wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Merry Christmas everybody! I hope everybody has a joyful holiday.
"Lola" - WreckDiver1321's 2005 Frontier CC/SB Nismo Build and Adventure Thread
- Thread starter wreckdiver1321
- Start date
bijanjames
Adventurer
Merry Christmas!!
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Thanks!
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
A (Sort Of) Overland Honeymoon - Part 6
Huge apologies for the large hiatus on the report! Had some stuff come up, but I'm back to it now.
Our big stop was at the Icefields Discovery Centre next to Athabasca Glacier, on what is one of the most scenic sections of the Icefields Parkway. We wanted to get set up for the next day's activities, so we had to take the Icefields Parkway up north. After a little chat, we opted to forego driving up the Trunk Road to Hinton, as it would require us to backtrack and lose time. I'm content though, since between these two trips we have finished the route.
Picking up the Parkway at Saskatchewan Crossing, we filed north, in awe of the landscape that rose around us. On our last trip through this area, the air was hazy and smoky from fires burning in Glacier and Waterton. This time though, it was crystal clear, and absolutely stunning! We stopped near the Bow River to have a little lunch, take in the landscape, and prepare for the epic road ahead.
Shortly afterward, the road climbs and the scenery (somehow) becomes even more incredible. As you come over the pass that wraps around Parker Ridge, the landscape goes from boreal forest to sweeping alpine tundra. The trees thin, the landscape becomes rugged and craggy, and the views continue on for miles. We made a stop near Parker Ridge to take an often-seen shot.
From there, we continued north, driving up the valley towards The Icefield Centre. This route just beggars belief, especially once you come to the Centre itself. You'd swear you took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Nepal or Tibet. Before too long, we hit the Icefield Centre and tried to find a parking space. Much to our dismay, we arrived around lunch time, and the entire place was completely jam-packed. Literally thousands of people were milling around and taking in the sights. Remaining calm, we searched for a little while and were eventually able to procure a parking spot. We gathered our stuff and walked into the Icefield Centre lobby, where we had to wait in line to get our passes for the next day's adventures. Luckily, the staff there is awesome, and handled the crowds with great efficiency. Shortly after getting in line, we had our passes and decided to ditch the crowds here and push north to Jasper and our next sightseeing stop.
Hopping back on the Icefields Parkway, we thundered our way into Jasper, ready to get to our hotel and unload our fully-packed truck. We drove to the hotel only to find our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we took about an hour to wander the streets of downtown Jasper, which turned out to be a wonderful little town. We stopped in at a few on the millions of different trinket and t-shirt shops, picked up a few things, and started eyeing restaurants for dinner. Checking my watch, I found that our room should be ready, and we headed off back to the hotel.
Happily, our room was ready to go and we unloaded some things and rested for a few minutes, examining the local guidebooks and pondering what to do. It was going mid afternoon now, and we decided it would be a good time to check out Maligne Lake and Maligne Canyon. So we hopped back in the truck and made our way to one of the many stops at Maligne Canyon, which was, to our surprise, pretty free of people. Bringing minimal stuff, we took off on the walk down the Canyon.
Maligne Canyon is a beautiful place. The Maligne River, so named by a French voyageur in the 1800s who attempted to cross it and was nearly drowned ("maligne" is the French word for malignant, evil, or wicked), flows out of Maligne Lake and makes it's way down to the valley floor, eventually dumping into the Athabasca River. Along the way, the river passes over limestone rock. As such, the river has eroded it's way through the limestone, in some places only a foot or so deep, down to a maximum depth of about 160 feet. The Maligne Canyon Trail features several bridges one can cross over to see the depths of the canyon. It's a fun and easy trail that is very rewarding. The views are awesome too.
As we worked our way down the trail and down the canyon, the water cut deeper and deeper through the limestone, forming fantastic shapes and graceful curves.
My favorite overlook is like something out of a Tolkein novel.
After taking our time and breathing in this fantastic place, we hiked up and out, stopping at the nearby gift shop for a few bottles of water before going back to the truck.
Taking back to the road, we drove farther up the Maligne River, passing Medicine Lake along the way. About halfway past Medicine Lake, we had a small traffic jam where a group of Bighorn Sheep were on the road. It would have been a really cool sight, but for the Chinese tourists who had gotten out of their cars and were feeding them! I pulled to a stop, rolled down my window, and calmly explained that they shouldn't do that. The tourists gave me a blank expression, turned away, and continued what they were doing. At which point I tapped the horn a few times, causing most of the sheep to scatter off the road. The tourists eyed me with annoyance as we continued rolling on towards Maligne Lake.
When we arrived, we found a parking spot and decided to walk the lakeshore a bit. We particularly enjoyed taking in the sights near the boathouse. We lingered for quite a while, relaxing in this wonderful place and just enjoying our time together in such an amazing landscape.
Next time we're here, a boat tour of Maligne Lake is 100% on the list. With the shadows going long, we walked back to the truck. Even the views from the parking lot were great, so I had to stop to snap this one.
With that, we drove back into Jasper.
