Paddling the Bow River in Banff

Great day to drop the kayaks into the Bow River in Banff and paddle upstream. There is a reasonable beach for a picnic about 2.5 hours steady paddling. Generally you see herons, osprey, bald eagles, and perhaps an elk. Since the winds are usually from the west, you can drift back to Banff in no time! By the way: "Happy", as we call it, is the yellow ball with the happy face sitting behind Carol in the photo below. We found Happy a few years ago on an island (sounds like a Tom Hanks movie....) in the Thirty Thousand Island area of Georgian Bay in northern Ontario.

rafting the Grand Canyon, Napa, and the 101

20 guys from Toronto, Calgary, Canmore and Vancouver met up at Marble Canyon, AZ, to raft the upper Grand Canyon for a week with the Outdoor Unlimited guides. I've posted a short video on You Tube with some photography and video. Suffice to say it's an exciting stretch of water, with very interesting hikes, history, and of course, geology.

http://youtu.be/n_fv-Sf5Ck8

After that bit of action, I met Carol in Los Vegas. After seeing the bathtub rings at the Hoover Dam, you just have to shake your head at the silliness of Sin City. We spent one night there, and I was relieved to leave. We drove to Napa, CA, and hung out there road biking, drinking wine, kayaking the Russian River, and doing a hike for a view.

On the Memorial Day weekend, we ventured into San Francisco. Carol wanted to see the Carnaval Parade in the Mission District, which is a celebration of Latino-Carribbean Mardi-Gras-type fun. The colours were amazing! Same for the costumes! The wharf area of San Fran was packed with people, and again, after a while you had to get away from the people and sea gulls eating fish and chips. The best part of San Fran for me was getting on our bikes, riding to the harbour - then over the Golden Gate Bridge and into the parks beyond (all in the thick fog). After that, we cycled back across the bridge to Land's End, and then back through the Golden Gate Park, which had half the park on Sundays closed to cars (brilliant!).

Back on the road, we camped in the Redwoods (several walkabouts - this place is far better than Los Vegas!), stopped at many beaches, camped by the dunes of Oregon, cycled to Cape Meares on a closed road, and hiked to some cool vistas (often foggy). Finally turned off the 101 at Astoria - saving the Washington portion for another time.

7300 km, and finally home!

Sure seems like summer!

May was spent holidaying in the US west. I hope to post a short video on a raft trip I did with the boys on the upper Grand Canyon. The rest of the time (with Carol) was in Napa (road biking, wine tasting, hiking, and kayaking), San Fran and then 101 highway through to Washington. Beautiful!

Back in Alberta: After a couple of kayak paddles on the Kananaskis and Elbow Rivers with some friends on fairly high water, Carol and I went on a hike to Wasootch Ridge off the Kananaskis highway, about a 35 minute drive from Grandview Chalet B&B in Canmore. The high was 23C, and it was calm and sunny. Can't do better than that!

The 6.9 km hike (if you make the summit) gains 3200' (975m). An unmarked trail starts out of the Wasootch Creek parking lot, and immediately climbs a very steep trail before following the ups and a few downs along an impressive ridge. Views are great on both sides, dropping steeply into respective creek drainages. Wasootch Creek nicely displays what the 2013 flood did with alluvial deposits all along the drainage, down to the Kananaskis River. The limber pines(?) show very cool shapes up high along the ridge, tortured by the winds and snows.

In numerous areas, the Mississippian limestone has branching corals, crinoids, and the odd brachiopod - in some cases actual reefs. The rock along the ridge is nearly vertically thrusted, which makes for a very interesting scramble for those who wish to get to the top. We opted for one of the last nubs before the actual peak for some lunch - shared with a chipmunk.

The weather continues to be excellent in western Canada - but that is about to change to showers, which are likely needed. After the tour through California, rain can be appreciated.