Surprisingly, given the numbers of people at the resorts (the lake was packed yesterday with strollers and amblers) there aren't that many on the trails. Later on our way down, after many hours of hiking, the traffic coming up increases to freeway levels: clearly the dedicated ones get here early.
Groups of tour members form as people fall into their own natural walking pace and destination choices. I hike with Bonnie, her son David, his girlfriend Emily, and Steve, Amy and Jacob. We are heading to the lower teahouse of the Plains and then on to the foot of the Upper Glacier itself. The pic below shows our ultimate destination:
The main feature of the Plain of Six Glaciers is the main Upper Glacier atop a sheer cliff wall, and the rubble strewn Lower Glacier (the grey crevasse-marked surface lower in the pic) running down the valley, starting below the cliff. Our hike (about 10km round trip) took us partway up the side of the mounts surrounding Lake Louise and then onto the lateral moraine of the Lower Glacier itself to near the foot of the cliff. The moraine is visible in a lower pic - it is the rubble, rocks etc pushed to the sides by the Lower Glacier as it traveled down the valley. Nowadays the moraine is much higher than the surface of the Lower Glacier - the glacier has been much larger in times gone by. There are 4 other glaciers in the Plain (obviously!) - these are less accessible and smaller although they all contribute to the grandeur.
The day was crisp and clear and the hiking a little sweat inducing but fairly easy. The initial path wound its way through forest amongst tallish trees but as we progressed, the trees became less plentiful and shorter and mid-height bushes became the more dominant feature. Here and there water trickled across or down the trail from the rocky sidewalls, and moss and other moisture seeking plants clustered near pools and on wet rocks. Very pretty and idyllic. As we ascended we were offered glimpses of the moraine trail, the Lower Glacier and the run-off bed which fed water into Lake Louise.
There was a lot of dung on the trail, and I wondered if creatures of the forest cavorted here at night. As it turned out, it was plain old horse dung: said horses are used to run up supplies to the several teahouses situated at points on the trails.
Arriving at one of these teahouses, we got our first good look at the Upper Glacier and the cliff wall. Pics of the teahouse and the Upper Glacier from the teahouse's perspective are below:
We stopped in on the Teahouse and caught up with some other tour members. Some people sampled the wares whilst I and others just enjoyed the view - apparently the tea was less than spectacular, certainly less spectacular than the view! The teahouse is staffed, from what I could see, by mostly young ppl who spend a week at the place: I assume it has staff rooms, and there are little cabins in proximity for that purpose as well I guess. A barefoot young girl (an off-work staff member I assumed) dressed in fluffy pajamas and wearing quite large purple plastic reindeer antlers sat on a bench near the Teahouse chatting on a mobile phone - for some reason I found this fascinating. The antlers were fastened to one of those hair bands that are U-shaped and go over the top of the head and rest behind the ears - whenever she nodded or shook her head they bobbed around for a second but somehow stayed firmly put. They were slightly iridescent and an occasional flash from the light bouncing off them flickered in my eye. These antlers had me hypnotised!
We had been at the Teahouse for around 15 minutes before we moved off to ascend some more. The Upper Glacier calves (drops smaller sections of itself) fairly regularly we had been told, and some people were hoping to catch a glimpse of such a calving. At one stage we heard the characteristic crack of such an event but by then it was too late: if you hear the sound from that distance then the event has already passed. We saw the dust cloud from the calving, and later near the foot of the Upper Glacier we saw the fresh snow from the calving that had made its way down to cover a small patch of the grey surface of the lower Glacier at the foot of the cliff.
Departing the Teahouse, we hit the trail again: very soon all the trees had disappeared and only low bush remained. At this point, the trail became quite sharply cut into the mountain and the view down the edge toward the Lower Glacier was fantastic. After a few switchbacks, the trail merged with the lateral moraine and we started ascending this itself. Below is a great pic of Bonnie, Steve, Amy and David on the moraine itself which snakes down the pic behind them, and also visible is Lake Louise far in the background. The past size of the Lower Glacier is obvious - the moraine is far above the current floor height of the glacier in the valley.
