Fall Road Trip # 1 - The Approach

 I suppose you could call this the "2012 To Hell With the Bell Tour", something started by Catherine when she went on an earlier road when she was first retired and still full of fresh appreciation of the freedom that retirement brought.

This fall trip was partly for a family gathering in Lake Louise, to be followed by some Rockies hiking, a visit to Saskatoon, southern Saskatchewan and Glacier National Park in Montana as we headed home.

The first stop was in Kootenay National Park on Tuesday, where we admired the upper reaches of the Kootenay River and, a bit further on, went on a 2-hour hike up to the foot of the Stanley Glacier.  I recalled some years ago hiking up to this glacier, very early in the morning (by moonlight, actually), with Andrew, destination glacier and the summit of Mt Stanley.  That was in the first couple of years of my mountaineering initiation and we had almost every kind of mountain weather you cold imagine.  I particularly remember climbing down a long, steep, snowy gully in heavy snowfall, barely able to see Andrew a short distance above me on the rope.  The sun came out later and all the wet clothing was steaming as we hiked down the trail.

Today, the weather was much nicer.  Blue skies everywhere, a few puffy clouds, great views and a fast trip in to the glacier, then on to Lake Louise.

Pictures are part of the Summer 2012 Album.