Ticket in hand, Friday night flight – next stop: Calgary, Alberta.
Sunday would be my first O’ Canada marathon, first race outside the U.S., my first in kilometers. Hold on, rewind – that’s still 2 days away. BANFF! Bucket list destination. Similar to Montana’s Glacier Nat’l Park last July, sometimes the marathon run is only a small subset of life’s Master Plan. I’m going to Banff Nat’l Park – heart of the Canadian Rockies. YES!
Rental car pick-up, hour drive to my Canmore lodging (short 20 minutes from the Park). Struggled motoring in kilometers. Gave up holding 80 on open highway, opted to stay with traffic – cruising 120 kph across the flat prairie landscape.
45 minutes in, the Canadian Rockies towered ahead – HUGE, spectacular. WOW!
Hotel check-in, quick bite to eat. Most amazing part of the evening? Met – in person, in the flesh – my favourite blogger OF ALL TIME.
Started reading Sarah’s Nunavut-based blog posts while trapped in my NYC metro-train commuter life, 5+ years ago. Sarah left behind her comfortable Ontario home, took a job in the Canadian Arctic & shared her adventures online: sarahontheroad.com HUGE fan. Ice fishing, polar bears, Inuit narwhal hunting, the Northern lights – telling ya, hooked.
KISMET. Booked my marathon spot last Fall. Meanwhile, Sarah took a professor position at a Toronto area university & left Nunavut. FaceBook messenger mid-May: Sar’s heading West for a cousin’s wedding. Just outside of Banff…in Canmore, Alberta. On the same EXACT weekend as my first Canadian marathon. Folks, can’t make this stuff up. KISMET 🙂
Saturday a.m. – curbside pickup. Banff in Sarah’s Jeep Liberty. [You didn’t think that kinda lead up was gonna end with late nite burgers? Come on. Kismet, remember?]
Towering snow-capped peaks. First stop: Lake Louise.
Clear, pristine, turquoise hue. Mountain reflection on the lake reminiscent of Colorado’s Maroon Bells. Quiet. No words. Just WOW! With as much solo trekking as I do – gotta say, life’s best memories are much better shared. Full heart.
Next stop: Lake Agnes. Back in Sarah’s rental? Heck, no. 2-mile hike UP. My kind of day. FAAANNNTASTIC!
UP UP UP thru towering lodgepole pine. Iconic views of Louise below. Mirror Lake. Waterfall. AND…a tea house.
An iconic Banff & Lake Louise experience, accessible to hikers of many abilities.
The Lake Agnes Tea House was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1901 as a refuge for hikers. Climb steadily on a forested trail, past Mirror Lake and the waterfall that cascades out of Lake Agnes, before arriving at the idyllic alpine waters of Lake Agnes and enjoying speciality teas and delicious homemade baking.
The family-run Tea House has no electricity or running water. Some supplies (such as flour and sugar for the baking) are flown in by helicopter at the start of the season, but all fresh food is packed up the trail by the staff.
The hike to the Tea House starts on the shores of Lake Louise near the Fairmont Chateau Hotel and climbs uphill on a wide switch-backed path for 3.6 kilometres (2.2 miles). It is rated as a moderate trail and takes most people around 1 to 2 hours, more or less depending on fitness level. The elevation gain is 400 metres (1,312 feet).
The Lake Agnes Tea House is open from early June to October (Canadian Thanksgiving).
Added a jacket & ordered a pot of herbal. Long soak of my alpine surroundings while the tea seeped. How many times in life is THIS gonna happen, right? Amazing life. Just WOW. Mountain weather turned ‘round the noon hour (just like the American Rockies) – light rain, lower elevations…snow on the peaks (but no lightning 🙂 ). Quick [downhill] hike return.
Bib pickup at Banff’s Curling Club – my favourite winter Olympic sport. Ok, maybe not top-top favourite…but always crazy intrigued when they bring out the broom & stone. Kinda like watching bowling on ice. Go Team Canada – gold medalists past 3 Olympics.
Early shut-eye before tomorrow’s first 42.2? Heck no.
What’s a marathon without a pre-race Canadian wedding, right? LOL> Wee bit weird attending a wedding party not knowing either groom nor bride. No regrets though – learned how to properly hold a hockey stick…it’s Canada, eh? 🙂
He said, she said — check out Sarah’s version below.
https://sarahontheroad.com/2016/06/the-american-rockies-meets-the-canadian-rockies/
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- next stop: Banff
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- bucket list destination — WOW!
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- lovely Lake Louise
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- USA meets Canada — my fave blogger Sarah in the flesh!
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- photo credit: sarahontheroad.com
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- day hike, high in the Canadian Rockies
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- stunning turquoise hue
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- hike destination #2: Lake Agnes
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- high altitude paradise
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- life’s best moments are always better when shared
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- back to Canmore for bib pick-up & a pre-marathon Canadian wedding
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- broom & a stone — my favourite winter Olympic sport
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- look who caught the bouquet — back next year?
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- wedding tradition: it’s not really Canadian without hockey
Lake Agnes, Banff
Marathon & volcano hike – top 2 (only 2) items on my Hawaiian adventure list. Being a cold-weather mountain enthusiastic, ran the risk of missing out on everything Hawaiian – island activities just don’t cross my mind (I’m in the 2% world minority 🙂 ). Luckily, many of my friends have been to Hawaii & filled my post-race itinerary with excellent recommendations. Thanks!
