Sailing for France
Colorado's own Garmin-Chipotle professional cycling team is heading to the Tour de France.
The Next Level
The ups and downs of taking your sport to the next level. For me, it's the up-side downs of yoga.
updated on
Site Last Modified:
17
Jul
5:12 PM
Transitions
This Month's Magazine
The Other Rockies
Written by: Rebecca Heaton
Posted: Sunday, 30 March 2008
Page 3 of 3
Tucked in at the main entrance to the park on the Kicking Horse River, Cathedral Mountain Lodge is home to 29 newly decorated log cabins fit for, in our case, a king and queen. Each cabin is host to a cute little porch with Adirondack chairs calling for you to sit in and read a book or relax.
The original main lodge used to house miners before being remodeled into a spectacular guest lodge replete with huge stone fireplaces and a gourmet restaurant that has been named one of the best restaurants in Canada. And with good reason: to start, the wait staff takes care of you as soon as you walk in the door. Our first night dining, Shaun and I weren’t quite ready to eat but just wanted to relax and enjoy a glass of wine. Our server encouraged us to sit on the riverside deck with its outdoor fireplace and sip on our wine. Since it was a quiet night, we could come in for dinner at any time.
It was nice to have a peaceful evening after multiple days of hiking at Purcell, but the next morning we were ready and raring to hit the trails again. Yoho National Park is one of the smaller national parks in the region compared to neighboring Banff and Jasper National Parks. It is host to one of Canada’s highest waterfalls, Takakkaw Falls at 254 meters (833 feet). Takakkaw means “magnificent” in Cree. This “small” 507-square-mile park boasts towering rock walls, spectacular waterfalls and 28 peaks over 3,000 meters. The word Yoho is a Cree expression of awe and wonder..
Activities abound including hiking, climbing, boating and rafting (canoeing on Moraine Lake is free to Lodge guests), fishing, horseback riding. We decided on a 13-mile+ hike along the Iceline Trail, which climbed through the woods then traversed along the base of the Emerald Glacier through a moraine field laden with rocks and boulders of every shape and size. As we entered the moraine field, I felt as if I was in an outdoor art gallery: manmade cairns of all shapes and sizes decorated the field. It was like a beautiful sculpture garden. The photos in the gallery will attest to that.
We spent our final evening in the Canadian Rockies savoring one more gourmet meal at Cathedral Mountain Lodge. On our way back to Calgary the next day, we made a quick stop at the must-see Lake Louise. Known to the Stoney people as “Lake of Little Fishes,” Lake Louise was given its present name in 1884. It honors Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, sixth child of Queen Victoria. The view from the lakeshore is known the world over. From the photos at left, you can understand why.
As we took a leisurely stroll along the azure lake, we recounted our past week’s adventures and vowed to return. While we’d covered a lot of ground, in reality we’d only touched the tip of the iceberg. There were plenty more “other Rockies” to explore, and that’s a good thing.
For more on travel in British Columbia, log on to www.hellobc.com. For Alberta, visit www.travelalberta.com.
| Comments |
|
Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.12