Sunday 25th August 2013, day 45 - Jasper to Banff

Moose Tour part 2 - The Rockies

Day 10: Jasper to Banff

Finishing up the last of the breakfast supplies from the last few days with one of the Australian girls who would be staying in Jasper, the remaining seven of us left the hostel at 10am. We made a coffee stop in town and I wanted to get a photo of the 'sleeping chief' in the mountain ridge nearby, but couldn't. The rock that was the 'face' was a different colour to the rest of it, and there was even had a headdress with feathers, which I thought was cool.

After that we headed about an hour south on the Icefields Parkway to the Beauty Flats, a plain on the Sunwapta River. From a roadside car park we took the Beauty Creek Trail, along the top of a berm then through the trees for a short while before coming to the canyon. It was deep and narrow in some places, shallower and wider in others, with a few waterfalls and we followed the trail for maybe half an hour or forty-five minutes, then had a short rest on the rocks by one of the waterfalls before turning around. Stanley Falls is apparently at the end of that trail somewhere, though it isn't signposted and I don’t recall seeing it (at least I don't have a photograph of a big waterfall there) or Ryan mentioning it. The trail wasnt as easy as at Maligne Canyon but, though I think there were a couple of short steep parts, it wasnt difficult. Three of us reached the car park about ten minutes ahead of the others, and I sat with Jordan talking about photography.

Having driven round a nice campground looking for a free picnic table, and seen the rainclouds over in the direction we were going, we stopped for lunch in the lay-by on Big Hill. Not the thing people usually do on the side of a road but, hey, the view was pretty great.

Our next stop was Peyto Lake. For those who have seen my new 'cover photo' on Facebook, it was taken here. We didn't go down to the lake but to the lookout on Bow Summit, the highest point along the Icefields Parkway at 2088 metres above sea-level. Most people take a trail leading to a viewing platform, but Ryan took us via another less well-known trail (I don't think it was even signposted) to a spot a little further along the ridge, away from the crowds and noise. During the introductions at Lake Minnewanka, he'd told us we weren't going to be tourists, we were going to be adventurers, hence all the less-touristy spots. Indeed there were only two other people there at the same time as us, and all we could hear were the occasional squeaks of ground squirrels and the faint roar of Peyto Creek pouring into the lake far below.

I don't think I truly understood the meaning of the word stunning until the moment the trees stopped and that view opened up before us. I'm rubbish at giving descriptions, so I'm not even going to attempt one. I will say that it's probably the most incredible thing I've seen with my own eyes (that and the Milky Way in Australia) and was definitely the highlight of the Rockies.

We arrived in Banff early evening and checked into a different hostel than before, this one only a short walk from the town centre. All the dorm rooms had animal names and ours was, surprise surprise, Moose. And very nice indeed it was! There was an en-suite bathroom, a telly above the fire and two armchairs in front of that. Dinner here was included so we met Ryan in the hostel's bar and I had a tasty pulled pork curry. I think we stayed for about an hour but most of us wanted an early night so we bid farewell to one of the German girls, who would be catching a pre-dawn bus to Edmonton, and Ryan, who would have the next day off before greeting a new group of adventurers and doing the whole thing again.