Kayak Forgetmenot Pond July 28, 2022

I pondered for quite some time what I wanted for this milestone birthday.  A grand trip would be wonderful, that is if circumstances around travel were more user friendly.  I had that fabulous escape to Spain earlier this year which I still have not let go.  Instead of a grand trip, I orchestrated a simple paddle to a place that is more than just simple.  I decided I would like to enjoy a view for my birthday!

I have been to Forgetmenot Pond many times.  I have picnicked there, enjoyed time by a fire there, hung in my hammock there. I saw the Pond from high above and from every step of the circumference of its shore.  I always wondered what the view would be like if I were in the middle of the Pond.  

That is what I want for my birthday!  I want to begin this new journey around the sun paddling around Forgetmenot Pond in a kayak and savouring all those beautiful sights from a brand new vantage point. 

Ever since paddling in my friends packraft a few weeks back, the thought of owning one of my own played on my mind.   I spent time doing homework learning about all the necessary equipment then went to a local sporting goods store to learn more and to make a purchase.  A little more than an hour later, this is what I exited the store with.

I practiced inflating and deflating the kayak at home first and making minor pulls to the straps on my PFD so it fit perfectly.  I decided what needed to be in what pocket, where the whistle would hang and how I would secure the bailer.  

The day came to begin a new journey around the sun and to go on my maiden voyage in my packraft kayak!  All went smooth with setting up at my car and walking the short distance to the edge of Forgetmenot Pond carrying the kayak and paddle.  The first thing I wanted to do was to paddle my way to the middle of the Pond and savour that view!  Happy Birthday to me!

Then came practice time all the while admiring the scenery and securing special split seconds in time.

The calm waters made for a perfect morning for a maiden voyage!

After just short of two hours of paddling around, practicing and just sitting in the kayaking, I began to work my way back to shore.  My goal is to get to the spot were I began and that is in the direction my paddle is pointing.  

getting closer

almost there

The only thing left was to turn to the right and get over to that grassy area at the right. 

I made it!  

This was where I paddled.  

I thought I had come close to the far right but see I could have gone further.  

In my world these days, this is what wishes and dreams are made of!  While I am a year older, I have opened a new door to continue learning and growing and adventuring.  My friend who reached this milestone in life a few months ago said to me "Welcome to the club!"  My reply was "I am going to make the most of my time in this "club"!

Sunshine Meadows July 26, 2022

When I think of hiking Sunshine Meadows in Banff National Park, the song "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves, always comes to mind! This summer is the first time this piece of paradise is open for hiking since late summer of 2019.  Today we went 🎶🎶walking on sunshine🎶🎶!

During the twenty minute gondola ride up to Sunshine Village, we put a route plan in place on how we would cover the area.  We opted to begin hiking from the Village in the direction of Rock Isle Lake.  Very early on along that route, we already had a gorgeous view of Mount Bourgeau behind us and.....

....this amazing view of Quartz Hill in front of us! 

At the junction in the centre of the photo, 

we veered to the right and not long after doing so, 

we arrived at Rock Isle Lake.

 Rock Isle Lake

Our plan of attack was to hit the three lakes first.  We circled around to the back side of Rock Isle Lake which afforded us this view of a perfect reflection. It was time to carry on and descent through the lush forest towards the next two lakes. 

The wildflower situation began to perk up.  This bouquet of Pink Mountain Heather grabbed my attention.  

Grizzly Lake looked lovely!  

This was our first view of it and once we crossed the bridge, the view really opened up.

We noticed the area on the opposite side of Grizzly Lake still showed signs of where that fire in 2017 was yet it was nice to see all the green that was popping up over there.  The Lake itself looked green too!  We followed the trail that hugged the shoreline on the left.

There is a nice platform at the Simpson Viewpoint where you can see off into the British Columbia part of Kootenay National Park.  Here you can notice how wild and big that 2017 Verdant Creek Fire was.   

