the trip goes rain or shine, but one would always like to have some sun for an activity like this. But much to my delight, by the time we got to the river base (which is 45 minutes away anyways) the clouds had disappeared and the sky could not have been clearer. Of course one learns quickly that weather is impossible to predict in the mountains, and even a short distance away can have very different skies, but it was a fortunate turn anyways.
We were signed up for the half-day excursion, which means a bit more than an hour on the water. The recommendations I had heard were very accurate- it was a lot of fun. I took the front paddle position for the first half of the trip, which included the longest and wettest stretch of rapids. And yes, you definitely get wet on these trips. Right before we switched there was one rapid we did that, I suppose by virtue of the way we hit it and the specific conditions of the day, we hit harder than any of the big ones we had already navigated. On that one we went from white water to green water for a bit. But no one fell out, and we got to the end of the run without incident.
One funny story to relate about the end of the trip though- the rafters help the guides to load up the rafts onto the truck to be transported back to the start of the run. You see, there is a metal frame in the raft that the guide uses to sit and steer, and they warned us to watch for the sections where the oars hook on. While we were loading up the last raft, somehow my lifejacket strap got caught in part of the large oar used to steer, specifically the part that hooks on to the part we were told to watch out for- which, I should note, I was. As there were 10 or so people lifing this raft, the result was that I was rather ungraciously hoisted into the air along with the raft by the chest, with some protestations that were not immediately heard or, it would seem, exactly understood. I actually undid the strap before they had figured out that they should LOWER the raft so I could extricate myself, but it was all a good laugh after. Overall a very enjoyable experience, and I may try to get out once more before I leave.
And that brings us to the present. Tomorrow I think I'll be heading into Banff to do some errands, and Saturday will likely be another hike. And until my next post,
Stay Frosty
Trevor
To segue from my last post, I did end up hiking up to the Plain of Six Glaciers teahouse, on a very pleasant, though quite hot, day off. It's a different kind of experience compared to the other one at Lake Agnes, really. First of all, while the hike is longer, it's much less vertical distance to travel, with several long stretches that are relatively flat. The surroundings are also quite different- while the Lake Agnes hike is through the mountains and forest, making it decidely boreal in ambience, the P6G is much more rugged and rocky, especially for the last half or so. A good part of the trail goes along the side of a moutain looking over what I can only assume is the plain referred to in the title. The best part of this is that the wind was blowing across the plain, and since there were still glaciers on it, it was a very cool and refresing breeze indeed. And there is a lot more snow. We only saw a patch at the very top of the Lake Agnes trail, but on P6G there are two major encounters with the white stuff.
The first such encounter, I didn't even realize it was snow at first. As the trail bends at one point, there appeared to be a small cave leading into the cliff face, with a small waterfall overtop of it. Instead it was actually a large pile of snow that had melted in a very unique way, effectively producing a tunnel through it, I would assume from the influence of the waterfall behind it, reaching all the way back to the cliff face. I only actually noticed this because it seemed like a good place to rest, as two other hikers and their dog were taking a breather at the mouth of what I thought was just an odd cave. As one can imagine the snow tunnel created a very cool current of air, which is why these two girls chose the spot. After a brief chat, I pushed on, and encountered even more snow- what I'm told is a permanent sheet of snow across the path and well up to the mountain. Navigating it was not that difficult as the portion covering the path was mostly melted, and there was only a dozen metres or so to cross.
But finally I arrived at the teahouse, which was quite busy, likely due to the advantageous weather. I had to wait a few minutes to get a table, and unfortunately had to buy a bottle of water with my tea as I had already exhausted the supply I brought with me- A note to myself to fill the thing all the way next time. The two girls I met at the snow tunnel arrived a short while after my tea (which, I should note, was just a teabag, not loose leaf, which I was a bit disappointed by), so I sat down after and talked a bit more, since we were not so winded from hiking. Turns out they were actually from South Africa- one of them had moved to Calgary, and the second was visiting her for a couple weeks, and they were just touring around the various sights Alberta has to offer. It was an interesting conversation- I always like talking to people from far away places. The hike back down was, like the Agnes hike, quicker but harder on the knees. Still, definitely a fun hike and I will continue to try making such excursions a regular thing.
The way the schedules work at the deli is like this- they display from Friday-Thursday, so that is how a work week goes. This work week I had Monday and Tuesday, and for some reason, Thursday as well. On next week's schedule, I have the first two days off- AKA Friday and Saturday- combining to give me a lengthy 3 days off in a row. Now, even though my DS does still provide a valuable way to waste time (still only up to 340 lines in Tetris) keeping me occupied for three days is a lot to ask of it. So I set about looking for things that could keep my attention diverted. Drew happened to also have Thursday off, and suggested going whitewater rafting. Since the opportunity for that fell through when the parents were here, I was quite enthused with the idea. It was good timing when we bought the tickets as well, as they asked me at work yesterday if I could come in today, but unfortunately since the trip is non-refundable within 24 hours, I had to say no (darn, eh?)
There was one possible snag though. The forecast for the day was rain, and the morning dawned cloudy and pretty cold. Of course the trip goes rain or shine, but one would always like to have some sun for an activity like this. But much to my delight, by the time we got to the river base (which is 45 minutes away anyways) the clouds had disappeared and the sky could not have been clearer. Of course one learns quickly that weather is impossible to predict in the mountains, and even a short distance away can have very different skies, but it was a fortunate turn anyways.
We were signed up for the half-day excursion, which means a bit more than an hour on the water. The recommendations I had heard were very accurate- it was a lot of fun. I took the front paddle position for the first half of the trip, which included the longest and wettest stretch of rapids. And yes, you definitely get wet on these trips. Right before we switched there was one rapid we did that, I suppose by virtue of the way we hit it and the specific conditions of the day, we hit harder than any of the big ones we had already navigated. On that one we went from white water to green water for a bit. But no one fell out, and we got to the end of the run without incident.
One funny story to relate about the end of the trip though- the rafters help the guides to load up the rafts onto the truck to be transported back to the start of the run. You see, there is a metal frame in the raft that the guide uses to sit and steer, and they warned us to watch for the sections where the oars hook on. While we were loading up the last raft, somehow my lifejacket strap got caught in part of the large oar used to steer, specifically the part that hooks on to the part we were told to watch out for- which, I should note, I was. As there were 10 or so people lifing this raft, the result was that I was rather ungraciously hoisted into the air along with the raft by the chest, with some protestations that were not immediately heard or, it would seem, exactly understood. I actually undid the strap before they had figured out that they should LOWER the raft so I could extricate myself, but it was all a good laugh after. Overall a very enjoyable experience, and I may try to get out once more before I leave.
And that brings us to the present. Tomorrow I think I'll be heading into Banff to do some errands, and Saturday will likely be another hike. And until my next post,
Stay Frosty
Trevor
posted by Sibtiger | 1:38 PM
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