Unveiling of "ICELINE", YOHO NATIONAL PARK, in the SUMMER of LOVE, ADVENTURES and PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEYS.
life·@eric-boucher·
0.000 HBDUnveiling of "ICELINE", YOHO NATIONAL PARK, in the SUMMER of LOVE, ADVENTURES and PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEYS.
# <center>Unveiling of the "Iceline", Yoho National Park,</center> # # <center> in the Summer of Love, Adventures</center> # # <center>and</center> # # <center>Photographic Journeys</center> # # <center>(Part 07)</center> # __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ### Through a full night of battling cramps to my feet, massaging one foot with the other till I could finally get enough of a respite to catch some more zees, the prospective of the too-soon-coming day, high up in the Yoho Valley, was a sure promise of a long one… ###  (From here, on the road toward our “daily bread” of photographic delights and hiking “glories”, a beautiful clear view of the glacier and, for us, what would be the entrance of the “Iceline” hike alpine plateau.) ### We woke up to another glorious day in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains. ### Yoko National Park had been once again our cradle for another night and, following a quick and highly nutritious breakfast, a few more details to deal with and pictures to take, we headed right up along the Yoho River, all the way up the valley, straight over to Takakkaw Falls, where we were to park, gear up for a 22 km hike along the famous “Iceline”, back down the Little Yoho River valley to finally walk all the way back to our vehicles while following the Yoho River. A loop sure to offer challenges, but an equal amount of magnificent vistas in the open alpine region found well above the west side of the Yoho River.  (Getting closer to our parking destination, an exposed avalanche area marked by the young low vegetation that can take place only after the later melt of the avalanche path, the snow accumulation finally having melted among its debris.) After finding two pseudo-parking spots along the side of the road usually leading the crowds to the famous and second highest waterfall in Canada, “Takakkaw Falls” seen in the picture below, we started to gear up under an already pounding sun.  To every hike, a ritual settles in and, of course, to every hiker its own procession: For me, it included the lacing of the boots after finding the right kind of socks for the trudge, what outfit to wear, shades, hat, the right amount of food, water and safety gear. Proper purging before the start of the day, a quick look at our itinerary and off we went up a fairly steep and sinuous trail that finds its way right to south end of the glacier, found along the eastern base of Michael Peak (2696m/8844ft.).  (Sylvain is contemplating the hiking trail map as today’s is about to really begin.) Halfway up the trail leading to the glacier views kept on acquiring more grandeur and slowly unraveled simultaneously the source of the great waterfall and the source of the Yoho River Valley to the north. The picture below bares witness to this spectacle.  Along the well travelled path, we came across many hikers of all ages, young and old, groups, couples and individuals, some slow, some jogging it! In my eyes, they all seem to have something in common: Thirst! It looked as if they had just went through a microwave… Not only was it a long hike but, for them, doing this walk at this specific time of the day where the sun crosses the sky in the angle where it hits with full strength, was like experiencing a small walk in a desert, fully exposed. For us, still in the confine of the shades, the smiles were still very easy, the mild morning air and the breeze brought from the swift flows of the nearby creek definitely played its part in cooling us down from the exertion.  (A chipmunk comes to a halt, as if to salute us, and keeps on going on its way toward the creek. More sharing of refreshments would be welcome for most right now… It sure included us!) The mighty scene elevating itself before our eyes is hard to comprehend, even when we are there ourselves. As we are approaching the glacier and the slope recedes, the magnitude of the scenery simply doesn’t compute: Our brains wanted to believe that we were almost there, but every 10 to 20 minutes, we’d realize that, well, we’re simply not there yet. This wondering was only equalled by our wonderment rising in stature. The splendour of the wall made the glacier look like a little amount of ice at the bottom of a hill that seemed rather small. But illusion are definitely deceptive in that case as well, as you can imagine by now. Just for the fun of it, just to trigger a bit more of your imagination within maybe you can look at the very first picture again… We were but a speck at the base of these walls!  (On our way to a solid break: We were “almost” there.) Here, we decided to have lunch, rest and dry our feet while contemplating the day’s journey so far. The backpacks went off first, then the boots swiftly followed by the socks. As if our feet were breathing mountain air, the presence of the chilled air brought by the decent of the katabatic winds along with the presence of the running creek made my feet dance on the warmed up granite well polished from millennia of glacier crushing masses flowing over its rugged face. Having had enough time to delve into our appetites, it was now time to move on. As I mentioned earlier, the trail was rather “popular” and we happened to encounter quite a few people along the way: Extreme trail runners, families from far and abroad, youth and old and even a few dogs. But, I have to admit, how could we have foreseen the following: We ran into one of my cousin’s high school friend who graduated with her many years ago! Here she is posing with me as I thought my “favourite” cousin,would greatly appreciate the pictures and the proof of our encounter. I say “favourite” because, as we were still kids, I had at one point thrown to her head the Earth globe and, by now, she has became one of my closest cousin.  (After lunch, we came across a couple of people from Quebec, actually from the same area where all my family is originally from “Kamouraska”. The beautiful lawyer happened to be a person my cousin had graduated with. This was a fortuitous encounter far from the 6th degree of separation!) Walking along the lip of the glacier illustrates very well the reasons behind the name for this famous hike. The annual stratification caused by the melting of the winter’s snows and the concentration of the wind swept sedimentation over the glacier is easily visible in the picture below.   Along the long walk high up in the alpine multiple little milky emerald lakes were sparsely found. Though, an ever present moonscape persisted, nestled among its deserted lands, little gems were to be found both on the vegetal and animal world.   As seen down below, from high above the valley, the scenery was simply spectacular and allowed us breathtaking views of Yoho Glacier further north.   Along the path, we came across a notoriously “tricky” animal: A grouse! We discovered that “SHE” was flanked by her own horde of little chicks, equally as wise and totally oblivious to our coming. Feigning the usual broken wing, the loving mother tried to distract us away from her chicks by rolling on her shoulder and wing on the path where we were walking as we were coming her way.   Meanwhile, the subterfuge was to give her four toddlers the precious time needed to cross the path and be well on their way, away from the imminent threat that Sylvain and I were to their survival. They were so lucky we had had a filling lunch… The only shoot needed here was coming from my camera and I had to convince myself to keep going after Sylvain had long passed me. The little family was so cute and impressively well camouflaged. As soon as they were more than 2 meters away from our sight, I have to admit, they were hard to distinguish among the colourful boulders, that surprised me. At the apex of our hike I took a quick shot toward yesterday’s summits surrounding blissful Lake O’Hara.  Then, I turned another 180 degrees to acquire a glimpse of what was to come from over the hill.  Within minutes, we came across another little glacial pond at the base of yet another glacier.  The view from across the valley was still in full majesty as it offered itself in all its expanses.  As we were nearing the end of our moonwalk and leaving the alpine, a short walk along the lips created by the huge accumulation of moraine at the base of the wall brought us right back into the evergreens where carpets of grasses and wild flowers welcomed us warmly to this early evening.  Boulders as big as cars, trucks and even cube-vans created a very well defined wall to walk along and the trail had now turned to slabs nicely placed for a very comfortable flat-footed walk. My knee was happy again and greatly enjoyed the short interlude from the uneven rocky trail from the alpine and especially the sloping trail farther down the path…  After a series of fairly steep switchbacks, we reached the high valley floor of the Little Yoho River, a paradisiacal valley where wilderness meets civilization again.     Down here, another greatly famous hut has been built to shelter hikers, adventurers and nature enthusiasts from all over the world. From the Stanley Mitchell hut, available for reservations through the Alpine Club of Canada, the young Yoho River still has a very tumultuous decent before connecting with its main tributary, the Yoho River. Being a fan of vegetation and the animal reign alike, along this last stretch of hiking, I couldn’t help myself but to stop, contemplate and marvel at the complex diversity found in the pictures below.     Reaching the bottom end of the Little Yoho River descent, one has to come across the Monk Waterfall. The mist added to the colours and shape of the waterfall to really give the impression of a monk in prayers among the clamour of the falling waters tumbling at its feet.  We finally arrived back at our vehicles as the sun was just about to set for the night, Takakkaw Falls already in the growing shadows of the mountains on which we had walked only a few hours earlier.  Back into camp, a quick shower was mandatory, followed by a giant meal at the Lake Louise Hostel and, finally, a very well deserved long night sleep. Somehow, it felt like we really needed a serious pause to allow us time to digest the last two days filled of immense beauty, breath taking panorama, equally unforeseeable surprising meetings and unforgettable memories, along physical feats I could hardly believe we still could pull off! Mind you, as I write these lines, I’m still rubbing my feet with each other every so often to keep the feet aches, regular reminders of these two days experiences. for better or for worse, I’m married to these memorable times from here on till time draws me apart from this body. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Well, I hope you enjoyed this part seven of “A Summer of Love, Adventures, and Photographic Journeys”. In our next episode, the eighth one, I’ll quickly cover a rainy day hike up in “The Valley of the Ten Peaks”, into grizzly country, before bringing you up “Parker Ridge Hike”, one ridge away from the Columbia Icefield for episode nine. This season of travels will be crowned with our hike up the flanks of the tallest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, Mt.Robson, on this year’s episode grand finale of “A SUMMER OF LOVE, ADVENTURES, AND PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEYS”! Namaste :)
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