Jasper 2010 - 08 Jul 2010

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.

Vancouver 2010 - 01 Jul 2010

The Parliament Building of The Province of British Columbia

Day I - Start of The Journey

The summers seem to offer a lot here, in Canada, especially the holidays falling during this time make the times merrier. This should not come as a cause of bewildered envy for those who are not party to it, as the winters are equally harsh and movement is constricted to quiet indoors for the months falling between October and February. And as summers had to, they blessed us with a holiday on July 1, 2010. It was a National Holiday for Canada Day. This day fell on a Thursday. What more could we ask for, other than a vacation on Friday. We got it sanctioned from our managers and planned a trip to Vancouver. This gave us a complete 4 day vacation. 

The travelers who made this trip - 

• Myself
• Anand Sastry - my buddy from earlier trips
• Dipak Mali - my buddy from earlier trips, this time accompanied by his wife and sweet small kid
• Ganesh T Sarag - fellow IBMer
• Avneesh Gupta - fellow IBMer

We were a total of 6 adults along with one kid. I was the only driver among all, but this did not perturb me as I enjoy driving a lot. Vancouver is about a 1000 kilometers from Calgary. I got my rental car on Wednesday evening (30th of Jun) by 5.15 PM and we were able to, amid some delays, start off by 7.20 PM. We had booked two rooms at the Acadian Inn at Kamloops, British Columbia. Kamloops is about 650 kilometers from here. Because of the distance we decided to go for a bigger vehicle this time - a full size SUV. I got a 3.5 L Chevy Traverse. It is a pretty good vehicle with 3 rows of seats with lots of space to stretch out in all the rows.

Early Morning - In Front of the Hotel in Kamloops

 

The seating arrangement was such that we had two bachelors occupying the mid row and Dipak's family was at the back. We had purchased volumes of eatables for the journey, the day earlier, and that took a lot of space in the boot as well as in the middle seat. 

The journey takes you through the Banff National Park and the Yoho National Park on the beautiful Trans Canadian Highway. Including the fuel stops and the stop made for dinner, which was a hefty one hour, I took a little less than 6 and a 1/2 hours  to Kamloops. Yes, I had to push quite hard in the hills to make this happen. The usual journey takes about 8 hours. Dinner was taken in the car - home made paranthas (stuffed Indian bread), kind courtesy Dipak's wife. Dipak and his wife were very thoughtful in this, and we all are thankful that he made this arrangement. 

It was pitch dark when we reached Kamloops. I am sayin pitch dark because here in the extreme North (not as extreme as in Yukon or Alaska), the sun stays around for upto 10 or 10.30 at night, which makes the sky lighter even at night. The time must have been 1 AM at that hour. It took some time for us to get the receptionist to open the doors. He must have been fast asleep. We got to bed as soon as we took the room.

Day II - Kamploops to Whistler and Vancouver

We woke up pretty early on the second day and were ready to shoot by 8 AM. The guys were in a jovial mood and some rounds of photography were in order before making the move. The plan was to cover Whistler on the first day. For those who are not aware, Whistler is the venue where the 2010 Winter Olymicps were hosted by Canada. 

The distance to Whistler from Kamploops is about 300 kilometers. The Trans Canadian Highway, Highway 1, on which we had been travelling all along, becomes Highway 97 at Cache Creek. Further along, you have to make take a left on 97 which becomes HWY 99. The roads here, though picturesque, are narrow, allowing only one lane on one side, which I find by North American standards quite antique. The speed limit also dies down to almost 60 KMPH at certain patches, though the posted limit at most places is 80. 

Many places along the road made me feel that I had travelled back to my childhood days. They so very much reminded me of Ranikhet, Almora and Nainital in the Kumaon hills (Himalayan province of Uttaranchal in Northern India). Avneesh was able to connect with me on my nostalgic emotions, as he too had visted these places around the same time I grew up there.

There is a humungous number of single~vehicle~wide, wooden bridges on HWY 99. It is an unsaid first~come~first~go protocoal and the vehicle that arrives second has to yield to the first one. Believe me one should drive on these to get a feel of what I am referring to. We made fuel stops where necessary and stopped by at a few locations, primarily lakes in between, to take pictures. 

We made it to Whistler a little after noon. My brain cells had been choked low on sleep for the past few days, and the effect was showing in my eyes and my general response. It was raining when we got there. This was a definite no-no for the morale. We had been wrongly advised beforehand to visit the City Centre first to take the tickets to the Whistler Black Comb. Amd when we went there we found out that we had nowhere to park there and furthermore that tickets were availble only at the ticketing station. 

After squandering about an hour into this confusion, we were finally able to locate the parking slots and then walk down to the ticketing center. En route we found a small inforamtion booth, which gave us discount coupons of dollar 2 per head for the journey ahead. Again, I must make a mention that Canadians are absolute gentlemen when it comes to conduct 

Base of the Whistler Gondola

Whistler is famous for its cable car, popularly called Gondola in Canadian terminology. It has the highest and longest cable car route in the world. It is a set of two Gondolas - a small one which takes you from the base to the top of the Whistler mountain. The second one takes you from the Whistler mountain's peak to The Blackcomb mountain. It is special in that there is no support for it in between the mountains and it is about 4.4 kilometers long. Blackcomb is the largest ski resort in North America. There are lot of sporting activities that one can do here and as per their liking purchase a relevant ticket. For instance people can go to various grades of difficulty in skiing, then there is the mountain stunt bike course and so on. We got a one day ticket that cost 43 dollars per head. The initial mount take you about 20 minutes, including one small stop where skiiers can get down. The second one takes about 11 minutes and goes approximately at a speed of 7 KMPH. I would call the first Gondola about average. But the second one is really marvellous. You can embark on the ski track of your choice using the open Gondolas present there.