Arriving back in town, we selected the local Indian buffet for dinner. We savored the exotic flavors and the downtown scene for a little while. This was turning out to be quite the amazing journey. With the temperature dropping, we decided to turn in early and get some extra sleep in our awesome hotel suite. The next day would hold some truly unforgettable adventures.
We woke up around 7 AM the next morning to clear skies and calm winds, foreshadowing what would turn out to be a great day of exploring. Our destination this morning was the Columbia Icefield Centre, where we would be participating in a few awesome activities. The drive was mostly clear and we made good time. We arrived rather surprised to find almost no one there, so we killed a little time by checking out the gift shop and looking at the sights. Before long, it was time to catch our bus. We lined up and boarded your ordinary coach bus, which drove us across the highway and up a dirt road to something decidedly un-ordinary. Stopping at an intermediate station, we disembarked and boarded a massive Brewster Icefield Bus, sitting in 40-inch tires and sporting six-wheel drive. This bus would take us along the lateral moraine of the Athabasca Glacier before dropping down and driving us out onto the Glacier itself.
The drive to get there is an interesting one. The bus starts off by going up a minor hill while the passengers are introduced to some basic glacier information by the driver. Ours was excellent, and provided some great info that we didn't know. Then, there is a sudden right and the driver stops to engage the ultra-low range. Yep, that's right. From there, the bus drives down one of the world's steepest commercial roads, dropping down onto the glacier. The realization hit us that we were actually driving on a living, moving glacier. What a cool feeling! Before long, we reached the stopping point and hopped off the bus to spend some time on the glacier itself.
As you can probably see here, my right foot is wet. Why, you ask? Well, I found a hole in the glacier. I stepped in it and fell up to my thigh in the glacier, drenching my foot and my lower leg. My advice: don't do this. Your foot will be wet for hours, and it's kind of cold out there.
Here is the aforementioned hole, now marked by one of the tour guides.
Aside from that minor mishap, the views were amazing and the experience is one that will stay with me forever.
Some cool things to note. This isn't dirt.
This is actually pure carbon. The glacier is a natural collecting place for it from pollutants in the air, mostly the diesel exhaust from the glacier buses. Interesting.
This the Andromeda Glacier and Mount Andromeda, one of the taller peaks in the Canadian Rockies, standing at 11,320 feet. To give you an idea of scale, the glacier we are standing on sits at 7,300 feet, so standing at the base of it is exhilarating.
This is the Athabasca Icefall. Beyond that is the Columbia Icefield, which is sending ice over the icefall to feed the Athabasca Glacier. It moves at about 1-2cm per day.
The beautiful glacier water here is so pure and clean. And actually, it's totally safe and very healthy to drink. I filled my water bottle with it and was drinking from it for the rest of the day.
After about half an hour, it was time to get back on the bus and go to our next destination. Both Beret and I were sad to leave this amazing place, but ready for what was next. We boarded the massive bus and ogled the landscape as we lumbered back to what seemed like a tiny coach.
These are the buses. Quite a cool piece of engineering, these. Massive tires, 6x6 drive, and a dual range transfer case.
And this is the steep drop down to the glacier. Being avid offroaders, Beret and I weren't really affected by the angle the bus had to drive at to get up and down, but many of the other passengers were pretty alarmed.
Shortly thereafter, we arrived back at the intermediate station and got back on the coach, which would take us to a place that was sure to get our hearts pumping.
To be continued....
Huge apologies for the large hiatus on the report! Had some stuff come up, but I'm back to it now.
Our big stop was at the Icefields Discovery Centre next to Athabasca Glacier, on what is one of the most scenic sections of the Icefields Parkway. We wanted to get set up for the next day's activities, so we had to take the Icefields Parkway up north. After a little chat, we opted to forego driving up the Trunk Road to Hinton, as it would require us to backtrack and lose time. I'm content though, since between these two trips we have finished the route.
Picking up the Parkway at Saskatchewan Crossing, we filed north, in awe of the landscape that rose around us. On our last trip through this area, the air was hazy and smoky from fires burning in Glacier and Waterton. This time though, it was crystal clear, and absolutely stunning! We stopped near the Bow River to have a little lunch, take in the landscape, and prepare for the epic road ahead.
Shortly afterward, the road climbs and the scenery (somehow) becomes even more incredible. As you come over the pass that wraps around Parker Ridge, the landscape goes from boreal forest to sweeping alpine tundra. The trees thin, the landscape becomes rugged and craggy, and the views continue on for miles. We made a stop near Parker Ridge to take an often-seen shot.
From there, we continued north, driving up the valley towards The Icefield Centre. This route just beggars belief, especially once you come to the Centre itself. You'd swear you took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Nepal or Tibet. Before too long, we hit the Icefield Centre and tried to find a parking space. Much to our dismay, we arrived around lunch time, and the entire place was completely jam-packed. Literally thousands of people were milling around and taking in the sights. Remaining calm, we searched for a little while and were eventually able to procure a parking spot. We gathered our stuff and walked into the Icefield Centre lobby, where we had to wait in line to get our passes for the next day's adventures. Luckily, the staff there is awesome, and handled the crowds with great efficiency. Shortly after getting in line, we had our passes and decided to ditch the crowds here and push north to Jasper and our next sightseeing stop.