Woke early Monday still feeling a little banged up from the previous day’s marathon, so opted for a sit-down road trippin’ day. With no east-west highway available across Maui’s south shore, headed north toward Kahului before driving east on Maui’s infamous Hāna Highway. Today’s road-trippin’ destination: the Road to Hāna
Stats: 52 miles, 617 curves, 56 bridges, 3 hours
Sandy beaches & the arid landscape of Wailea soon gave way to lush green forest & dark lava-fed soil – exactly what I remember folks talkin’ about on their Hawaii vacations. What folks didn’t talk about was the windy road to Hāna. Scenic – heck yeah – but curvy…worse than California Highway 1. One-lane bridges, the new norm. No visibility; initially you inch around these blind turns hoping a car won’t clip you on the other side. An hour in, you realize that’s why you buy insurance. LOL>
2 hours in, pulled over & hiked Ke’anae Arboretum – short hiking trail thru the tropical forest. Highly recommended.
Back on the road, stopped for lunch in Hāna Bay. Fresh fish, outdoor seating with an ocean view – FAAANNNTASTIC! Stopped in a gift shop to verify I wasn’t missing something historic – nope, nothing else in Hāna…beach & food. Check, got it covered 🙂
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- lush green forest & dark lava-fed soil
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- 52 miles, 617 curves, 56 bridges, 3 hours
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- Twin Falls
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- Ke’anae Arboretum
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- Rainbow Eucalyptus
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- short hiking trail thru tropical guava groves – highly recommended!
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- fresh fish, fresh fruit — my 2 Hawaiian faves
Autobahn’ng the return, stopped to watch the mighty waves of Pāʻia.
Worked my way down the rocks at Ho’okipa & stared ahead into the aqua blue. Rough surf made for AMAZING 20-foot waves. Ocean smashed over the large volcanic boulders. Sound. Smell. It’s the mighty waves of Pāʻia I’ll remember years from now.
Watched surfers ocean-paddle, incoming wave approach, surfers seemingly disappear, moments later heads break the surface in unison – pop, pop, pop – and the game repeats. Mesmerized, stayed ’til nightfall.
Hawaiian Day 3 over – tomorrow morning, snorkeling Molokini Crater.
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- WOW WOW WOW!
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- whatta show — ocean smashed over the large volcanic boulders
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- mesmerized, stayed ’til nightfall
mighty waves of Pāʻia
First 2015 marathon in the West – ROAD TRIP!
Have always wanted to hike in Wyoming’s Bighorns – just south of the Montana border – so planned a 3-day weekend around the Casper Marathon on Sunday. Unfortunately, late spring snow (2 weeks ago) followed by a week of heavy rain impeded my plans – State Highway 16 from Buffalo to Ten Sleep flooded so…Plan B.
North on I-25 from Colorado to Casper, straight shot. Stopped an hour short, near Douglas – first destination: Ayres Natural Bridge. Snapped a pic & snagged some sage (natural car deodorizer & FREE). Short walk over the natural bridge cut by LaPrele Creek (tributary of Wyoming’s North Platte River). Peaceful place. Would stop here again on Sunday, after my run.
Storm clouds rolled in. Spent the afternoon at Casper’s Tate Museum viewing dinosaur bones, then the Nat’l Historic Trails Interpretive Center – 4 major wagon trails passed thru Casper (Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, California & Pony Express).
Dinosaur digs & fossils make “the Cowboy State” a paleo- tourist destination. More dinosaur finds in Wyoming than any other U.S. state.
So many fossils at Tate – WOW! In New York museums, you see maybe 2 or 3 dinosaurs. In small town Wyoming – big dinosaurs, little dinosaurs, mammoths, sediment fossils. GREAT way to spend an afternoon. Highly recommended.
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- 2 miles off the Oregon Trail, often visited by emigrants traveling West
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- natural bridge cut by LaPrele Creek
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- dirt road treasure near Douglas (LOVE this sign)
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- a paleo- tourist destination
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- 11,600 year old Columbian Mammoth (unearthed locally in 2006)
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- afternoon storm clouds rolling in
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- Mormon Pioneer handcart
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- the Pony Express – St Joseph MO to Sacramento CA
Started Saturday at Garden Creek Falls in Rotary Park (crazy beautiful), then hiked Casper Mountain. Not the Rockies experience of the Bighorns, but a good 5-mile day hike. Probably not the best prep, day before a marathon but…I’m a lover of mountains.
Afternoon plans? Float trip on the North Platte. No rapids here, lazy river float. What I most remember is our Riverton-based guide’s colloquial speech. A fourth generation Wyomingan, he recommended a trip to Fort Caspar where Native Americans were slaughtered. Couldn’t be taught not to steal cattle – so were exterminated. I asked about Sacagawea’s grave site in Fort Washakie. He commented she was a Sheep Eater, a Mountain Shoshone. Seriously? And if so, who cares? None of his facts matched any ‘semblance of reality.
In rural Wyoming, there are Cowboys & there are Indians. Seems the two do not mix – even in 2015 🙁
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- Bridle Trail – 5 miles roundtrip
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- 1957 tragedy – 4 teens veered off Mountain, 3 survived
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- lazy river float, no rapids here
