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Fallen Leaf Lake, California

A first glimpse of the beauty of America’s National Parks

We arrived at the camp ground late. Really late. It was pitch black (that’s a recurring theme in our camping trips – we always seem to arrive in the dark!!) and we had no idea if we were in the right place. Our tent was put up by the headlights of the car.

We were driving through from San Francisco to Yosemite. Our first time camping properly in the USA, we had stopped off to buy a tent and supplies. We ended up in Kmart, buying a ‘backyard’ tent and sleeping bags, one of which turned out to be child sized! Having only a couple of hours until we had to get up and continue the drive (not to mention being unable to see anything at all in the darkness), we crawled into our sleeping bags (those of us who could fit!) and got some much needed rest.

As the morning broke, we discovered just how beautiful our temporary home was. As breakfast views go, the lake was stunning. Tired and bleary-eyed, we sat on the logs by the lake looking out at the vast expanse of trees lineing the shore.

It was our first glance at the beauty hidden in America’s national parks and we were absolutely speechless.

Walking the Athabasca Glacier

Was it cold? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

It’s not every day you get to walk on a Glacier! I’d planned really well for this trip, even bringing thermals because I knew that the glacier would be cold, and I really struggle with the cold! I’d love to say that my preparations left me toasty warm whilst on the glacier……but stupidly I was tricked into a false state of security due to the hot weather when we left Jasper. This meant that my thermals stayed firmly in the cabin whilst I froze!

As we headed out towards the glacier, the temperature dropped steadily and we all counted down the numbers on the dashboard display with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. The change in landscape was stark – from the green grass and trees of Jasper to the increasingly snow-topped mountains of the Icefields Parkway. The scenery was simply stunning.

Unbelievably, as we pulled into the parking lot for the glacier trip, it actually started to snow! I was first out of the car and it was absolutely freezing! It was hard to believe we had gone through such a temperature change during the drive up! Hoods up and heads down, we ran over to the main visitors centre to try and get warm. The gift shop was full to bursting of other travellers trying to do the same thing and it was chaos! Having not anticipated the number of people visiting the centre, we had quite a wait a while until we actually started our trip out on to the glacier.

What to take when you are walking the glacier:

A book /IPod – it gets busy at the ticket booth for the glacier & getting there early is a must. We arrived at 12.30pm and our ticket time was 4.45pm so there was a lot of waiting around. Alternatively, you can book your slot in advance which is highly recommended.

Bring some food / drink for whilst you are waiting. It will save you lots of money (the restaurant is fairly expensive) and a flask of something hot will warm you up on the ice.

Waterproof coat – it was snowing when we were up on the glacier and my huge waterproof hood came in handy for staying dry and keeping my ears warm. Of course, you might have beautiful sunshine whilst you are up there but it will still be fairly cold!

Base layers – as I mentioned, I left mine in my case as it was sunny when we left Jasper. By the time we hit the glacier, I was freezing and wishing for a good pair of thermals. I was kicking myself for the rest of the day for leaving them back in the cabin.

Gloves – goes without saying, when you get cold, fingers and toes are the first to feel it!

Sturdy boots – walking boots if you have them, paired with thick socks. I had Vibram soles and was still feeling like I could slide over at any point.

Nerves of steel – the Ice Explorer used to transfer you from the road to the glacier takes some fairly steep hills (45 degree angle at some points) and for someone who isn’t keen on edges, it’s pretty scary!

An empty water bottle – so you can drink some of the glacier water – on the day we went, there was a smoky tinge to the water due to a recent forest fire.

Sunglasses – although it can be cold, if the sun is out, your eyes will thank you for some relief from the glare of the snow!

A camera! The views are stunning and you won’t want to miss them!

The only way on to the glacier is via the Ice Explorers, operated by Brewster. These are huge machines and whilst they are designed for all terrain, it was still pretty scary to be moving down to the glacier at 45% angles! Sharp drops, rubble and rising snow drifts rolled past the windows, my stomach lurching each time the Ice Explorer tilted or rocked. The Explorer works on engine braking, rather than using its actual brakes down the steep slopes. The driver (a guy from Wales who seemed like a knowledgable, friendly dude) told us all to buckle up, laughing as we all reached for the non-existent seat belts.

