View of Maligne Lake from The Spirit Island - Jasper National Park
The preparations for the Stampede had begun in Calgary much in advance of its actual commencement, and I had witnessed this all along the banks of the Elbow River during my cycling tours to the Glenmore Reservoir on the south side of the Saddledome. And during this time seeds were sown for a fabulous idea of a trip to the Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The headcount for the trip was a whopping 34 people, all HCCM employees from IBM Canada. And the mode of transportation was not a bus my dear friends, but individual cars. We had the following cars and their respective drivers -
a. GMC Acadia - 8 seater full size SUV driven by Rahul Rane, that is myself
b. Chevrolet Impala - 5 seater car driven by Sachin Kulkarni
c. Dodge Caravan - 7 seater van driven by Sushil Katkade
d. Dodge Caravan - 7 seater van driven by Sudarshan
e. Dodge Caravan - 7 seater van driven by Sanjeev Singh
The Start - Jul 8, 2010
The vehicles were picked up on the evening of 8th Jul 2010. Most of the vehicles had been pre-booked with the National Car Rental agency on 10th Ave SW. Trouble was however encountered to get a car for Sachin, who had missed to book one in advance. Such was the exodus during that weekend that all agencies were fully booked. And at the end we luckily got a car from the Calgary International Airport. It cost us more though. Each car was fully loaded to its capacity with no seats to spare. I also learnt that some people were not able to make it to the trip due to shortage of drivers to take on additional cars. The plan was to start early in the morning at 8 AM from Calgary. Special care had to be taken to park the cars as we could not park it anywhere in between the 6th and 9th avenues due to the Calgary Stampede parade. As opposed to our original plan to park the cars outside of 10th Ave, we finally ended up parking them in paid nightly spots at the 5 Calgary hotel.
Day 1 - Jul 9, 2010
We woke up pretty early and got ourselves dressed by 8 AM. However it so happened that most of the people turned up late and by the time we were out of Garden Towers (the place where most of the IBM folks live), we were stuck in the Stampede Parade. It was not possible to cross the 6th Ave, on which the actual parade was taking place. So after taking the train to the 3rd Street Station we took the Plus 15 to cross over to the other side. We walked right over the tanks and other presentation items that were part of the parade. It must have been 12 PM by the time we were finally able to crank our engines. And that was the time when the parade had ended and we were caught up in the thick vehicular jungle that was leaving downtown. It was a pain and remained so until we embarked on the Trans Canada Highway - HWY 1.
I am quiet well acquainted with HWY 1 as on all my previous trips I have traversed this road, either full to the end or in parts. Sanjeev Singh had left Calgary at about 9 AM in the morning and Sushil Katkade was to complete some work at office and then start at 3 PM. The rest of the cars were moving pretty much in tandem. Sachin embarked on a different road altogether, which is the one that goes to Edmonton and then takes a left for Jasper. And we had to wait for him at Lac des Arcs for about an hour or more. Lac de Arcs is a little further ahead of Kananaskis, about 88 kilometers from Calgary. My car had the following members - Myself, Piyush Agrawal, Ganesh Sarag, Monojit Dhara, Subhashis and his wife and two kids.
At Lac des Arcs
After a hefty wait at Lac des Arcs we finally proceeded. It was the usual route on the HWY1, which was construction laden at the time and vehicular speeds were thwarted to 30, 40 and 50 KMPH on many stretches. We stopped in the town of Banff for fueling up. After passing Lake Louise which is about 180 KMS from Calgary, we headed north on AB-93. We purchased the mandatory park fee for our car and stuck it on the windshield. Nature here has got a totally different story to say. It has dressed itself in an attire which I have not witnessed anywhere before. It is like the new attire of a newly wed bride to impress her man. The vegetation changes and the alpine variety becomes increasingly distinct, leaving others in minority. The mountains become more vivid and ice soaked.
Driving steady at the prescribed limit of 90 KMPH we reached Columbia Ice Fields in the Banff National Park at 5.00 PM. This is Glacier land and it was quite chilly and windy even during the summer time. We had to sneak inside our jackets and woolens. We had a late yet quick home made lunch made by Subhashis' wife. The big truck service which takes tourists on top of the glacier was closed at the hour we reached, so we had to trek all the way up.