The 2nd Gondola - Peak to Peak

We roamed about the place and perched inside the big cafe which is there on top. It was snowing profusely and foggy conditions prevailed. Needless to say it was very cold even in July. I am personally not a big fan of snow and rain. But this thought may change if some bears are around.

On Top Of The 2nd Mountain

After wrapping up our Blackcomb operations we made our way back to the first peak on the Gondola. We stopped for a good deal of time there to take some award winning pictures. Coming back we saw bike stunts and ski tracks. We also spotted a brown bear. The last Gondola from the top is at 5 o' clock in the evening and we were pretty much in advance to come back. 

At the foothils, quietly nestled in the mountainous abode is the downtown of Whistler. It was merry time as it was Canada Day. Girls and boys moved around boisterously with Canadian flags painted on their cheeks. There were bands playing and people singing. We threaded our way across the neatly packed lanes amid beautiful edifices, never failing to take pictures.

Whistler Downtown

We were done with Whislter downtown by 6 PM and then decided to drive down to the Olympics Plaza. Unfortunately, it was closed. So we embarked on our journey to Vancouver. We had booked rooms in the Travelodge Hotel, located near the Vancouver International Airport at Richmond. It was quite funny, the way our GPS lost signals frequently, while our car was trampled under the heights of the Vancouver skyscrappers. 

The route took us over the Lions Gate Bridge. We were at the hotel by 9 PM. I was too tired too do anything. But the guys were insisting on visiting downtown at night. So after dinner at McDonalds, we took to Vancouver Downtown. We parked and walked down to the Ocean Front, where Canada Day celebrations had just got over. We missed the fireworks though, which had started early at 10 PM. We were back to our suite and off to bed sharp at 1.30 PM

Day III - Nanaimo and Victoria Island

The best part of Vancouver is the Vancouver island which consists of Vicoria downtown and Nanaimo among others. Trips to the island are made through BC Ferries. Ferries from the mainland can be embarked on from either Horseshoe Bay in the Pacific Ocean or from the Tsawwassen terminal. We had made reservations in the first ferry which starts at 0800 hours from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. But due to some delays and misleading by the GPS, we missed it just by a few minutes. But we were lucky enough to get the second one, an hour later at 9.30. This is the first time I have seen upto 100 cars being loaded in a ferry. The parking lots are available from decks 1 to 4. Decks 5 and 6 are for passengers. While 5th is a closed environment, the 6th one is open air. We had a nice time on the 6th deck soaking on the sun and viewing the splendid mix of ocean lined with the horizon and mountains sculpted in snow. 

The Ferry to Nanaimo

The ferry took an hour and a half to reach Nanaimo. Our initial plan was to spend some time on Nanaimo beach. But as we were running out of time due to delays, we decided to skip this and go to Victoria directly instead. The drive from Nanaimo to Victoria is about 120 kilometers, which fetches on an average, about 2 hours from the clock. Our first stop was the all famous Butchart Gardens. It is a 1907 built, family owned floral display garden spread over a whopping 55 acre plot. We spent some 3 hours here.

The Sunken Garden - At The Butchart Gardens

We later realised that we should have stayed over night at Victoria. This would have enabled us to spend more time there. As time was a priced possession at this point, we had to package our visit such that we covered the maximum of this place.

 Ross Fountain - Butchart Gardens

We spent about 2 and a half hours at Butchart and then fled to downtown Victoria. We parked our vehcile in the Fairmont Empress parking lot. Downtown Victoria is an enchanting place to visit. How we wish we had one more day to stay here. We visited the following places in downtown - 

a. The Parliament Building

b. The Undersea Gardens

c. The Madam Tussauds Wax Museum

We then strolled down downtown and hunted down an Indian Restaurant to have food, which was located on Fort Street. We got the food packed and left sharp at 7.30 to reach the Ferry Terminal. We had booked the 9 o clock ferry, which is the last one to Tswwassen on Mainland Vancouver. We had our dinner in the car, parked in the parking lot of the ferry, and then went up to the 5th deck.

 

 Day III - Mainland Vancouver

At The Entrance of The Capilano Bridge

The third day was reserved for Mainland Vancouver. We started off with the Capilano suspension bridge. It is 136 meters long and 70 meters and was built in 1903, and then rebuilt in 1956. It has a variety of attractions including The Treetops, adventures, rain forest tours and totem poles. We all liked this place a lot.

A Totem Pole

The Capilano Suspension Bridge

The next destination was Stanley Park. It is a huge urban park with a periphery of 8.8 kilometers and an area of 409 hectares. It has a humongous number of attractions including an aquarium, ocean walk, beaches, restaurants, trails, swimming pool, light house, war memorial, the Lost Lake and The Siwash Rock among others. We took a complete circle of the park and had food there. We spent almost 3 and half hours on Stanley Park. In the evening we visited the Jericho Beach. The weather had opened up by then and we spent some time there. There were people on the boardwalk who were fishing and every person was able to catch a crab in his net. We also went to Grouse mountain but decided not to take the Gondola as we had seen too many of those. Then we went to an Indian restaurant in downtown Vancouver by the name of 'A Taste of India'. Parking is a big hassle in downtown, but once we got a spot we enjoyed our meal and came back home.

Sunday - It was time to get back to Calgary and we had to cover all the distance back in one day. On this last day in Vancouver, we woke up at leisure. We were able to push off only by 10.30 AM EDT. And taking stops in between we finally reached Calgary at 1.30 in the night. It was once again a magnificent trip and I thank all members who were involved in making this an indeed memorable experience.