Hopping back on the Icefields Parkway, we thundered our way into Jasper, ready to get to our hotel and unload our fully-packed truck. We drove to the hotel only to find our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we took about an hour to wander the streets of downtown Jasper, which turned out to be a wonderful little town. We stopped in at a few on the millions of different trinket and t-shirt shops, picked up a few things, and started eyeing restaurants for dinner. Checking my watch, I found that our room should be ready, and we headed off back to the hotel.
Happily, our room was ready to go and we unloaded some things and rested for a few minutes, examining the local guidebooks and pondering what to do. It was going mid afternoon now, and we decided it would be a good time to check out Maligne Lake and Maligne Canyon. So we hopped back in the truck and made our way to one of the many stops at Maligne Canyon, which was, to our surprise, pretty free of people. Bringing minimal stuff, we took off on the walk down the Canyon.
Maligne Canyon is a beautiful place. The Maligne River, so named by a French voyageur in the 1800s who attempted to cross it and was nearly drowned ("maligne" is the French word for malignant, evil, or wicked), flows out of Maligne Lake and makes it's way down to the valley floor, eventually dumping into the Athabasca River. Along the way, the river passes over limestone rock. As such, the river has eroded it's way through the limestone, in some places only a foot or so deep, down to a maximum depth of about 160 feet. The Maligne Canyon Trail features several bridges one can cross over to see the depths of the canyon. It's a fun and easy trail that is very rewarding. The views are awesome too.
As we worked our way down the trail and down the canyon, the water cut deeper and deeper through the limestone, forming fantastic shapes and graceful curves.
My favorite overlook is like something out of a Tolkein novel.
After taking our time and breathing in this fantastic place, we hiked up and out, stopping at the nearby gift shop for a few bottles of water before going back to the truck.
Taking back to the road, we drove farther up the Maligne River, passing Medicine Lake along the way. About halfway past Medicine Lake, we had a small traffic jam where a group of Bighorn Sheep were on the road. It would have been a really cool sight, but for the Chinese tourists who had gotten out of their cars and were feeding them! I pulled to a stop, rolled down my window, and calmly explained that they shouldn't do that. The tourists gave me a blank expression, turned away, and continued what they were doing. At which point I tapped the horn a few times, causing most of the sheep to scatter off the road. The tourists eyed me with annoyance as we continued rolling on towards Maligne Lake.
When we arrived, we found a parking spot and decided to walk the lakeshore a bit. We particularly enjoyed taking in the sights near the boathouse. We lingered for quite a while, relaxing in this wonderful place and just enjoying our time together in such an amazing landscape.
Next time we're here, a boat tour of Maligne Lake is 100% on the list. With the shadows going long, we walked back to the truck. Even the views from the parking lot were great, so I had to stop to snap this one.
With that, we drove back into Jasper.
Arriving back in town, we selected the local Indian buffet for dinner. We savored the exotic flavors and the downtown scene for a little while. This was turning out to be quite the amazing journey. With the temperature dropping, we decided to turn in early and get some extra sleep in our awesome hotel suite. The next day would hold some truly unforgettable adventures.
We woke up around 7 AM the next morning to clear skies and calm winds, foreshadowing what would turn out to be a great day of exploring. Our destination this morning was the Columbia Icefield Centre, where we would be participating in a few awesome activities. The drive was mostly clear and we made good time. We arrived rather surprised to find almost no one there, so we killed a little time by checking out the gift shop and looking at the sights. Before long, it was time to catch our bus. We lined up and boarded your ordinary coach bus, which drove us across the highway and up a dirt road to something decidedly un-ordinary. Stopping at an intermediate station, we disembarked and boarded a massive Brewster Icefield Bus, sitting in 40-inch tires and sporting six-wheel drive. This bus would take us along the lateral moraine of the Athabasca Glacier before dropping down and driving us out onto the Glacier itself.
The drive to get there is an interesting one. The bus starts off by going up a minor hill while the passengers are introduced to some basic glacier information by the driver. Ours was excellent, and provided some great info that we didn't know. Then, there is a sudden right and the driver stops to engage the ultra-low range. Yep, that's right. From there, the bus drives down one of the world's steepest commercial roads, dropping down onto the glacier. The realization hit us that we were actually driving on a living, moving glacier. What a cool feeling! Before long, we reached the stopping point and hopped off the bus to spend some time on the glacier itself.
As you can probably see here, my right foot is wet. Why, you ask? Well, I found a hole in the glacier. I stepped in it and fell up to my thigh in the glacier, drenching my foot and my lower leg. My advice: don't do this. Your foot will be wet for hours, and it's kind of cold out there.
Here is the aforementioned hole, now marked by one of the tour guides.
Aside from that minor mishap, the views were amazing and the experience is one that will stay with me forever.
Some cool things to note. This isn't dirt.
This is actually pure carbon. The glacier is a natural collecting place for it from pollutants in the air, mostly the diesel exhaust from the glacier buses. Interesting.
