Girls Gone Wild: Adventures in Jasper

Postcards From Berg Lake

This past weekend, I rallied the troops and came up with 5 fantastic gals to join me for a weekend trail running adventure in Jasper National Park. I've got to say, organizing women is like herding cats - but the end result was an awesome weekend of Girl Power.

This particular weekend was a tasty sandwich loaded with meat, extra cheese, guacamole and a slathering of Adventure Sauce. Our weekend included a bonus loop, a Grizzly Bear and for a grand-finalee: a heli rescue. That was a first.

I got 3 great days under my belt:

1. Parker's Ridge with Suzy, with a bonus ridge scramble. Awesome.

2. The Skyline Trail with Suzy, Monica, Libby and Nadya complete with a bonus loop and a Grizzly Bear, for as total of 50k. Even more Awesome.

3. Berg Lake Trail. No bonus loop, just a big crash. Not So Awesome.

Up until the moment of The Crash, there was fun to be had. Classic Berg Lake scenery had us all blissed out. We were having a virtual Love-In of the sweet trails and beautiful mountains. The Berg Lake Trail was blowing our minds and there were smiles and incredibly scenery around every bend.

Ruuuuun! Leslie, Runnnn!

Liza, Libby and Leslie, Lovin' It.

Glacier-Fed

Valley of a Bazillion Falls

Children at Play

Mist on Mist

Let's Go That-Away

Liza Pye

Berg Lake

Nadja and Liza

Classic Kinney Lake

The "Let's Go That-Away" photo was taken minutes before the Divine Ms. Libby took her Dramatique-Ankle-Turning-Sack-of-Potatoes-Bail-of-the-Year. Really, her accident couldn't of taken place in a better place. We were 22km into the wilderness, but fortunately we were about 5 minutes from the day-use shelter at Berg Lake. The warden station was another 1.5km away, with an emergency radio located on sight. We quickly determined that her sprain was severe and there was to be no possibility of walking out for 22km on her ankle. So we called for a helicopter ride. Did I mention Libby is deathly phobic of flying?

Bag o' Icy Delights

Libby was joking through the whole ordeal, but we were all quietly bummed for her beyond words. We got to run the 22km out, while Libby got a terrifying heli-flight and an ambulance to Jasper.

Back in Jasper

The prognosis was a torn rotator cuff, a 3 degree sprain and a bone chip in her ankle. After dinner, we hit the road for Banff and got home at 1:00AM in the morning making for a long, memorable day.

My life is currently a whirlwind of time and space. Hopefully, I'll get some photos up of Parker's Ridge and the Skyline - it was so awesome, but I'm currently short on time. Maybe if I didn't run so much, I'd have some spare time!

On a side-note: Keith is currently riding his bike through the wilderness of Alberta and B.C and having the time of his life at the Trans Rockies Bike Race.

He's had cell service periodically, so I've heard from him almost every day. He's just finished Day 4 with his partner Jill - it was almost 8 hours in the saddle. Today's stage featured mud, gorgeous scenery and a hail storm. Jill has been posting to her blog and you can follow along on the Trans Rockies website for race reports, results and pictures daily. On Friday, I'm going to make a random appearance on top of Jumping Pound Ridge to cheer on the cyclists, and give my honey a big smooch of Congratulations. Trans Rockies Bike is epic beyond words: the days are tough, hard and long for all of the athletes, but even longer and tougher when you're in the mid to back of the pack. I'm so proud of him for making it to the start line.

Couple of Days in Yoho

The Whaleback

I haven't got to enjoy much quality time in Yoho this year, and thus the idea for "Yoho in a Day" was born. The idea was to tag the Little Yoho Valley, Whaleback, Twin Falls, Marpole Connector, Stanley Mitchell, a "bonus loop" to Kiwetinok Pass (a place that has also been on the "to do" list), the Iceline AND Yoho Lake. In a day, of course. :)

Keith joined for the first 20km and we had some great company with Nadya and Libby - new friends, who are going to keep. They are pantloads of fun and entertaining as all heck. The girls are going to Europe to enjoy a little adventure as partners at this years, Trans Alps 8-Day stage race. I think they are going to have a LOT of fun. The day featured some gorgeous weather, some scary threatening weather, some outrageously beautiful scenery, the discovery of a new beautiful place and 2 scream-out-loud plunges in glacier fed puddles. Yeah!

We started with a quick run up Little Yoho Valley and a climb up the Whaleback - a place Keith had never been. The views from the there are stupendous - you can see the Yoho Glacier, Glacier des Poilus and the Waputik Icefield. Pure, WOW. From there we descended to the top of Twin Falls and stood on top of the precipice at the top of the thundering falls.

We're Going That-away

Eventually, we ran back down to the Twin Falls Chalet to admire the falls, ran by Marpole Lake on the Marpole Connector and back to the Stanley Mitchell Hut trail. That's where we parted ways with Keith and began our climb up, up, up to the hut.


From there, I was stoked go up Kiwetinok Pass - a place that eluded me last year in another "Yoho in a Day" adventure. We had a brief hail storm while we were still safe below treeline, but when we climbed up to Kiwetinok we were surrounded by some dark, forbidding storm systems in all directions. At one point, there were 3 different storm systems surrounding us, with the sound of thunder booming all around. It was scary, but we figured we could take cover under some rocks. We decided to keep climbing, because we hadn't seen any lightening - but we were certainly keeping our plans flexible with the sky rumbling all around us.

