The Red Chairs, Wilcox Pass Trail

Beautiful clear sky, but cool temps, what more could you want driving the Icefield Parkway and hiking a little? Just a great day, and extra fun to share it with Kristi and Steve.

Icefield Parkway is pretty much the stretch of highway from the town of Jasper to Lake Louise, which is southeast. A long valley the follows a couple of glacially fed rivers. High rocky peaks on either side, some with glaciers, some with snow and some dry. But all are tall and rugged!

Spent most of the morning with "stop and go" driving because there are several scenic pullouts, and quite a bit of animal activity! We saw mountain goats, mountain sheep and black bears on this morning drive. The bear sighting was particularly exciting because it was two bears, and they were very accommodating! Pretty much doing the grazing and berry thing on some islands in the river that the highway parallels. The highway was pretty much clogged with people and their cameras. And Parks Canada was trying to get people back in their cars. No one budged, except me, a little bit. Got some shots with my big camera, but not my phone.

After a number of stops we did reach the trail head. Kristi and Steve sprinted off, and Tom, Auggie and I started our ascent. We got up about 50 yards, and I had to turn around and dispose of Auggie's gift to the mountain. Frankly we were lucky we were so close to the parking lot instead of carrying it up the mountain and back!

This is a pass trail, so it was all uphill, through a nice spruce and pine forest. But it was a little difficult because there were a lot of exposed tree roots on the trail. They made the footing awkward. After a mile (!) UP, we made our goal, the symbolic red chairs which denote photo ops. These chairs gave us a beautiful view of Athabasca glacier and a sense of the snow field beyond. Lots of cold wind, but we enjoyed our lunch up here!

Back down the mountain and enough time to regain our breath, take more pictures of flowers, as Kristi and Steve sprinted back in from their hike.

Drove back to the campground and took some well deserved showers. For park showers these were pretty dang good, lots of water pressure, hot, and free! (And pretty clean!)

We potlucked dinner tonight, salmon patties made with some salmon Cindy bought (and left for us) and Kristi brought some fettuccine and ceasar salad. Really enjoyed a feast!

What a great day, went to bed tired and happy, Thank you God!Read more