This the Andromeda Glacier and Mount Andromeda, one of the taller peaks in the Canadian Rockies, standing at 11,320 feet. To give you an idea of scale, the glacier we are standing on sits at 7,300 feet, so standing at the base of it is exhilarating.
This is the Athabasca Icefall. Beyond that is the Columbia Icefield, which is sending ice over the icefall to feed the Athabasca Glacier. It moves at about 1-2cm per day.
The beautiful glacier water here is so pure and clean. And actually, it's totally safe and very healthy to drink. I filled my water bottle with it and was drinking from it for the rest of the day.
After about half an hour, it was time to get back on the bus and go to our next destination. Both Beret and I were sad to leave this amazing place, but ready for what was next. We boarded the massive bus and ogled the landscape as we lumbered back to what seemed like a tiny coach.
These are the buses. Quite a cool piece of engineering, these. Massive tires, 6x6 drive, and a dual range transfer case.
And this is the steep drop down to the glacier. Being avid offroaders, Beret and I weren't really affected by the angle the bus had to drive at to get up and down, but many of the other passengers were pretty alarmed.
Shortly thereafter, we arrived back at the intermediate station and got back on the coach, which would take us to a place that was sure to get our hearts pumping.
To be continued....
Trikebubble
Adventurer
This read has been fantastic, the photos and description of your adventure really paint a fantastic picture. I feel a small bit of guilt in the fact that I have never visited this area within my own country.
Sent from the Mountains
Sent from the Mountains
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Thanks Carl!
Haha yeah we had a good laugh about it. Luckily my foot dried a lot faster than I had expected and all was well. Overall it was an awesome experience, and I think falling in adds to the story! Trust me, the buses are massive. In one of the photos you can see the bus with a set of steps lowered. Those steps are still about 18 inches off the ground. They're pretty tall!
Happy New Year to you as well Carl! Hopefully you'll be able to make it out to our Morrison trip in 2017!
Huge thanks! It was an awesome adventure and I'm really enjoying writing about it. You really do need to get over there! I know you already know this, but next year would be the time to go. It's free!
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
A (Sort Of) Overland Honeymoon - Part 7
After the bus picked us up, we rode north on the Icefields Parkway, being educated about the history of Jasper the whole way by our French tour guide. Our next stop would be a little heart-pounding. The bus took us up along the side of a valley and deposited us at the fantastic Glacier Skywalk.
The Glacier Skywalk is a big walkway suspended out over the valley. At the apex of the platform, it hangs about 918 feet from the floor of the valley.
And surrounding the apex, it has a glass floor.
It get the blood pumping, that is for sure! It's a truly awesome place though. The views are fantastic in every direction. You get an awesome vantage point of Mount Athabasca to the south; and Mount Cromwell, Mount Engelhard, Mushroom Peak, Mount Wooley, and Diadem Peak to the north.
And a view of the huge drop to the bottom of the valley.
We stayed there, soaking in the views for quite some time. It was an awesome experience, and I really recommend both the Skywalk and the Glacier Walk if you're in the area. A little spendy for the both of them, but totally worth it. You'll have a memory that will stay with you. After we had finished admiring the scenery and doing a little bit of chuckling at some tourists who were afraid to walk out on the glass, we boarded the next departing bus and had a pleasant ride back to our truck at the Icefield Centre.
Once we arrived, we opted to go north and check out a place I was eager to see, Sunwapta Falls. But not before taking a little time to capture the mountains near Athabasca Glacier one more time.
As we departed the Icefield Centre, the winds had picked up to a feverish pitch heading south. As we pushed north, we drove through what became a fairly large thunderstorm with very heavy rain. We watched the lightning strike the mountains around us as we drove north, and before long we were out of the worst of it.
We arrived at Sunwapta Falls mid day, when there were throngs of tourists around. As it was raining heavily on us, we sought refuge in the gift shop. Unaware until that moment that we hadn't eaten lunch yet, we realized we were famished and decided to take a moment and have lunch in the Sunwapta Falls Lodge restaurant. I had an elk burger, which was really tasty. From there, we made our way down to the falls.
When we arrived, it was jam-packed with people. Everyone was taking positions on the bridges and overlooks above the falls, trying to get the best photos. Beret and I took one look and decided it was a bit too crowded for us, so we made our way back to the truck and drove a little ways down the road to the hiking trail that led farther down the river. As we were getting our packs ready with rain covers thanks to the heavy rainfall, a cheerful Australian guy had a chat with me about my truck. He thought it was very cool and very unique to see here in North America. We talked for a few minutes before making our way down the trail. We mostly completely avoided the big groups of people and pushed our way down as low as we could go. We finally stopped when the trail ended and I stopped to take a shot of the still very beautiful but much more serene Lower Sunwapta Falls.
We milled about for a while, but eventually it was time to hike back. As we set off, the clouds broke and the sun came out. We stripped off extra layers for the short uphill hike back to the parking lot, having a great time. Once we arrived back at the truck, it was mid afternoon, and time to make our way back north towards Jasper.
Along the way, we decided to stop at Athabasca falls, but we found it too crowded and we were a little too tired, so we carried on back to town.
