John & Anne Wiley

Unlike our flight North up the valley, heading home we flew the extra few miles down to see Banff and then back up the valley to follow the road over to Invermere in the next valley. As we passed the place where we’d joined the valley toward Jasper from Golden, the weather started closing in.

2752 Weather Eye

My weather eye and backup planning was on high alert as I saw the dark clouds ahead (right side of the pic) and ensured that it stayed bright behind (left side). I watched for lightning and listened for the static it makes on the radios. I kept track of airports we could nip into if we needed to land and wait for the weather to pass. Still, our path to Banff was good so I kept going. Before long the weather that had been just off to the left of our path was behind us, and the beauty of this wavy ridge near Banff rewarded our cautious alertness.

2777 Wavy Ridge

Soon we rounded the bend into Banff and saw the grand old lodge in the storm shadow at the base of the scalloped ridge gleaming among the clouds.

2790 Old Banff

I think of this as “Old Banff” because I imagine the lodge was the original (and still the most powerful) attraction. We passed to to fly over the town, off to the left outside this pic. It’s a more ordinary largish alpine tourist town. There’s a pretty lake and miles of forest dotted with cat’s eye ponds like this.

2800 Cat’s Eye

Then we turned back toward the lodge for a closer look, and on the way got a look at the other side of the scalloped ridge. From here it looks more like all the other sheer cliffs in this part of the Rockies.

2805 Scallop Spine

As we passed the lodge, a splash of sunlight hit the tip as if to remind us what a great place this would be for a special retreat, vacation, wedding, or just to enjoy spending a lot of money.

2812 Banff Lodge Invitation

After we flew the couple of miles back up the valley, at the turn toward Invermere we saw Louise’s sister. When we passed the actual famous Lake Louise on the way to Banff a few minutes before, it was hidden in the mists of a light rain and in deep shadow from a cloud so I didn’t bother trying to snap it. Besides, the glacier that once made it so special has retreated so far up the valley it’s a sad carcass of the postcard image. This one’s a little higher, and the glacier is still nearly down to the lake.

2825 Lake Un-Louise

I was glad we saw this one, because it gave me a chance to share a snap that somewhat simulates a major attraction in this part of the Rockies. A place where major forces of nature and facets of geography combine to soothe the soul.

So now I will post this and return to celebrating the birthday of my favorite person on this planet, refreshed by this continued review of one of our favorite places on this planet. Happy Birthday, angel. 🙂

For whatever reason(s), during the flight through Jasper we started calling our destination, the great little town of Valemount, by another name: Voldemort. Maybe we were tired, feeling the effects of altitude, or more likely just feeling playful because we had some trouble remembering the real name. So in looking at the pix for this post, I couldn’t resist using the nickname at least one more time. 🙂

2371 Giant Landscape Art

Along the way we greatly enjoyed scenes like this. I love how the trees contrast with the rock skirt. My brain imagines that it has to do with solid volcanic rock making the skirt shape, and softer adjoining soil allowing trees to grow. But my creative heart thrills to the visual effect. Near the tiny town of Jasper is a tram that goes far up the mountain, where people can enjoy the feeling of being on top. Of course, we were looking down at it and out beyond to higher mountains they couldn’t see marching in jagged rows far into the distance.

2375 Down To Top

There are so many spectacular peaks, valleys and glaciers it’s no surprise we have 421 pix from this one leg of the flight home. Just be glad I’m not going to share them all. 🙂

2392 Alpine Range

Clearly I’m going to share a few like the one above tho, demonstrating the dance between sky and terrain, stone and life, peak and valley, shadow and light.

2396 North Southwest

Many spots look so much like the Southwest, only the miles of glaciers and tall conifers let you tell them apart. Somehow I imagined the rocks would look different due to the climate, and maybe they do up close, but this slice of color and texture looks exactly like something from our pix from flying in Monument Valley or the Grand Canyon. As for the “Matterhorn” of Canada they call Mt. Robson, here are a few more pix from our semi-circumnavigation.

2417 Robson Back

2421 Robson Feet

The dwindling glacier on the “back” side (away from the highway) melts into a lake at the feet where it once carved out a basin from the solid rock. As always of course, you can click any pix here to see larger versions.

Here’s another pic I like of the “powdered wig” atop the opposite side of the peak. It’s fun to look at, but also gives an impression of how severe the weather and avalanches are up there!

2432 Robson Wig

After our closeup look in rare clear weather (and above most of the smoke from distant wildfires), we descended into sweet little Valemount. It was warm and welcoming to our overflowing eyes, and once we saw it the name Valemount lodged permanently in our memories.

2462 Valemount

After tucking Tripp in for the night, we looked around the edges of the deserted airport with expanded eyes. Everything seemed magical, as if we’d been wandering an especially creative art gallery for several hours and now all we saw was art. The alpine flowers seemed both huge as if we were microscopic insects, and tiny as if we were giants.

2464 Scale

We had landed in that place where beauty is all around, among, between and within us because our eyes are open to it.

OK, I’ve finally taken time to share a few more pix from our 8/18 flight out of Edmonton and past Mt. Robson in the Jasper area. I’ve actually had the pix edited down ready to share, but couldn’t seem to find time among everything that’s been happening lately. For one thing, we flew to Santa Catalina Island this week so after finishing up this review of the AB Joy Adventure to share a few more fav pix, I’ll be posting some Catalina pix. So for now, here’s a continuation of the scenes we enjoyed after entering the Rockies at Jasper.

2295 Main Gate

Just past the solo sentinel in the previous post is this “Main” gate from Hinton into the valley of wonders named Jasper. If we didn’t know about the even more striking peaks and valleys to come, this would be worth the trip. But look what’s next.

2301 Texture

No, this isn’t Wyoming. The shape and texture of this peak, like the innumerable nameless (to me at least) peaks to come, is world class and almost lost amid the amazing sights in this valley. I think this next pic was at the treeline below, where I spotted some caves that surely have been used over the millennia by ancient peoples and maybe even the European settlers who came so much later.

2304 Cave People

So many stunning vistas we’ve already seen in the few minutes since entering the valley, as you can see from this glance back toward Hinton.

2307 Glance Back

Even in a car this distance from Hinton beyond that distant rocky peak is maybe an hour, and for us from the airport this side of the town we’re talking less than fifteen minutes. Amazing. Looking back to my left along our path I notice the extreme tilt of the rock layers on yet another peak.

2328 Tilt

Reminds me of the tectonic shifts that created the mountains here in California, yet it’s probably far older. There’s a variety of “story” in these rocks, that’s well illustrated by the variations in texture and color we enjoyed in scenes like this.

2353 Peak Colors

What created those dark bands like the one near the top-left? When I “step back” from this pic, the huddle of peaks takes on the quality of a mountain family with some peaks leaning in and others standing tall. The whole group clutches a blanket of forest, and stoically bears the scars of melted glaciers.

OK, I’m waxing lyrical. Time to stop for now, but I have more pix already prepared and hope to share them soon…