At this time the vegetation disappeared and we ascended along the moraine into a lunar-like landscape, with huge rocks, rubble and fine pebbles mixed together. Streams of water bubbled down the sloped rock sides and simply vanished into the more coarse portions of rubble to emerge, I presume, at the sides and under the Lower Glacier itself. Here is a pic of the Lower Glacier - its grey rubble strewn surface makes it appear to be simply another rock plain, but amongst the many crevasses criss-crossing its surface, flashes of blue reminded us of the packed ice below:
We were now getting about as close to the Upper Glacier and cliff as we could without descending onto the edges of the moraine and the Lower Glacier itself. It looked possible and I was tempted, but I'd have seemed pretty foolish if I'd got stuck so resisted: probably a good idea! Here's the closer pic of the Upper Glacier:
At this point, out of nowhere in this vegetationless plain, a squirrel materialised! Boldly going where no squirrel had gone before, the little critter ran straight up to me and stood up and inspected the hand I reached down to it. A quick sniff and finding no food, he scurried on to the next prospective supplier, David. David proceeded to take just about the closest close up of a squirrel known to man - here's my pic of him taking his pic:
The industrious critter did the rounds of us all (sorry buddy - no supplies) and then flitted off downhill in search of more bountiful visitors. He'd obviously carved out a successful little scam at this altitude - most Least squirrels I'd seen (the smallest and commonest of the squirrel bunch around this area) were about the size of a large house mouse with the tail being the same or bigger again. The pic clearly shows this guy was the King Kong of Least squirrels - big (but not porky) and buffed up! Too late I remembered I had some trail mix (nuts, m@ms, etc) but my attempts to entice him back were fruitless - he was leaving this tight-arse group behind!
Arriving at the end point of the moraine, we sat viewing the Upper Glacier in all its glory. Off to the right up a slight rise, a waterfall flowed over a small cliff and I decided to quickly climb the 50-odd meters for a higher vantage point of the Upper Glacier, and a pic of the waterfall itself. 20 minutes later up a deceptively sharp and slippery trail (lots of small loose rocks), I eventually reached the waterfall, turned around, and found that the cliff it tumbled off blocked any view of the Upper Glacier. Very smart! Anyway, got a pic of the waterfall and the trail I ascended and a short rest before a just-as-tricky descent.
At this stage, after a couple of hours of hiking our group decided we'd head down, estimating that we'd be back at Deer Lodge around 1pm. Other intrepid members of the Tour had bigger plans, and later that night Mark showed me some great shots of where they'd explored, including one of Jabe apparently (I say apparently because he was a speck in the zoomed-in photo) planting a flag at the top of the highest point of the known universe and claiming it as his own! He really WAS a mountain goat after all!
On the way down, we came across a rock slide field in which a parade of what Bonnie later informed me were Inukshuk had been constructed: the Wikipedia entry explaining what these are is below - read it coz it's fascinating:
Wikipedia entry for Inukshuk
Bonnie is a lovely lady, slight but strong, with a gentle but determined personality and with the claim to fame of proudly wearing a 'vote Barack Obama' t-shirt despite being from Texas, George 'Dubblya' Bush country (she wasn't a fan of George bless her!). On the way down the trail she later spoke at length with me about Obama and his politics - I'd vote for him! Bill, Bonnie's husband, also met up with us at this time and raised some points. Bill is a quietly spoken man who considers his words carefully, and from my small chats with him throughout the tour, someone I came to recognise as a highly intelligent and interesting person. I felt an instant like for him, and indeed the whole Stump family of himself, Bonnie, David and Jeffrey - it is clear where both David and Jeffrey get their quiet strength from. In retrospect I consider it a pity that my sometimes clumsy attempts at communicating do lead me to be reticent in initiating conversation in general. The family had real substance as persons, and struck me as being amongst those small group of individuals who are far deeper and stronger than shallow acquaintance can reveal.
Bonnie decided that she, David and I would build our own Inukshuk, and so she set about organising us two layabouts with purpose and authority. We all gathered rocks, and Bonnie selected those suitable and supervised construction. Before long we had raised the finest Inukshuk in the place. Well - we thought it rocked! After triumphant pic taking, we trekked off, strong in the sense of being that erecting such a monument to one's presence and existence on this earth creates. Undoubtedly as we passed out of sight the thing collapsed spectacularly! (Maybe not - when I go back I'll see!).
(Note: Technically, what we constructed was an Inunnguaq, because it was meant to represent a human figure; however due to my poor execution of Bonnie's instructions, it looked more like a Transformer than a person, so an Inukshuk it is!)
After a long trudge back to the Lodge, a bunch of us ate at the outside dining area and then I trotted off to my room for a shower and to phone for a taxi to get me to a bank: I needed some money.
