Badlands, Royal Tyrrell and an epic steak dinner

Gorgeous view over Horse Thief Canyon

Today was our last full day out West. Poor Rosie was still pretty tired from a long week of camping, so we opted for a later start. 

After a late and surprisingly hearty breakfast at the hotel, we packed up the car, and headed up to Horse Thief Canyon, which is just a bit beyond the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

Zoom in and guess who is on top!

When we got to the edge of the canyon, we were greeted with magnificent vistas over the badlands....and a ton of prairie dog burrows.

Zoe immediately fixated on the adorable prairie dogs, and settled right down to make friends and see how close they would get. Her patience was rewarded when she got booped by one particularly friendly fellow.

Brad and Rosie spotted a hilltop (butte?) within the canyon and immediately took off down the slope so they could climb it. I waited a couple of minutes with Zoe, then followed suit.  Distances in the badlands are highly deceptive, and in no time, I found myself scrambling up the side of a steep hill, and standing on top of a spectacular viewpoint, staring across at Brad and Rosie, who had mountain-goated their way over to another separate, but equally spectacular viewpoint.

Mountain Bean evolves into Badlands Bean

We paparazzi'd each other, and then Rosie scampered over to come see me. Then Brad did his Brad thing by disappearing off the back of the slope for a while (with the car keys and all the water, I might add....). 

Prairie dogs are so adorable

I climbed back up to see how Zoe was doing.

She continued communing with the prairie dogs, so I joined her, and my patience was also rewarded with a cautious visit from a curious and friendly little guy. So cute.

This guy wandered over to check me out

Soon enough, Brad made his way back from his adventure, and we all piled into the car to head to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

The girls reluctantly acquiescing to mom's annoying request to pose by the sign 

I have to admit, the museum was Brad's request and definitely not really my thing. I'm ambivalent to museums at the best of times, but this one was especially crowded, and, it seemed, stuffed with thousands of malcontent toddlers. Not gonna lie, I'd rather be hiking in the badlands than stuffed into museum. But given that we made the kids hike over 70km the last two weeks, I figured we owed them a few more classic kid activities, rather than haul them up/down the side of another mountain.

Brad and the kids absolutely loved it. They were rapt learning about the history of the area and all the different fossil findings. Zoe loved seeing the sea creatures, and there was much discussion over which dinosaur was, in fact, the best dinosaur (it's stegosaurus. Don't @ me). They loved walking through the history of the dinosaurs and I think we all especially enjoyed seeing the full-scale skeletons of dinosaurs.

There is no doubt that the Stegosaurus is the superior dinosaur

Obviously I took a photo of the fossilized poo

We spent about 2.5 hours of the museum, and finished off by having a quick lunch and heading off to Calgary.

No visit to Drumheller would be complete without checking out the world's largest dinosaur. So of course we did that and Brad staged an appropriately cheesy photo shoot for the occasion.

Getting chased by the world's largest dinosaur 

After a relatively uneventful drive, we checked into our hotel and the kids made a beeline for the pool. I don't know if it's an Alberta thing or what but our hotels for the last three days have all had spectacular waterslides for the kids. This one leveled that up a bit and had a separate small pool/slide for young kids, and a larger pool with two different slides for older kids...and adults.

My kids will never want to stay in a normal hotel again. Best Western Port O Call in Calgary NE.

The kids slid their hearts out for about 90 minutes, and then it was time to head out for one last vacation dinner. Since we'd been in Alberta for a week and hadn't yet hit up a steakhouse, we decided it was time.  A quick google search led me to a local mini-restaurant chain (3 locations) called the Cattle Baron, as a not-too-fancy but super delicious option.

Enjoying a fantastic California Cab Sauv in the adorable custom etched glasses at The Cattle Baron

We went to the Calgary NE (Airport) location and we honestly had the best night. The food was delicious, cooked exactly to order (Zoe has never been more thrilled to devour a rare steak) and the service was amazing. The meal was capped off when our server, Farouk, brought the girls' desserts out with sparklers, which completely made their nights (as evidenced by the huge grins).

The sparklers brought out all the smiles

We couldn't have asked for a better celebration to end our trip. We've felt so fortunate to be able to immerse ourselves in parts of this country's immense and incredible geography - to look across incredible views, to see varied terrain - from rainforest to mountain to desert - and to meet some great people along the way.