Once back in town, we wanted a bit of time to rest. The constant exploring and adventuring was a lot of fun, but we needed a little time to recuperate. We relaxed in the room, took a shower, and absorbed some Canadian TV. We ended up eating at the hotel restaurant, which turned out to be one of the best meals we had in Jasper. I was very impressed, and the food was extremely tasty.
After dinner, we took a little dip in the pool and hot tub before retiring to bed. Our plan for the next day was for a big hike higher up in the mountains. The views here were supposed to be fantastic, and were even recommended to us by one of the staff at Rockies Heli near Abraham Lake. The hike was Edith Cavell Meadows, in the shadow of the monstrous Mount Edith Cavell. We decided that was the hike we wanted and went to sleep early.
When we woke the next morning, our prospects for hiking seemed pretty grim. I looked out the window only to see a thick layer of low clouds hanging above Jasper. Determined but concerned, we got moving and stopped in town for some of my favorite coffee at Tim Horton's before making the drive south to the turnoff towards Edith Cavell. We turned west and started driving up the winding and narrow road to the parking lot. As we climbed, the clouds got thinner and thinner until we broke through to bright, cloud-dappled sunlight. I had to stop to admire the view of the valley.
We continued up the road, taken aback by the beauty of the place. A little ways past the first turnoff, we came upon an awesome looking hostel. Even the view of the road ahead was spectacular.
After continuing for a short while, we found a spot in the parking area and got our backpacks on. We set off up the trail and were greeted with this great view.
Standing at the foot of Mount Edith Cavell was awe-inspiring. The scenery is incredibly huge, and it was a very humbling experience to stand so near to a mountain so massive. It was fantastic. We continued hiking up the trail.
At the top of the trail is an overlook where you can get great views of Edith Cavell Lake and the glaciers feeding it. The lake is this great shade of jade and you can actually hear the glaciers moving and cracking throughout the valley.
Here at the overlook, there are signs posted not to go beyond the overlook and not to approach the lake. Those are glaciers, and glaciers have pieces that break off and fall into the water. You can imagine what a very large, very heavy chunk of ice does when it splashes into a small lake. Despite this, several tourists were on their way down to the lake to take close-up photos of the glacier. What you can't see in the photo is the giant natural spillway that is devoid of plant life just below the lake. Apparently, it's pretty common for these glaciers to calve off and those pieces fall in the lake. If the glacier hanging on the mountain calves, the resulting wave from the ice falling in is massive.
Turning our attention away, we started up the trail towards a viewpoint I knew was there. The hike was almost entirely uphill, and it was a little long, but it's totally worth it. After walking up the hillside through the woods for a little while, the trail branches off to the top of a bald hill where we got a great view of the surrounding mountains.
While we were there, we met a couple guys from California, who were here on their annual hiking trip to see the mountains of the world. It was pretty cool to chat with some fellow Americans, and they told us a few stories of their last several days. They also told us they were at the Icefield Centre the day before, like we were, but had stayed later than we did. As it turns out, that thunderstorm we drove through turned into a pretty heavy hailstorm when it arrived at the Icefield Centre. After chatting for a bit, we moved on up the mountainside opposite Edith Cavell.
Once we left the clearing on the hill, the trees dropped away and the meadow became exposed. The wind was picking up a bit and it was a little chilly, but the view was great and the hike was a fun one. After about two hours, we arrived at the intersection where the trail goes back down to complete the loop, or splits off to summit the ridge opposite Mount Edith Cavell. As we were contemplating going up the ridge, the weather started moving in from the south, looking pretty nasty. After the previous day's thunderstorms, we decided it would be a good idea to make our way down before it got bad. But that didn't stop us from taking some photos at that amazing overlook.
This hanging glacier is known as Angel Glacier.
After taking my last few photos, we packed up the camera gear and began the hike down the meadow back to the treeline. Along the way, we were amazed by the mount of wildflowers there. Indian Paintbrush in colors we had never seen before, shooting stars, glacier lilies, all kinds of beautiful flowers we didn't recognize. It was gorgeous, and very special to see. Almost too quickly, we made it back to the treeline. As we traversed the switchbacks on the steep part of the hike, we could hear the glaciers cracking and creaking as they moved and split. We never saw them break off, but hearing them crack like that was fantastic. We arrived back at the truck, a little tired but in great spirits, riding on the achievement of the day. In great spirits, we headed back to Jasper for a late lunch.
To be continued....
After the bus picked us up, we rode north on the Icefields Parkway, being educated about the history of Jasper the whole way by our French tour guide. Our next stop would be a little heart-pounding. The bus took us up along the side of a valley and deposited us at the fantastic Glacier Skywalk.
The Glacier Skywalk is a big walkway suspended out over the valley. At the apex of the platform, it hangs about 918 feet from the floor of the valley.
And surrounding the apex, it has a glass floor.
It get the blood pumping, that is for sure! It's a truly awesome place though. The views are fantastic in every direction. You get an awesome vantage point of Mount Athabasca to the south; and Mount Cromwell, Mount Engelhard, Mushroom Peak, Mount Wooley, and Diadem Peak to the north.