Below the Glacier
The climb to the top has a remarkable rise of height and it is advised for heart patients not to do this as the air is thin at the top.
Subhashis, Myself, Monojit and Piyush (L-R) near the glacier
The Athabasca Glacier
The glacier is receding fast due to global warming and there are signs put up at places to show where glacier was in the past. It can be inferred that in about 10 years it recedes by almost 300 meters. By the time we reached Athabasca, we had missed the other two cars behind us. Nevertheless, we met Sanjeev's car here. We continued our trip ahead on AB-93N. We stopped at a few points in between which were too picturesque to be ignored.
We had booked the all so grand Overlander Mountain Lodge for our stay. It is quite expensive by my standards - 188 dollars (without the tax) for one room with two single beds for the night. This place is on Trans Canada Highway 16. Just before you reach Jasper downtown on AB-93N, you have to turn right on HWY16 and travel about 60 kilometers to reach this place. It is quite an exotic place with small cottages and chalets. We actually overshot this place and traveled further ahead and then took a gravel road doing some offroading and reached a lake near a camp ground.
Before reaching the Overlander Lodge - At a camp ground
We finally reached the lodge by 8.45 PM. It was still bright. We were enchanted by the small chalets nested in the winding jeepable trails. After deciding for a long time people were allotted chalets and cottages as per the family strength and number of bachelors in a group. We had initially taken cottage # 12 but later decided to switch to # 16.
The Overlander Mountain Lodge - Our residence for 3 days
One of the Chalets in Overlander Lodge
It was almost 11 when dinner was started to be made. Myself. Monojit and Ganesh had brought in tonnes of groceries for the cooking department. On the first night, food was cooked in three different chalets - Sachin's, Sudarshan's and Sanjeev's. At midnight there was demand for milk and myself, Monohit and Ganesh went to a nearby hamlet of Hinton to hunt for it. This is about 25 KMS drive from Overlander on HWY16.
Sleep was a precious commodity and scarce too, for everyone.
Day 2 - Jul 10, 2010
We woke up at ease the next morning. It took some time for members in each cottage to get ready. After breakfast we all headed to Maligne Lake. To go to this place one has to go all the way on HWY16 until Jasper and just before reaching it, you take a left on the road that leads to Maligns. We stopped in between at a point called Rosemary's Rock (Rocher Rosemary's in French) and went down the lichen capped slope to see the river and take some photographs.
Rosemary's Rock / Rocher Rosemary's
In front of the rock - mosquitoes were plenty
We then drove down to Maligne Lake. The drive from Jasper to Maligne is 40 kilometers. For us it was 56 + 30 = 86 kilometers. We reached Maligne lake at 2.30 PM. We booked an entire cruise boat for our team.
The whole team together before the cruise
It was a 2 hour cruise we had booked and all party fit in one boat. Maligne lake is about 30 kilometers long and its width ranges from 1 to 2 kilometers. It has deep turquoise colored water formed by the silt particles floating in it. It is surrounded by picturesque Rocky mountains on all sides. The vegetation here is a mix of Pine and Fir, with the latter replacing the former to almost extinction in recent years. Plenty of wildlife abounds the forests - brown bears, the bigger grizzly bears, mountain goats and elks among others.
The cruise boat
It was a guided cruise and the tour guide was a very knowledgeable person and gave us all facts about the lake and its history for the entire cruise. The boat used to stop in between to show us various attractions, like the special waters, the burnt forest, aquatic life etc. The weather was perfect for a romantic cruise - cloudy slight drizzle, plenty of fog on the mountain tops and lots of mist on the waters.
Out in the back of the boat
We were dropped of on Spirit Island for a brief period to take a walk around and then gather back in the boat. We took some really splendid snaps on this cruise. The one at the very top is taken from Spirit Island.
Turquoise waters of the Maligne Lake - snap taken whence leaving Spirit Island
We reached back ashore and then had lunch. It was a big lunch as everyone was hungry. Below is a sepia colored snap which I took before lunch.