Jacob decided to come along to check out the metropolis of the Lake Louise townsite ( at the foot of the 4km climb to Lake Louise), and he and I sat outside the Lodge near the entrance waiting for the appearance of said taxi. Minutes passed and I grew nervous - if this thing didn't appear soon the bank would be shut (4pm was the deadline). 3:50pm and I'm frantic - the taxi pulls up (it turns out the only one in town), the driver then informs us in perfect surfer drawl that he has to go UP to 'Le Chat' to pick up two more fares. I inform him in my best surfer mocking tone "like dude, I have to be at the bank at, like, 4 man, like, I, like, ordered dude" - the sarcasm flies so far over his head it craters into the moon, and he cheerfully informs me that we'll make it "dude". So, I fume silently as we head up to Le Chat and pull up next to two young Japanese ladies. Jacob is in the back of the unit, and cab-dude tells him "scoot over little dude so I can, like, pick up these two hot babes", and then proceeds to greet and crack onto these two ladies: I recognise enough Japanese to hear greetings , welcome and something about pretty ladies - the ladies laugh shyly beneath their hands! Oh man! just what I need - some horny wanna-be surfer cab-dude laying down the lines!
Crawling down the hill behind tourists fearing they'll fall off the edge of the earth if they go more than 20km/h, cab-dude alternates between cursing them and displaying his talent for recognising accents by declaring me Australian. I acknowledge his perspicacity, and tell him I'm from Perth, Western Australia, and then he does truly astound me by correctly coming out with the slang name for West Australians, Sandgropers! (so named because the majority of WA is sand, and also because said sand is inhabited by a creature so-called - a below-ground burrowing insect). He then really floors me by naming every other state of Australia's slang term! OK, impressive but I'm still gonna be late. 10 dollars fare later (5 bucks per person for myself and Jacob: man what a rort!) we are 'deposited' with a "later dude" outside the 'bank', which in actuality is a little booth inside a more general store. Standing in the cue, the teller in the booth looks past his customer and says, in perfect cab-man surfer voice "Hey man, the bank is, like, closed!" WTF? Jacob and I do a double take at each other, walk outside and burst out laughing. Is everybody in this place, like, a surfer dude?
Well, in fact, yes they are it appears! Either that or Goths! Jacob and I hit the general store, buy some water and food, and then hang out in the extremely small 'mall' and observe that the entire local population do indeed appear to be either dudes or Goths! Two parents and their young daughter sit down and start talking in word and tone perfect surfer-ese, whilst a bunch of Goths likewise do their tragic thing behind us! OK, say maybe the local mall is the hotspot for these social groups, but it was classic nonetheless.
We wander over to the local sport store to check out the bike jerseys: we both end up buying a 'Canada' variant, resplendent in red with the Maple Leaf. Wearing it, I feel like a Canadian National ice hockey team player, but with teeth. Up to the counter to buy it and the young guy serving has a slightly strange Canadian-ish accent. Detecting something, I ask him if he's Australian - yes, he is and, no bullshit, he is from Perth, Western Australia! Also, he talks surfer-ese! Oh man, this place is, like, totally infectious! Aarrgghhh!
Proving this, Jacob and I imitate surfer-ese walking all the way up the 4km hill back to Deer Lodge (no way was I stepping in the same taxi as cab-dude again) pissing ourselves laughing at our "like, excellent accents dude". We also compared this afternoon to the worst bear mauling. Short explanation, whenever something sucks we referred to it as a bear mauling. Bears do three things generally we theorize: forage, sleep and maul, and a mauling, whilst rarer than the other two, is not good! We hypothesize that it's better to be 'foraged' by a bear than 'mauled' by one. A guy trailed us up the hill part of the way, and we felt this was good, as, if a bear leapt out of the woods for a maul party, we would run downhill past him, knock him over and leave him as bear maul material! Later he passed us and we also felt this was a good sign - we would point out to the leaping-out bear that we could run faster downhill than the dude could run uphill, and hence he was again the easier maul target: the logic seemed sound! This is probably not in the least bit funny to anyone else, but we thought it hilarious!
That night, we were on our own for dinner. Sadly I have no idea what I did? I actually think I missed dinner due to a rage induced slumber. Brief explanation - the Lodge is adorned with public phones which only take credit cards. For some reason, no matter how many phones I used to attempt to call home, the friggin' things would not complete the connection. The same type phone that had worked with the same number in another hotel a few nights before would not work now! I got so worked up that I flew off the handle and starting cursing this one phone tucked (luckily) into a private little alcove. This phone became the focus of every little frustration that day: it had made me miss the bank, it had forced me into a taxi with cab-dude, it was the reason I had to walk my fat arse up 4kms to the Lodge from Surfer/Goth town! I went off like a frog in a sock! Talk about a cathartic experience! Telus (the phone company) I curse you until the skies blacken over, the seas dry up and the earth crumbles!
So that was the layover day: phone aside, one of the best days of the tour.
But the bike calls, and tomorrow it was back onto it, traveling along the Icefields Parkway to Saskatchewan Crossing. I was eagerly looking forward to it!
Incidentally, next morning I woke early and tried the phone again - it got thru' first call! You still suck tho' Telus!
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