Tomorrow we fly back to Ottawa, and while we're sad for the adventure to come to an end, I'm super excited to be sleeping in my own bed, and to not have to pack up gear every morning. 

Badlands and Prairie Dogs

Zoe taking in the spectacular view of the badlands

Having now travelled across most of the breadth of Alberta from West to East on this trip, I can officially say that I have seen the Canadian Priairies now. For what it's worth, they aren't quite as tabletop-flat as I've heard them described to be, but close. 

We started our day bright and early with a quick hotel breakfast in Brooks before packing up the car and hitting the road for Dinosaur Provincial Park. Having unpacked and repacked several times on this trip I have to say I am getting scary good at it, to the point where each time we pack up we have slightly more excess space (despite the kids accumulating various souvenirs along the way), to the point where I worry we are missing something each time. 

Arriving somewhat ahead of schedule at Dinosaur Provincial Park, we stopped at the edge of the park to take in the view of the badlands.  It's amazing how they sneak up on you; after seeing (and driving through) miles and miles of relatively flat land as far as the eye can see, all of a sudden the earth drops away to reveal a bizarre landscape below comprised of oddly-shaped hills that have been shaped and eroded by water and wind for thousands of years. 

Looking out over the badlands from above 

Happy little adventurers 

Driving around the short one-way ring road through the park we arrived at the trailhead for the Centrosaurus Bonebed Hike, the one and only scheduled tour of the nature preserve for that day (Leslie had dutifully snagged us four of the last remaining spots two months beforehand). This was important because you're not allowed to access this area on your own (to make sure people aren't damaging/stealing dinosaur bones). 

We proceeded along the dusty and sandy trail, with our guide providing great context for what we were seeing around us. The badlands reach a depth of about 120m below "Prairie level", and the rock at this depth provides us with a cross-section spanning a timeframe from about 74-76 million years ago (for reference, dinosaurs were around in some form for a period of 165 million years in total). 

Funky cacti

We also learned about the three main types of rock we were seeing around us: the lighter colour was sandstone, and indicated places where there had previously been fast-moving water; the darker bands were "mudstone" and indicated slower-moving water like lakes; lastly, very dark reddish bands are "ironstone" (for obvious reasons). In fact, 75 million years ago the area we were in would have closely resembled the rainforest that we hiked in B.C. earlier in our trip. However, the most striking features were the "hoodoos" - places where a solid piece of ironstone served as a "cap" protecting the softer stone beneath it from erosion while neighbouring areas eroded away, leaving strange looking columns of sandy rock standing alone. 

Hoodoo!

Sandstone, mudstone, and ironstone

Our guide also walked us through how to properly identify fossils, and allowed us to inspect a few samples of petrified wood, a dinosaur tooth, and a cone from a metasequoia tree. 

Petrified wood

Tooth fossil

Eventually ~2km down the path we reached the ultimate destination for our short hike -  the famous "bone bed" where the fossilized remains of dozens of Centrosauruses could be found all over - some embedded in the surface of the ground, some lying loose on top, and some even protruding from the side of the rock. It was pretty surreal being able to reach out and touch something that walked the earth 75 million years ago. The kids had a blast wandering the area and finding all sorts of fossils (and who am I kidding, me too). 

Look what Zoe found 

Little bean finding things

All in all it was an incredibly unique experience!

This being said, we opted to keep this a "light" day on our trip since it was clear that a couple weeks of busy days and short nights were taking their toll on the kids. We stopped for a tasty lunch at the quaint Prairie Girl Diner in Cessford, AB. 

After lunch we had a ~2h drive to Drumheller.  Along the way, sharp-eyed Leslie spotted a Prairie dog up on his hind legs at the side of the highway surveying his surroundings, and from that point onwards we spotted several more. 

After we reached Drumheller we let the kids play in the hotel pool (with a big waterslide), and then went out for a delicious dinner at the nearby Pho Dinosaur. The pho was ok but the artwork was top-notch. 

Tomorrow marks the final day of our trip before heading home on Tuesday.  Unlike previous trips I was very hands-off in the planning of this one, and I have to give Leslie major kudos for laying out such a fun and adventurous 2+ weeks for us. It's been amazing getting a taste of western Canada, and doing it via a wide range of activities including kayaking, hiking in rainforests,  rafting on glacier-fed rivers, hiking in the Rockies, and exploring the badlands. We will have some great memories from this trip.  :)

Saying good-bye to the Rockies

One last look at the Rockies from Banff

Today was a bittersweet day for us, marking the last day of our camping tour of the Rockies with Fresh Adventures.  We had such a wonderful time getting to know this breathtaking region, and getting to explore some of the off-the-beaten path hikes and activities in the region.