Snap taken after the cruise - Lake Maligne and The Rockies in the backdrop
On our way back we stopped at Medicine Lake for a while. This too is a scenic beauty which receives water from the Maligne River. The road actually runs along this lake for quite some time, peaking over the precipice dangerously yet beautifully.
Along the precipice surrounding Medicine Lake
Medicine Lake
We also visited the Maligne canyon. This canyon has been formed over the ages by the constant cutting action practiced on hard rock by the Maligne river. This was quite some trek spanning six bridges. We covered the first 4 by foot and after sometime when we reached the river level we did not find the 5th and 6th bridges.
Maligne Canyon
So we came back, only to later stop by at a place downstream in our car, to realize that the 5th and 6th bridges were there. We took snaps on the 6th bridge.
Taken on the 6th bridge - kind courtesy Monojit
We started back home after this as it was getting late. We stopped en-route on HWY16 near a small lake and took some excellent snaps.
Stop en-route Overlander on HWY16
We reached back Overlander by 9.00 PM. It was decided that there would be mass community cooking that day in Sanjeev's chalet. There was a lot of fervour and zeal in the crowd. I also shot some snaps in front of my cottage before joining the folks.
In front of my cottage - 9.30 PM
Everyone had gathered at the designated location in the evening. There was mass cooking going on inside with the ladies busy in preparing a wide range of Indian cuisine. Monojit was busy outside on the grill, preparing tikka. It was an awesome meal and we all slept well that night. I had moved to room number 12 that day with Piyush and Avneesh. We chatted for a while before going to sleep.
Day 3 - Jul 11, 2010
We started early on the third day. We actually utilized the complimentary breakfast, which was part of the package on this day. Breakfast was served in the dining room located in the main reception cottage. It gave me a feeling of sitting in the Swiss Alps, sitting in that wooden room sipping on the juice and looking at the conspicuous Rockies out of the glass windows. It really pinches me that I did not capture that moment on my camera.
The first destination on cards this day was the Miette Hot Springs. To reach this place you head south from Overlander towards Jasper. About 30 kilometres short of Jasper downtown you take a left and drive about 20 kilometers up into the hills. This place thus would be about 40 kilometers from Overlander. We spent a good deal of time in the hot water springs. This was my first time in Canada. I had been to a hot water spring in India, in the state of Sikkim in the year 1991. We went from pool to pool to experience the difference in temperatures of the water bodies.
On the way back we stopped at Ashlar Ridge, before hitting the main highway (#16).
Taken at Ashler Ridge
We then drove all the way to Jasper downtown, stopping in between for a few minutes at a gliding centre, just to find it to be closed. We found a parking spot nearby the City Information Centre. We casually strolled down the grass while Monojit went it to find places of interest nearby. He came out no sooner than the time it took us to shoot some photos.
Piyush and Ganesh in Jasper Downtown - City Information Centre
We had our lunch here in downtown after walking down some beautiful streets. We then went to the Pyramid Lake which is about 10 - 15 kilometres behind Jasper downtown on a town road. There is another lake - the Patricia Lake adjacent to Pyramid, where we never stopped. After completing this we hit AB-93 southwards. Forty kilometres south of Jasper downtown on the AB-93 is the splendid cataract of Athabasca. These falls are formed by the Athabasca river cutting through the rocks.
Athabasca Falls
We did a good deal of walking around on the trails that this place has and went down right till the spot where the river becomes placid after doing the falls. On our way back, on the same road, there is another cataract formed by the Athabasca River - the Sunwapta Falls.
The Sunwapta Falls on the Athabasca River
After this it was a long drive back. We stopped at night in the village of Banff. This stop was necessary for fueling and to have dinner.It was a very unique experience walking downtown of such a small place. It felt very European.
Downtown - Village of Banff
And from here it was the same old HWY1 back home - 120 kilometers to Calgary. We came back, offloaded the vehicle, dropped it back at National, took the train back home and slept at 2.00 AM, and slept sound.
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