Stepping out on to the ice was amazing. The wind and snow was biting and it was instantly hard to catch my breath. Although the area on the glacier designated for visitors was fairly small and the time spent out on the ice was short, it was absolutely incredible. The sheer size and scale of the mountains, coupled with the intense weather made me realise just how harsh and unforgiving this type of landscape is. Encouraged by the guide, we filled our water bottles with the glacier water, tasting the smoke from a nearby forest fire and wandered around the surface of the glacier, snapping pictures with shaky, cold hands.

The visit to the glacier is topped off with a ‘Skywalk’ experience – a walkway suspended over a 918 foot drop with a glass floor. I’d been on something similar at the Grand Canyon but it didn’t stop the ground spinning dizzily away as we made our loop of the structure. Valleys and canyons below us, we focused on the waterfalls in the distance, being fed by the glacier above.

Although most of the day was spent feeling freezing cold, wet and uncomfortable – not to mention fairly scared (me and heights don’t mix), it was completely worth it. There are few places that truly make us realise how much we are at mercy of the elements. Sure, some people do get to go on expeditions and explore the places we only see in pictures, but Athabasca Glacier is one of those places that allows us mere mortals to feel like we are right there with them, grasping adventure by the scruff of the neck and doing something that truly is a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.

Have you visited the glacier? Share your experience in the comments!

Gondolas and Lumberjacks…oh my!

Hate cable cars, love the view.

I hate goldolas (or cable cars as we say in England). I hate everything about them – the swaying, the height, being packed into a small space with people who don’t seem to be bothered by them in the least, making exclamations about the scenery. If I’m suspended high in the air by a tiny cable, I really don’t want to know what’s out of the window! I think it comes from watching too much James Bond when I was little, but hay, I just don’t like the height. I do like the views from the top of whatever mountain the gondola is traveling up though and so, if there is no other way to ascend, I’ll grit my teeth and deal with it like a champ.

One of the worst gondolas I have been on is the one going up Grouse Mountain. Not because of the distance from the floor (I’ve been on higher), but because of the amount of sway the car produces. The first time I did this trip, I did it with a mate of mine who was really reassuring and supportive, until the car swayed and the horizon moved dizzyingly up and down. We both went pale and I think that we left hand prints in the metal pole we were holding on to. The second time, I knew to look at the floor and ignore everyone’s gasps as the car did its thing. When a whole cable car full of people makes an ‘ohhhhh’ sound, it’s not that reassuring! Interestingly, the car swings much more as it passes the last tower (nearest the top) – one to remember if you dread the swaying as much as me. Wandering Beeb was fine (that guy has no fear of heights or edges!). He was taking pictures and looking out of the window with no problems at all.

All that being said, Grouse Mountain is worth it. It’s probably a 30 minute bus ride from Canada Place in Vancouver (free shuttle with a day ticket, approx $40-60 depending on your ticket to Grouse Mountain). We have also done the trip via boat which I found much more enjoyable. It has everything for a full day’s adventure – grizzley bear habitat, ranger talks, lumberjack shows, hiking, panaramic views and bird shows.

We took a hike up to the peak to see the views and it was stunning to see Vancouver laid out in front of us. The weather was great and so our view was really clear. It was a little strange to see snow-capped mountains in the distance whilst catching sunburn (top tip – make sure you put on sunblock on whilst you are on the mountain, you will burn and burn fast!).

The lumberjack show is lots of fun (great for big adult kids and little kids alike) with the audience cheering on ‘their’ lumberjack as they take on log-rolling, climbing and sawing tasks. Although it’s very staged, you can still see the skill involved as they climb up hugely tall posts, using nothing but spikes and a short rope to hug the pole. A 45 minute show is a long time for the lumberjacks to keep the crowd entertained, but they play off the sense of danger excellently, turning every wobble, height and blade into a source of anticipation and excitement.

“There was a good balance of fun and nervousness throughout the show as ‘Jonny Nelson’ from the Green River Logging Camp and ‘Willie McGee’ from Blue Mountain battle through axe throwing, carving, climbing and log rolling, with some high jinx thrown in to encourage gasps from the audience”

The bird show and bear habitat is one of the closest views you will get of these creatures (I certainly wouldn’t want to be that close to a bear in the wild) and we had some good reminders of the wildness of these animals as the birds decided to do their own thing and fly close enough to the audience to brush people’s hair as they passed. Check out our recent posts on bear spotting and the birds of Grouse Mountain.

