Our much anticipated North American road trip started with a 3 day, 46 km backcountry hike along the Skyline Trail in Jasper, just a few hours north west of Banff! Our Pontiac Montana was all packed up with a double bed in the back, an array of useful cooking gear, a tetris maze of bags and snowboards and our mountain bikes strapped to the boot.

This was all for later use though, as we parked the van at the trailhead and hoisted on a couple of backpacks and a tent for the two night, high altitude adventure. What Jess didn't know was that Aidan had packed a secret little box for the hike...

We caught a bus up to the other end of the trail, at beautiful Maligne Lake. It was cool and foggy and the lake had a kind of mystical feel about it, but we were eager to get started so we didn't hang around too long.

Only about 200m into the trail, we came across the biggest bear scat either of us had ever seen. It was more than a foot in diameter, full of semi-digested purple berries and still sparkling fresh! This area is apparently well populated with Grizzly Bears so it didn't seem too out of place. Thankfully we had pepper spray on the ready and are pretty 'bear aware' thanks to our time in Banff. Still, we weren't expecting the sight that greeted us only a kilometer or two further on...

Aidan spotted him first, up on a forested hill to the left of the trail, less than 15m away! A massive Grizzly Bear was peacefully berry grazing and looked up cautiously as we walked past. We stopped for a second, then decided to keep walking, trying to speak calmly as we passed while keeping a careful gaze on him to make sure the berries were still enough. The bear also kept an eye on us as we passed, carefully shifting his body around to keep us in his sight..
'Should I get a photo?' Aidan asked Jess.
'No! It'll startle him. Keep walking, head down!' Jess replied.
And so we did, and survived with not a scratch, or a photo for proof, but frighteningly amazing memories of a brilliant creature that in our imaginations gets bigger and more beautiful every time we think of it!

Once we got out of the tree line, the views opened up along pristine alpine meadows and streams. We set up camp in a simple but well managed campground, with one of the most scenic pit toilet seats we've ever experienced! The nights were freezing, literally, and we had to wear everything we had to keep warm in our summer sleeping bags.

The first morning we woke and, when Aidan tried unsuccessfully to fill our water pot in a stream, realised that the water was frozen! Eventually we managed to boil some for coffee, and as we began to thaw, the sun rose, and Aidan pulled the mysterious box from his pocket... Too cold to drop a knee to the ground, he stepped up on a rock, and proposed! Jess has absolutely no idea it was coming and, from her cocoon sleeping bag, appeared impressed enough to say 'yes!' We both held our breath as Jess tried it on, only to find that it didn't fit... at least while her hands were slightly swollen with the high altitude.

So, with the ring attached to Jess's necklace, and huge smiles on both our faces, we only had to hike another 32km across a mountain range, over two days, through more Grizzly territory, to get back to the van... As it turned out, the second day was by far the most scenic, but also the longest and most difficult part of the hike. We climbed over two mountain passes, detoured around alpine lakes and clung to the edge of an insanely windy ridge line to get to our second campsite. We arrived at our riverside campground, nestled between rocky giants, right on dusk.

We didn't see another bear, and our biggest problem from then on was our head torch battery running dead. We had to cook our peanut butter and rice stew in the dark, but it was still surprisingly tasty after a big day. This campsite was a bit warmer too, and we had a relatively easy hike out of the mountains and back into the valley to our patiently waiting van.

Despite our exhausted feet, we checked out beautiful Maligne canyon on the way back to Jasper town. This made for a nice finish as we had basically hiked above the Maligne River Valley system for the past three days, only for this last part we wore thongs and had nothing strapped to our shoulders!

We drooled over the strip of restaurants back in Jasper town and satisfied our empty stomachs with pizza and a beer. Afterwards, to wash off three days of dry dirt, sweat and aching joints we drove out to Pocahontas (and why wouldn't you with a name like that!) to soak in the Miette Hot Springs. This place was awesome, with four different pools at different temperatures to jump between while gazing out into the Rockies. After our bodies were feeling revived, Jess tried on the ring again and this time, it was a perfect fit (feewww!). We decided the pizza and hot springs would do for our engagement party, at least until we arrive back in Australia. Until then, we have a road trip to get on with!