Pyramid Lake Resort Jasper

Another popular hike in Jasper National Park is to the Tonquin Valley. The attractions are the spectacular Ramparts, glowering peaks with names like Bastion, Dungeon and Paragon that tower above jade lakes and the rare woodland caribou that live in the area. The region is also renowned for being wet, boggy, churned up by horses, thick with mosquitoes and covered in snow until it is almost time for snow again. Hence we went late in the summer, mid September, once ...

... this was a pretty walk, and the marmots are very engaging, we had expected more spectacular scenery. One of the highlights for me was a great big hole by the path. At first I thought it was where a bear had been digging for marmots, but it was so large that I wondered whether it was a denning site. In the end I figured that it must have been for marmots because it was fresh enough that the uprooted sapling pine trees (!) were still green. It was big enough for me to have ...

We arrived in Jasper in the pouring rain so we took shelter in dinner and were considering staying in a room somewhere, but fortunately the rain stopped and we headed out to Whistler camp ground where we camped in the forested camp park where we had to watch out for the wildlife such as bear and elk. We were able to have a Camp fire so we were able to stay warm and have some good cook ups there such as steak and ...

So after my great experience at the hostel I made several new friends.  One of the friends turned out to be on the train to Vancouver.  Her name was Esther and she was from Germany.  A nice girl I ended up sitting with her but I soon was out of my seat to take photos at the observatory deck.  When I came back she was holding her nose with klenex and she had an ice pack on her head.  It looked like she had hit something.  She was laying out on ...

On Day 2, we drove south towards Athabasca Falls, then headed up a rocky, unpaved road to hike the Geraldine Lakes trail. We made it past the first lake and midway towards the second, finally turning around at a massive rockpile. Afterwards we went into Jasper for a dinner of Japanese food. Details in the photos!

... dorm laughed in her sleep all night, and as a result Christine got almost no sleep. The hostel does have a nice big kitchen and dining/common area, as well as a firepit out back, and it's on the road to the Whistler gondola while still being close to the townsite. (In comparison, the HI hostel in Banff townsite has more small rooms; and it's in town, though rather out-of-the-way up the road to Tunnel Mountain. There's an infrequent bus.)

... who posed for photos! We have decided that the Canadian Rockies are number 1 on our 'favorite places visited' list - they are just so spectacular!!! More to follow when I get some more money to feed into this damn computer... Dean: Thursday 6th July - Hiking the trails around Jasper. There are a number of trails around Jasper and we did a bit of a 'mix n match', jumping from one trail to another. We walked ...

... we got to see the Mexico City streets almost completely empty. We got our early morning plane to San Fransisco where we were to spend the next 9 hours. I really wanted to go to the pier and see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Aquarium but the airport ****ed up our baggage and we ended up waiting for those for almost 2 hours then we had to check them in all the way at the other end of the airport. By the time we had any time left it was too late to go anywhere. I was pretty mad ...

Well I am almost packed. I went out and got a waterproof disposable camera, tons of film, a new camera case, rechargable batteries and some mp3 headphones. Dont worry - nothing is worth too much. I am only taking 4 bikinis...the absolute minimum!!! We are going to mec before we leave so Jesse can get some sandals. I have to keep telling myself that I cant spend too much money here- I would rather spend it over there. Only 2 more days ...