Camping in Jasper

We had a really fun camping trip in Jasper with lots of family. Caley and Justin drove up from Utah with their four boys and met us there. We were also joined by Jayna and Travis's family, Hannah and Spencer, Grammy and Grandpa, and John and Paul.

Jasper abounds in wildlife - we saw marmots, bighorn sheep, elk, and a yearling black bear among others. Especially elk. There were many elk wandering through our campsite.

We arrived one night ahead of everyone else. Once we had unpacked, and explored a bit, we had a campfire and then settled down for the night.

The next day, we were joined by Spencer, Hannah and John and we went whitewater rafting on the Athabasca river. It's a pretty tame ride with only a couple sections of class II rapids but my kids were all pretty nervous about going so this was perfect for them. They all loved it (like I knew the would!) and want to go again.

Everyone else arrived that night and the next day, we set out for a hike to the base of Mount Edith Cavell, where there's a glacier fed lake full of icebergs.

After that, we drove to Athabasca Falls and walked around the falls together.

The next day, some people went fishing at Pyramid Lake and some people went to the beach at Lake Edith. Connor's the only one who caught anything.

They had SUP rentals at Lake Edith so Shae and I, and John, Paul, and Caley, all had fun paddling around the crystal clear waters of the lake.

That evening, Jess and I, and his parents, returned to Pyramid Lake for a bit of sunset canoeing.

On our last day, after packing up, some of us hung out at the town playground while Jess took Hudson and Connor up to the Miette hot springs.

Birthdays at the Leg

Hannah will be in Kentucky for her birthday and it's only a few weeks after Spencer's so we had a little birthday celebration for both of them on a warm Friday evening at the Leg.

Jess's Hike to the Burgess Shale

Jess and a friend went on a guided hike in Yoho National Park to see the Burgess Shale. This is a place where there are ancient oceanic fossils just lying around all over the place. It's a protected area because of its scientific value so to hike to it, you have to camp out at the base of the mountain and then go on a guided hike up the mountain to the shale where they have cameras set up to make sure no one decides to take a fossil home with them.

When they first hiked into the base camp, they had to leave their packs on the picnic table unguarded for a short time and while they were gone, some crows unzipped the outside pocket on the backpack and pulled out the entire contents and opened everything they pulled out, searching for food. Smart birds!