Grouse Mountain is never going to be the most rural, ‘off the beaten track’ type of experience. It is a tourist attraction through and through, but it doesn’t pretend to be anything else and it’s a great day out of the City in a beautiful setting. Gondola and all, I loved it.

Tell us about your love /hate experiences with travel – what parts of a trip have you gritted your teeth through because you knew that it would be worth it once you reached your destination? Let us know in the comments!

Bear Territory

Spotting bears and stump bears in Canada and USA

When it comes to bears, most people have the same conflict – you want to see a bear in the wild but you don’t want to be mauled to death either! We were exactly the same – in Yosemite, USA, and in BC and Alberta in Canada, we were keen to catch a glimpse of an elusive bear.

On our first days in Vancouver, we had set off for a trip up Grouse Mountain which has a Grizzly Bear habitat. We spent ages by the habitat, watching the two bears play together – this was a guaranteed bear sighting and we weren’t going to miss it!

Hoping for more bear sightings of the wild variety, we booked on to a wildlife tour in Banff. We booked with Discover Banff Tours. A two hour twilight tour cost around $55 and they were excellent. The guide was really knowledgable and took us to a number of wildlife ‘hotspots’. They were in contact with lots of other tour guides and notified each other of sightings so that we had the best chance of spotting something. It was a great way of seeing some of Banff and we managed to spot some Elk and Mountain Goats fairly early on in the tour.

Half way down the road, we suddenly heard a shout from one of the other group members that they had spotted a bear! Lumbering off into the tree-line, we spotted a Cinnamon Bear (a type of black bear) and there was a great scrambling for cameras as people hustled to get a snap of this beautiful creature. This was one of those times where skills failed us and whilst I got a picture of the back of a friend’s head, Wandering Beeb managed to capture a shaky picture of the bear’s bum, along with the inside of the tour bus! Not the best bear sighting proof to bring back home!

Copying the route from the tour, we improvised the next night and headed to the same locations. Again, we spotted Elk and Goats, although no bears!

The first time we visited Canada, the custom’s officer did the usual ‘why are you visiting’ question. Excited to be in Canada and having sat through a very bumpy flight, we responded with “because we want to see bears!” The guy didn’t smile, didn’t laugh and gave us a very stern ‘I want a real answer’ type look. To be fair, most customs officers have been really friendly, but this trip definitely taught us not to be cute when trying to enter a new country – it’s not always well received!

During our time in Banff, our group spotted a total of five bears (including one Grizzly!), usually in the trees as we were driving past. Whilst in Banff, we heard stories of ‘The Boss’ and tales of aggressive bear behaviour in the park. The Boss is a dominant grizzly bear (he even has a serial number – Bear 122) who has eaten black bears and fathered a number of younger bears in the park. Another bear had been aggressive towards people in the park (usually dog walkers) and indeed some of the campgrounds had been closed when we visited due to bear behaviour. It was really interesting to hear from the Rangers about the need to carry bear spray as a deterrent to bears – both to stay safe and importantly, to ensure that bears receive negative reinforcement from their contact with humans, keeping them wild and alive.

The tour guide had told us about the frequency of which people spotted ‘stump bears’ – tree stumps that people mistook for bears. Our bear hunting was frequently punctuated by shouts of ‘bear!’ or ‘Stump bear!’ – making for interesting walks and car journeys!

When we had visited Yosemite a couple of years earlier, we had the experience of a baby bear happening upon us whist we were eating our sandwiches at Mirror Lake. It was later in the day and most of the bigger groups of walkers had disappeared. We had set ourselves up on a larger rock and started to munch through our snacks and butties. Most of us were facing in the same direction, but one of our eagle-eyed group pointed out a large, dark shape moving towards us. Quickly realising it was a bear and no one else was around, we started to pack up our things. It became clear that it was a younger bear and as amazed as we were, this probably meant that mummy bear was somewhere around. Respecting that bears are far more powerful than we will ever be, we all started to slowly back away, making a fair bit of noise to alert the bear to our presence. Astounded, we watched as the bear made its way across the path and into the trees on the other side. Despite the other bears we have seen, this encounter sticks in my mind like no other. The utter respect that the creature commanded was emphasised by the lack of other people around and the pack of food we were carrying. The grace and stealth that accompanied the bear’s movements made us realise that the granite cliffs and breathtaking tree-line were not the only wonders that we were lucky enough to see that day.