Very quickly after leaving the Simpson Viewpoint, we arrived at Laryx Lake.  We came upon a few benches with a gorgeous view and choose this to be our lunch location.  It was also time to respray against the bugs.

view of Laryx Lake as we hiked further along the trail

I opted for a photo as we took one last view of Laryx Lake.   

Hippies on Sticks

We left Laryx Lake behind, came to the intersection of the one way trail which meant we completed the loop and it was time to ascend back to Rock Isle Lake.  We continued past Rock Isle Lake and then veered off to the left where we climbed a bit more. It was now time to begin my favourite part of the whole hike.  We had two and a half kilometres to cover along the Twin Cairns to Monarch Lookout Trail towards those mountains in the centre.

Forgetmenot Wildflowers

crossing a bridge on the Twin Cairns to Monarch Lookout Trail

looking back at the trail we just hiked along, 

with a view of the mountains in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park

It was mid way along this trail where the Paintbrush wildflowers put on a grand performance!

My favourite colour of Paintbrush!  

We were welcomed by an array of wildflowers alongside the trail.

Aster Wildflower

the views remained amazing

small creek crossing

I was thankful for the tarns that were still full!  

This was our view of a section of the Sunshine SkiHill to the right and loads of Hippies on Sticks to the left ,just before reaching the intersection to head up to the Monarch Viewpoint.

looking back from the trail towards the Monarch Viewpoint

We arrived at the Monarch Viewpoint to have this spectacular scene!  The trail descends down towards Simpson Pass.  You can see Healy Pass in the centre ahead where the dark green area is, with the mountains of the Egypt Lake area as the backdrop.  We settled in here for a bit of time and savoured the scenery paired with home made sweets which one of the ladies made.

It was time to gear back up and carry on with our day.  We retraced the trail back to the junction and continued straight back to the intersection to hike the Meadow Park Trail.  This trail would eventually get us back to Sunshine Village and the Gondola Station.  This was our early view along the Meadow Park Trail.

along the Meadow Park Trail

We carried on and shortly after this meadow section, we entered the forest and began the final descent.

This was the first photo I took this morning of Sunshine Village, just after the gondola ride up and shortly after we began our hike.  The orange dots mark where the trail was that we just took to descent back to the Village at the end our hike.  The Gondola Station is at the right.  

We made it back to our vehicle and while gearing down and cleaning up, we held a quick short brain storm session on whether or not to some how crown our day.  All in favour was the consensus to acknowledge our gratifying and fulfilling day hiking Sunshine Meadows.  In recognition of seeing such beautiful lake and mountain scenery plus witnessing an amazing flower show, we decided to crown our day with a hot meal and cold beverage at the Rose & Crown!   How fitting!  

Cheers to  🎶🎶 walking on Sunshine and don't it feel good 🎶🎶 ! 

cool sketching

Loads of my art projects over the past many months have occupied hours when I would be trying to stay warm or dry from the weather elements. This past little while I got lost in art work during the high heat hours of the day to keep cool.   That means staying inside sketching while savouring sangria.  I worked at using a variety of media and also including tutorials and free hand.  Each of the four I included below were rendered for a purpose.

For this cupcake I followed a tutorial first using a graphite pencil to lay the look, then layer upon layer upon layer of coloured pencils to bring it to life.  That was the plan for this project, to make the cupcake look real enough that I would want to sink my teeth into it.  When I looked at the finished piece and my mouth watered, I knew I accomplished what I set out to do.   Success!

This view of Bow Lake, Crowfoot Mountain and a meadow full of Paintbrush wildflowers was done free hand.  For a reference, I used a few photos that I took while at this location last week.  What I wanted to accomplish with this watercolour painting was to show depth and perspective.  By making the Paintbrush wildflowers large and detailed at the front and the trees small and dark at the back, I see distance between them.  Success!