Our guides, Jamie and Manuel, were amazing energetic people who worked from dawn til dusk (literally) every day to feed us, drive us, guide us and otherwise do an incredible job with an ambitious tour itinerary.  

We had an early morning today (maybe even a little earlier than planned, thanks to the non-stop barrage of trains rolling through Golden starting at about 3:30 this morning), and we packed up our camp, ate one last breakfast together, provided one last feast for the aggressive Golden mosquitoes, and hopped into the van to head back east.

The trains proved more cooperative at posing for photos than the mosquitoes

We drove through Banff (omg so many people!) and had a quick stop at the Banff Upper Hot Springs. While they were a little crowded, we all agreed that the hot water felt amazing on our tired muscles, and we thoroughly enjoyed our soak.

Family selfie! And yes, we know we look tired. We are pretty excited to not be sleeping outside next to train tracks tonight. 

So pretty. But so peopley.

After the hot springs, a quick stop at a gift shop, and we headed off to the Calgary Airport, where one of our group had a flight to catch, and we bid farewell to the rest of the group and to Manuel and Jamie, and went to pick up our 2pm (ha!) reserved rental car from Budget Calgary Airport.

So sad to say goodbye to Jamie and Manuel. Hopefully we can find them again someday in Patagonia, where they guide in the winter months

This part went a bit sideways. I had to wait in quite a line at the car rental counter, only to find out that it would be a 60-90 minute wait for our car.

One hour turned into two and a half hours (lesson learned - do NOT rent from Budget Calgary airport!), and we eventually got keys at 5pm and were off. The kids passed some time at the play area in Calgary airport, and I hunkered down beside a vending machine because I spotted a free power outlet where I could charge my phone.

Brad enjoying his snazzy new wheels 

Brad was pretty stoked about our ride - a bright blue Dodge Charger. I was frankly stoked to be in any sort of vehicle as killing three hours at the Calgary Airport was not exactly what I had planned for the afternoon.

Magnetic roll-up camping board games for the win.

We adjusted our plans for the afternoon, and so when we got to Brooks, headed straight toward a highly-rated Indian restaurant called Indian Panflame. The food was amazing and we completely gorged ourselves.

Our hotel was just down the road, so in no time, we were checked in, and the girls changed back into their bathing suits to hit up the hotel pool (the hotel has a pretty awesome water slide, so the girls spent a solid 90 minutes going up and down the twisty slide, figuring out the best angle to end up shooting half way across the pool).

Screenshot from a little video I took of Zoe shooting across the pool

I tried to drown out the screaming (SO MANY CHILDREN) and watched the girls while sipping...uh....water....out of my water bottle. A suspiciously high number of parents seemed to also be sipping...coffee?....from various opaque and unbreakable containers. Really, the only way to survive over-excited, over-tired kids at the hotel pool.

So all in all....a pretty low-key day. But we are back at it with the adventure tomorrow, with a guided hike to the Centrosaurus Bonebed in Dinosaur Provincial Park.

Rafting on Kicking Horse, and a Relaxing Afternoon

Today marked the second last day of our week-long tour with Fresh Adventures. After  breakfast we set out for Glacier Raft Company to do some rafting on the nearby Kicking Horse River (which actually runs right by our campsite in Golden, BC). 

Upon arrival we signed our waivers, got our wetsuits, helmets, and life jackets, and then boarded our bus for the short trip to our starting point higher up river. After disembarking we got a thorough safety talk and then piled into our raft. One individual from our tour group had opted out of the rafting experience, so we ended up being the perfect size to all fit together on one raft. Also in a fun coincidence, one of Rosie's hockey teammates from this past winter season was also there, so they had a nice little unplanned reunion. 

What was really cool (to me at least!) was that only yesterday, the very water we were rafting on in the Kicking Horse River was melting from those glaciers and ice fields (like the one we hiked up to yesterday in our Iceline hike in Yoho National Park), and running down numerous streams and waterfalls before eventually converging tributaries to the Kicking Horse River. When you stop and look at the swift current of the river, it's truly a crazy volume of water (and really drives home how big those glaciers and ice fields are, even though they seem so high up and far away). 

