Today the big group split into smaller ones, depending on how many days you planned to spend in the 'wilderness hostels'. Met our leader Ryan as he took us to Lake Minnewanka for introductions.
10 people, nice little number so we have;
Alex and Megan, England
Rob, England
Thomas and Lucas, Switzerland
Manja, Germany
Tatiana, Germany
Laura, Germany
And this was definitely the best group of people.
On first impressions, meeting Ryan, with his dreads and hippie attitudes, it was easy to judge, but don't judge a book by its cover; he was definitely one of the coolest guys we've met and a GREAT leader.
Lake Minnewanka, or devils lake as it was previously known, actually has a town buried beneath the water. It now has a dam which used for hydroelectricity for Banff. Really pretty and saw our first wildlife, a cute little ground squirrel.
Whilst driving along the Bow Parkway, we came across a bear!! Woo hoo, I saw a bear in the Rockies, just chilling eating some buffalo berries. (Or soap berries as we later learned after trying them!)
Next we took a drive to Lake Louise, previously known as 'lake of the little fishes.' It was extremely busy and touristy, but its probably the most famous lake in the Rockies. It is really beautiful, but just not as pretty as it was last time we went. Last time, it was later on in the day, there was no-one around and because it was darker, the snow-covered mountains reflected in the lake. This time tho, we went for a little hike to the lake in the clouds. Passing mirror lake on the way, our steep climb finishes at the tea house, where the lake doesn't have any clouds. (But good for us as we got great views from the top.) Making our wraps for lunch, we had skwalking entertainment from the nutcracker birds who insisted on flying so close that they nearly flew into our faces. Then for the hike back down, which was a lot easier.
Back into 'Fenton' (moose bus) we go, and onto Moraine lake. Another absolutely beautiful glacier lake, nestled amongst the ten peaks (of mountains.) we learnt that the colour of water is due to glacier melting causing erosion of rocks, forming mineral flour in different concentrations resulting in different water colours. But all the same, another lake for Kenny to swim in.
Next we entered the Kootenay National Park, along the Icefield Parkway. This road was built from Banff upwards and from Jasper downwards, so they met in the middle. Here we visited Mistria Canyon, which was just a random brown sign Ryan decided to check out and it was well worth it. It's hard to describe. So imagine water again a wall of rock; the water will find a tiny hole an travel through, making the hole bigger. Well this just kept happening and happening over the years and the result is a twisting, turning river through the rocks with random blow holes. Looked like the shapes of a glacier but only made out of stone. Pretty cool. This is also the place where we learnt about buffalo berries, the reason the bears come to the side of the road. An we learnt by tasting, yuk!! Soap berries.
Next stop was out our hostel: a wilderness hostel called Rampant Creek. This consisted of little cabins amongst the trees, with a backdrop of cliffs and a stream, pit toilets, no electric, but a cool little campfire and a sauna. So got dinner out of the way, chatted to the manager asking him if they get much wildlife in and around the hostel; he said two bears entertained guesses outside their window a few days back. The evening consisted of cider and toasted marshmallows round the fire. While some braved the freezing cold stream and sauna combo. Pretty good touch for a hostel.
Having had a couple of cider, my bladder decided to wake me up in the middle of the night to pee, but having heard bear stories, there was no way I was going outside by myself. So I lay there, hoping someone else would wake up, half an hour later, no suck luck. So I had to go into the boys room next door, at 3.30am and wake Kenny up to take me to the toilet. Lets just say it took a bit of persuasion and he wasn't very happy :p but at least I didn't get eaten by bears. Another day survived in the wilderness..