And a view of the huge drop to the bottom of the valley.
We stayed there, soaking in the views for quite some time. It was an awesome experience, and I really recommend both the Skywalk and the Glacier Walk if you're in the area. A little spendy for the both of them, but totally worth it. You'll have a memory that will stay with you. After we had finished admiring the scenery and doing a little bit of chuckling at some tourists who were afraid to walk out on the glass, we boarded the next departing bus and had a pleasant ride back to our truck at the Icefield Centre.
Once we arrived, we opted to go north and check out a place I was eager to see, Sunwapta Falls. But not before taking a little time to capture the mountains near Athabasca Glacier one more time.
As we departed the Icefield Centre, the winds had picked up to a feverish pitch heading south. As we pushed north, we drove through what became a fairly large thunderstorm with very heavy rain. We watched the lightning strike the mountains around us as we drove north, and before long we were out of the worst of it.
We arrived at Sunwapta Falls mid day, when there were throngs of tourists around. As it was raining heavily on us, we sought refuge in the gift shop. Unaware until that moment that we hadn't eaten lunch yet, we realized we were famished and decided to take a moment and have lunch in the Sunwapta Falls Lodge restaurant. I had an elk burger, which was really tasty. From there, we made our way down to the falls.
When we arrived, it was jam-packed with people. Everyone was taking positions on the bridges and overlooks above the falls, trying to get the best photos. Beret and I took one look and decided it was a bit too crowded for us, so we made our way back to the truck and drove a little ways down the road to the hiking trail that led farther down the river. As we were getting our packs ready with rain covers thanks to the heavy rainfall, a cheerful Australian guy had a chat with me about my truck. He thought it was very cool and very unique to see here in North America. We talked for a few minutes before making our way down the trail. We mostly completely avoided the big groups of people and pushed our way down as low as we could go. We finally stopped when the trail ended and I stopped to take a shot of the still very beautiful but much more serene Lower Sunwapta Falls.
We milled about for a while, but eventually it was time to hike back. As we set off, the clouds broke and the sun came out. We stripped off extra layers for the short uphill hike back to the parking lot, having a great time. Once we arrived back at the truck, it was mid afternoon, and time to make our way back north towards Jasper.
Along the way, we decided to stop at Athabasca falls, but we found it too crowded and we were a little too tired, so we carried on back to town.
Once back in town, we wanted a bit of time to rest. The constant exploring and adventuring was a lot of fun, but we needed a little time to recuperate. We relaxed in the room, took a shower, and absorbed some Canadian TV. We ended up eating at the hotel restaurant, which turned out to be one of the best meals we had in Jasper. I was very impressed, and the food was extremely tasty.
After dinner, we took a little dip in the pool and hot tub before retiring to bed. Our plan for the next day was for a big hike higher up in the mountains. The views here were supposed to be fantastic, and were even recommended to us by one of the staff at Rockies Heli near Abraham Lake. The hike was Edith Cavell Meadows, in the shadow of the monstrous Mount Edith Cavell. We decided that was the hike we wanted and went to sleep early.
When we woke the next morning, our prospects for hiking seemed pretty grim. I looked out the window only to see a thick layer of low clouds hanging above Jasper. Determined but concerned, we got moving and stopped in town for some of my favorite coffee at Tim Horton's before making the drive south to the turnoff towards Edith Cavell. We turned west and started driving up the winding and narrow road to the parking lot. As we climbed, the clouds got thinner and thinner until we broke through to bright, cloud-dappled sunlight. I had to stop to admire the view of the valley.
We continued up the road, taken aback by the beauty of the place. A little ways past the first turnoff, we came upon an awesome looking hostel. Even the view of the road ahead was spectacular.
After continuing for a short while, we found a spot in the parking area and got our backpacks on. We set off up the trail and were greeted with this great view.
Standing at the foot of Mount Edith Cavell was awe-inspiring. The scenery is incredibly huge, and it was a very humbling experience to stand so near to a mountain so massive. It was fantastic. We continued hiking up the trail.
At the top of the trail is an overlook where you can get great views of Edith Cavell Lake and the glaciers feeding it. The lake is this great shade of jade and you can actually hear the glaciers moving and cracking throughout the valley.
Here at the overlook, there are signs posted not to go beyond the overlook and not to approach the lake. Those are glaciers, and glaciers have pieces that break off and fall into the water. You can imagine what a very large, very heavy chunk of ice does when it splashes into a small lake. Despite this, several tourists were on their way down to the lake to take close-up photos of the glacier. What you can't see in the photo is the giant natural spillway that is devoid of plant life just below the lake. Apparently, it's pretty common for these glaciers to calve off and those pieces fall in the lake. If the glacier hanging on the mountain calves, the resulting wave from the ice falling in is massive.
Turning our attention away, we started up the trail towards a viewpoint I knew was there. The hike was almost entirely uphill, and it was a little long, but it's totally worth it. After walking up the hillside through the woods for a little while, the trail branches off to the top of a bald hill where we got a great view of the surrounding mountains.
