Friday CritterBlogging

Here is a big critter we saw on the trail between Takakkaw Falls and Yoho Lake in Canada last summer. He was so quiet we almost missed him.

Other Places

Vacation seems like so long ago...

HoaryMarmotBlogging

The cats are taking the week off.

Saw this hoary marmot on the Rockpile Trail at Moraine Lake. Cool, eh?

Oh, Canada!

Photograph: Victoria Glacier and reflection from Lake Louise early in the morning, August 2, 2009.

We're back.

The Canadian Rockies are incredibly beautiful in August. Photographs do not do it justice - you have to take in the entire vista with your own eyes. Even the money is pretty. We had a very good time and might even have lost a bit of weight with all of the hiking we did. I took over 850 photographs, which will take a little time to sort out. I will no doubt share them one area at a time.

If any of you are contemplating a trip to the Canadian Rockies - do it! And get this book, which was an indispensable guide: Parkways of the Canadian Rockies. I have the third edition, copyright 1988 that I purchased during my 1994 visit, but there is a spiffy new 5th edition that I saw in a bookstore at Lake Louise Village that looked great.

We were sorry to have to leave it all behind to go back home (and to a heat wave, no less). We both have a lot of bullshit to "look forward to" at work. But it was a great week off - no TV, no news, no internet (except trail reports, weather, and checking in with Mom once a day), no phones, no nothing except boots on the trail and some good chow when we got back to our temporary home base of Lake Louise Village.