My reference was a tutorial to sketch this cat with graphite pencils.  The reason I picked this image and tutorial was to improve at showing expression and invoking a feeling.   It takes many small fine details to accomplish that from the upturns on the ends of the mouth, to the white sections of the eyes, to the darker sweeping whiskers.  I sense this cat is telling me "please can I have more"!  Success 

This free hand watercolour painting was rendered from a few photos I took while kayaking a few weeks ago.  I was in my friends kayak which is a packraft and I loved it!  This scene was a challenge to set up and took loads of time drawing and erasing, drawing, erasing then drawing again. Finally I came up with something that worked for me.  When it came time to lay the paint, it no longer felt like a challenge and turned to a joy-filled few hours.  My hope with this was to express being lost in a special moment.  When I called this project complete, stood it up and stepped back, I got goosebumps all over again remembering how special it was to be so close to the loon Mom and her two babies.  Success!

Wilcox Pass & Ridge Jasper National Park July 21, 2022

For today's hike up to Wilcox Pass and then further up onto the Ridge, I would leave from my home away from home in Banff National Park and enjoy a short drive into Jasper National Park.  It was to be another scorcher of a day so the plan was to hit the Icefields Parkway early to beat the heat.

It was chilly early on as I savoured my coffee and waited for the sun to rise.

As the peaks began to light up, I sipped the last drop of coffee then finished getting ready to head off.

The drive along the Parkway was a slow go. With no traffic, I drove well below the speed limit and enjoyed the beauty.  It was not a slow go though when I arrived at the parking lot for Wilcox Pass.  I was quick to hit the trail once I exited my car.  I got through the ascent along the tree section then slowed down  once there was something to see which was from here on in until I arrived back at the trees a few hours later.   

The "red chairs" are of course in a perfect spot for a photo shot.  

You can see the Icefields Parkway down below at the tip of my hiking boots.

looking back to where the red star is, that is where the "red chairs" are

When I was here on May 31st of last year, I did not make it very far once I got up to the meadows.  On that day there was still too much snow to venture along.  This time around the meadow had pools of water scattered here and there.  In those pools I saw photo ops.  You can see the top of Mount Wilcox reflecting in this little pool.

This was the only creek crossing to contend with.  

I reached Wilcox Pass!  This was the first time I was here since the new sign was placed.  This sign also now shows there is an official trail to Wilcox Ridge.  A number of years ago I haphazardly found my way to a viewpoint.  It was good to see a trail was built and marked.  

This is the first marker.  It's a pile of rocks protected by wire and marked with a yellow square.

Mount Wilcox reflecting in a pond

looking back to the Pass between the mountains and to where there is a trail that leads to Tangle Falls

You can see the trail meandering along the middle and  then going up through the snow slope. 

From here there is some descending to do and then more elevation gain.  

a rock staircase

I made it to the end of the trail and this was the view! You can see it all from here, the Icefields Parkway, the Icefield Centre in the middle bottom, the Athabasca Gacier in the centre, the hotel to the left, the road leading up to Athabasca Glacier and also the tiny parking lot that you can drive to and then walk to the toe of the glacier and that is to the left of the green tarn.  

a close up view of glaciers

the bus driving up the Athabasca Glacier

in the centre are people on the glacier (I am guessing they are learning crevasse rescue)

the bus is that tiny dark spot on the glacier road

My destination shot!  Even though I am up high and out in the open, it was hot.  It was also windy which was appreciated to help keep me somewhat cool and keep bugs away.  To look across and down and see how busy it was, I stood here alone and loved it!  It was early yet but I still worked up a lunch time appetite so sat awhile and just got lost in the beauty of it all. 

Some time later I began the return trip and now I started to see others making their way here.  There is something about being up on Wilcox Pass and the Ridge!  For me it feels like I am so far out there and it has that wild appeal.  A way out there and in the wild, dainty beauty thrives like these Forgetmenot wildflowers.  

It was a "lifer" for me to see this Grey-Crowned Rosy Finch!

Instead of taking the route that is beaten in the snow, I made my own way through the snow.

Bouquets of Moss Campion were everywhere!  

back to that creek crossing

When I arrived back at my car, I felt so fulfilled!  The only business to take care of now was the drive back to my home away from home and get fulfilled in another way, relaxing with my feet up on my deck...

...and sipping a cold beverage!