While we were there, we met a couple guys from California, who were here on their annual hiking trip to see the mountains of the world. It was pretty cool to chat with some fellow Americans, and they told us a few stories of their last several days. They also told us they were at the Icefield Centre the day before, like we were, but had stayed later than we did. As it turns out, that thunderstorm we drove through turned into a pretty heavy hailstorm when it arrived at the Icefield Centre. After chatting for a bit, we moved on up the mountainside opposite Edith Cavell.
Once we left the clearing on the hill, the trees dropped away and the meadow became exposed. The wind was picking up a bit and it was a little chilly, but the view was great and the hike was a fun one. After about two hours, we arrived at the intersection where the trail goes back down to complete the loop, or splits off to summit the ridge opposite Mount Edith Cavell. As we were contemplating going up the ridge, the weather started moving in from the south, looking pretty nasty. After the previous day's thunderstorms, we decided it would be a good idea to make our way down before it got bad. But that didn't stop us from taking some photos at that amazing overlook.
This hanging glacier is known as Angel Glacier.
After taking my last few photos, we packed up the camera gear and began the hike down the meadow back to the treeline. Along the way, we were amazed by the mount of wildflowers there. Indian Paintbrush in colors we had never seen before, shooting stars, glacier lilies, all kinds of beautiful flowers we didn't recognize. It was gorgeous, and very special to see. Almost too quickly, we made it back to the treeline. As we traversed the switchbacks on the steep part of the hike, we could hear the glaciers cracking and creaking as they moved and split. We never saw them break off, but hearing them crack like that was fantastic. We arrived back at the truck, a little tired but in great spirits, riding on the achievement of the day. In great spirits, we headed back to Jasper for a late lunch.
To be continued....
MNCarl
The Moose
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Thanks! Need to get the next part online after I answer a few PMs.
Sweet! Sounds like you're getting your setup all squared away. I saw some pics of your trips last summer, looks like you had an absolute blast!
Chainsaws are super helpful. I usually just carry an axe, but a chainsaw makes the work a lot easier. We have a lot of tree blockages just after all the snow melts. The winch really helps removing them too.
Yep, I'm currently running a CB, though I need to fix mine. It's on the fritz for some reason, and I can't quite figure out why. I'll have to get that sussed out before summer. I will probably upgrade to a nicer unit. I do plan on adding a HAM to the mix. I need to get my license and get a radio. I promised Clay Croft when I saw him that next time we ran into each other I'd have one.
Yep, that's my friend Monte (blackdawg) and a few of his buddies. That was quite the trip! If you look back in my thread, you'll see him and I ran Goose Lake in 2015. Awesome time.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Blackdawg
Dr. Frankenstein
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
So, I've had a fun week...
New Year's Eve I went out to play in the snow a little bit south of the town of Red Lodge. I made my way into the mountains and got myself bogged down in deep, dense, hardpacked snow. I tried rocking back and forth to no avail. I dropped the pressure in my tires further to 12 PSI and dug myself out. I got back into the truck and backed up a bit, I got bogged down again and rocked forward and then back. During this time I heard a few sharp "pop" sounds come from under the truck. Sure, I was a bit worried, but my truck always makes a lot of funky noises in cold weather and when off roading. So I didn't think much of it until I heard it again on my way back to solid ground to air the tires up.
I aired up, put the truck in 4hi for the icy highway drive home, and a mile or so in I heard a loud clunk and the struck was jolted, like I had driven over a huge expansion joint or a small pothole. I was hoping it was just something in the road, until after a few minutes it happened again, and then once more a few minutes later. Really worried now, I popped the truck in 2hi. It came out of 4x4 with a clunk and I drove home without incident, but I knew something was broken.
I borrowed a friend's car for the next couple of days, and on Tuesday I had the truck towed to a shop where I could inspect it. I dropped the fluid in the front diff, and sure enough, lots of metal shavings and what looks like a spider gear tooth. So I finally killed my R180 after offroading for too long with 33s. Fancy that. So, I contacted the local Nissan performance center to see if he had what I needed in his personal junkyard of Nissans. It took some inspecting, calling a dealer, and looking over the whole truck for other verifying markers, but I had more or less verified that he had a Titan M205 with 3.36 gears.
I decided I didn't want to widen the front end six inches with a full Titan swap, so next thing to do was order CV shafts. However, to maintain the M205 and stock Frontier width, I needed V8 Pathfinder CVs, which are Frontier width but use the M205. Most people, actually everybody, on ClubFrontier and TheNewX will tell you, and rightly so, that V8 Pathy CV shafts are really expensive. Like, over $400 a side expensive. Why? Well, the V8 Pathfinder is a very rare beast indeed. So much so that almost no third party manufacturers make CVs for them. So you have to go to Nissan direct, which is ridiculously expensive because they don't sell a lot of them and they're a bit scarce. To add to this problem, a lot of auto parts suppliers claim they sell V8 Pathy CVs, like NAPA, O'Reilly, and AutoZone, but they all list the same part that the V6 Pathfinders, Frontiers, and Xterras use. They don't actually have a separate part number for it, and so if you ordered them, you'd end up with CVs for a V6 truck.