Weather Weirdness

Climbing to Kiwetinok

Hello, Cornice - We Must be High Again

No Way. Still Frozen.

Fun With Ice Bergs

The view from the Pass - down into the Kiwetinok and Amiskwi Valley

Kiwetinok Pass was out of this world and rather wintery despite the warm air temperatures and humidity. It's my new favorite place. Wait. I've said that before. Either way, it's a incredible high alpine place - an I will be back!

From there, we descended back down to Stanley Mitchell and climbed up to the Iceline Trail The Iceline is always a favorite and because of the weird weather, it appeared that everyone had gone home. We had the place to ourselves.

By this time the weird weather had moved on, and the temps were nice and warm. Libby didn't hesitate and jumped in this puddle - a small glacial lake. By glacial, I mean: See the Glacier. See the Girl. It's Glacial. I couldn't resist and jumped in too.

I'm not sure what's going on here, but it's funny.

Vivre le Yoho!!

After, the Iceline Trail we hit the Highline Trail and finally, Yoho Lake our final destination for "Yoho in a Day." From there we descended back to Takakkaw Falls and called it a day. A Very Very Good Day.

Next day we followed it up a trip to another new place. Just 8km outside of Field, B.C and still in Yoho National Park. Ottertail Fire Road. Sweeeeeet.


Ottertail Fire Road to Goodsir Pass - Bike 30km/Hike 20km

I've wanted to go up the Ottertail Fireroad to visit Goodsir Pass for quite a few years now. I'd been told that Mount Goodsir was stunning. It's been one of those things on the "Must-see" list and I thought it would be perfect on a busy long weekend. It's one of those places that nobody every gets to. It's smack dab in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of Grizzly Bear country and requires a little help by bicycle. Katherine and her hubby Jerome joined Keith and I for an awesome adventure, in a brand new corner of Yoho. It was a super-fun day.

Just like I had thought, we hardly saw anyone except for a through-hiker, hiking the Great Divide Trail. I loved the Ottertail - the bike was a lot more scenic than I had anticipated, following the Ottertail River and climbing gently upwards. As for Mount Goodsir, it was awesome and I was surprised to discover that the twin towered Goodsir is the highest mountain in Yoho National Park! It rises an astonishing 1950 metres (6400 feet) from the creekbed below it's face. The pass and Mount Goodsir was amazing, but I'm going to have to go back. There was thick smoke in the air from wild fires in B.C which didn't give us quite the clarity that I had hoped for.

We had to downscale this weekends adventures when we realized Keith has a little race next weekend. O.K - he has a really big race, followed by another big race. It's already Trans Rockies Time!! Starting next week, the boy is going to be on his mountain bike for 7 days straight. On this day, we decided it was O.K if the boy spun out his legs for a bit and then we'd go for a wee bit of a hike. Well, the bike ride up the fire road was a nice little 15km ride and the hike up Goodsir was a solid 10km. At the end of the day we were out for almost 7.5 hours of activity. It was a little bit more than we had bargained for, but I reckon it's the perfect way to start a week of relaxation and "tapering" for his back to back Trans Rockies adventure. Go, Keith!

Bridge - Out

Weeeeeeee!

Ottertail Falls

Goodsir Pass

Me and the Grizzly Bear Diggings

Tapering

Me, I'm off to Jasper for the weekend. Keith and Jill are off to the start line of Trans Rockies. They are going to have a most excellent week, full of incredible places, trails and mountain biking. I'm almost as excited as they are!! I'm wishing them good thoughts, smooth traveling and many fun adventures.

Time Crunch

I'm trying to squeeze it all in. Fact is, I'm short on time this summer. With the Trans Rockies run coming fast and furious and the Tor des Geants in September - there seems to be too much to do and not enough time to do it. So, I'm squeezing in as many runs as I can in my beautiful backyard - but I wish their was more time. Summer's short and there's way to much to see and do. Too many trails and not enough time!!

Because of this, this past weekend I came up with a plan. Friday, it was "Yoho in a Day". Saturday, it was a bike and hike up the Ottertail fire road to Goodsir Pass and Sunday it was "Skoki in a Day." Like I said, I'm trying to squeeze it all in!

Here's the pictures from Sundays adventure: "Skoki in a Day."

We did Boulder Pass, Packer's Pass, Skoki Lakes, Merlin Lake, visited the friends at the lodge for treats and back home via Packer's Pass. There was a plan to scramble up Skoki Mountain, but I was feelin' lazy - so I'll put that one in my back pocket for another day. Ed, Jen and Catherine joined and we had a leisurely, enjoyable, lazy day. Ed and Jen are heading to Trans Rockies as a Mixed Team, and they are beyond excited. It was also Ed's Anniversary of a horrific military accident he had 11 years ago, where he was told he'd never be able to bike/ski/run or play in the mountains. Hmmm. In this photo, he seems to be doing pretty good.

Flying!

A Calm Ptarmigan Lake greeted us.

Rock-hopping Jen

What Love Looks Like

If I ever get lost in the wilderness, they'll find me.

Ed ponders a Swim.

Catherine - she's Queen of the World!!

Winter Lives.

Redoubt Mountain

It was another beautiful day at Skoki, it's always fun to share one of my favorite places. Hopefully, I can make a return trip in late September, when I return from Italy. I'm planning on it!