Determined to find a way around this problem, I spent a while scouring the interwebs looking for the right parts. Not thinking it would be that easy, I took my sweet time before actually checking on RockAuto. A quick search revealed they had V8 Pathy CV shafts, or at least claimed to. The pictures seemed to back this up, showing bolt on flanges on the diff side, unlike R180 CVs, and the correct length for a Pathfinder. Then I cross-checked the part numbers, and found that these CV shafts have a different part number than both the Titan and Frontier CVs. Looking good so far. The best part? About $65 a side. Winner! I ordered them. A few people on ClubFrontier had said they heard of people ordering these shafts and having RockAuto cancel the order because they didn't have them and couldn't get them. I worried about this for a whole four hours that day, when RockAuto sent me a shipping confirmation.
I picked up the M205 yesterday and the CV shafts arrived this morning. Sure enough, they're the right CVs. So now I have the parts for the swap in my garage, waiting for Tuesday when I can wrangle up the help, get the truck to my brother-in-law's heated shop with a lift, and get the work done. I can't wait to have the much tougher front diff with easier to swap CV shafts.
TOTAL COST
M205 front diff (3.36 gears) - $550
V8 Pathfinder CV shafts w/express shipping - $163
Royal Purple 75W-90 (2 qts) - $34
Total = $747
New Year's Eve I went out to play in the snow a little bit south of the town of Red Lodge. I made my way into the mountains and got myself bogged down in deep, dense, hardpacked snow. I tried rocking back and forth to no avail. I dropped the pressure in my tires further to 12 PSI and dug myself out. I got back into the truck and backed up a bit, I got bogged down again and rocked forward and then back. During this time I heard a few sharp "pop" sounds come from under the truck. Sure, I was a bit worried, but my truck always makes a lot of funky noises in cold weather and when off roading. So I didn't think much of it until I heard it again on my way back to solid ground to air the tires up.
I aired up, put the truck in 4hi for the icy highway drive home, and a mile or so in I heard a loud clunk and the struck was jolted, like I had driven over a huge expansion joint or a small pothole. I was hoping it was just something in the road, until after a few minutes it happened again, and then once more a few minutes later. Really worried now, I popped the truck in 2hi. It came out of 4x4 with a clunk and I drove home without incident, but I knew something was broken.
I borrowed a friend's car for the next couple of days, and on Tuesday I had the truck towed to a shop where I could inspect it. I dropped the fluid in the front diff, and sure enough, lots of metal shavings and what looks like a spider gear tooth. So I finally killed my R180 after offroading for too long with 33s. Fancy that. So, I contacted the local Nissan performance center to see if he had what I needed in his personal junkyard of Nissans. It took some inspecting, calling a dealer, and looking over the whole truck for other verifying markers, but I had more or less verified that he had a Titan M205 with 3.36 gears.
I decided I didn't want to widen the front end six inches with a full Titan swap, so next thing to do was order CV shafts. However, to maintain the M205 and stock Frontier width, I needed V8 Pathfinder CVs, which are Frontier width but use the M205. Most people, actually everybody, on ClubFrontier and TheNewX will tell you, and rightly so, that V8 Pathy CV shafts are really expensive. Like, over $400 a side expensive. Why? Well, the V8 Pathfinder is a very rare beast indeed. So much so that almost no third party manufacturers make CVs for them. So you have to go to Nissan direct, which is ridiculously expensive because they don't sell a lot of them and they're a bit scarce. To add to this problem, a lot of auto parts suppliers claim they sell V8 Pathy CVs, like NAPA, O'Reilly, and AutoZone, but they all list the same part that the V6 Pathfinders, Frontiers, and Xterras use. They don't actually have a separate part number for it, and so if you ordered them, you'd end up with CVs for a V6 truck.
Determined to find a way around this problem, I spent a while scouring the interwebs looking for the right parts. Not thinking it would be that easy, I took my sweet time before actually checking on RockAuto. A quick search revealed they had V8 Pathy CV shafts, or at least claimed to. The pictures seemed to back this up, showing bolt on flanges on the diff side, unlike R180 CVs, and the correct length for a Pathfinder. Then I cross-checked the part numbers, and found that these CV shafts have a different part number than both the Titan and Frontier CVs. Looking good so far. The best part? About $65 a side. Winner! I ordered them. A few people on ClubFrontier had said they heard of people ordering these shafts and having RockAuto cancel the order because they didn't have them and couldn't get them. I worried about this for a whole four hours that day, when RockAuto sent me a shipping confirmation.
I picked up the M205 yesterday and the CV shafts arrived this morning. Sure enough, they're the right CVs. So now I have the parts for the swap in my garage, waiting for Tuesday when I can wrangle up the help, get the truck to my brother-in-law's heated shop with a lift, and get the work done. I can't wait to have the much tougher front diff with easier to swap CV shafts.
TOTAL COST
M205 front diff (3.36 gears) - $550
V8 Pathfinder CV shafts w/express shipping - $163
Royal Purple 75W-90 (2 qts) - $34
Total = $747