Having already lost one smartphone to water on this trip, Leslie served as our official trip photographer for the rafting portion of the day. However, when your official photographer is also very risk-averse (and honestly who am I to judge) you end up with a small handful of photos taken in calm water.  :) 

Note from Leslie - at least one of us needs to retain a functional phone.

Due to Rosie's size and weight we were restricted to the first portion of the day, which featured class 2 rapids and then lunch. However, it was still a ton of fun, and our rafting guide made sure to bounce the raft off of a few rocks, getting everyone got wet and getting a lot of squeals and smiles. And to make sure we got the full experience, Zoe, Rosie and I all opted to jump into the icy water during one of the calm stretches. No pictures though, because Leslie didn't deem it safe enough to let go of the rope :) However there was an official photographer so if the photos are good and we purchase them then we will retroactively add them here! 

After a bbq hamburger lunch we headed back to our campsite for a "quiet" afternoon with no plans.  Leslie and the girls headed over the public pool and splash pad and the kids had a blast cooling off and having boys-vs-girls water fights with the other kids. 

Meanwhile, I headed into town for some essentials: cold beer & wine, snacks, and a final batch of clean clothes courtesy of the local laundromat. It was fun walking through the small town of Golden, and I found myself humming the "mountain town" song from the South Park movie. 

Quiet mountain town

Quiet mountain town

Tomorrow will be the bittersweet culmination of this part of our trip; we'll have an early start to pack up our campsite, a visit to the hot springs near Banff, and then we will head to the Calgary airport to drop off our crew (and get a rental car for the final couple of days of our trip). We've been so lucky with the amazing experiences and company so far, and looking forward to putting the final touches on a trip that will leave us with a lot of great memories. 

Beyond the Treeline - Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park

Walking along Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park, amidst stunted trees

I think that today marked my personal favourite hike of the whole trip, though I also found it to be the most challenging.

Up, up, up we go. Bonus question - ask Brad how many water bottles he's carrying 

We got up this morning, had a quick breakfast and packed a trail lunch, and off we went to Yoho National Park to tackle the Iceline Trail. The trail starts near the stunning Takkakaw Falls, then ascends steeply up the mountain, up past an ever-shrinking and increasingly stunted treeline, and right to the edge of a glacier.

With a hot forecast, and unrelenting sun for much of the hike, our guides highly recommended at least 2L of water per person, lots of sunscreen and frequent breaks.

The road to the trailhead was a bit of an adventure in itself - between seeing the incredible engineering work involved in twinning Highway 1 near Golden, and the white-knuckle switchbacks on the road up to to Takakkaw Falls, we all really enjoyed just relaxing and watching the scenery go by.

The hike started with a flat 1k along the road, and then we hit the official trailhead. Once we hit the trailhead, things started to head in an unrelenting upward slope. The trail started in the thick pine forest, passing babbling brooks and streams, making our way through a stream that sort of ran down the trail. The trail was a steep, dirt, switch-backed path for the first almost 2km.  Then the trees starting getting smaller, eventually disappearing, as we continued up the unrelenting upward slope.

Don't mind me, just obsessed with mini trees over here.

As we picked our way through the scree and gravel path, we rose above the treeline, and found ourselves with spectacular vantage points of both Takakkaw Falls and the glacier above (I tried to google the name of the glacier, but it's late, and I've been sipping wine, so you'll have to settle for non-exact glacial nomeclature).

After about 4.5 km, we arrived at a spectacular vista over both the glacier and the Yoho Valley below. At this point, I made a beeline for the gorgeous glacial stream cascading its way down the mountain, promptly removed my shoes and socks, and enjoyed the relief of plunging my tired feet into the cold water. 

Imma stick my feet right into this cool glacial stream and stare out at this insane view

Brad, Zoe, and Rosie were still feeling pretty spritely, so they, along with our guides, made their way a little bit closer to the glacier to get a better vantage point.

Zoe marks the first hike this trip where she racked up more elevation than mom.

Behold, the elusive Mountain Bean in her natural element 

I really enjoyed a few minutes just chilling alone and taking in the sights.

Brad and the girls soon made their way back, thrilled to have seen the glacier up so close, and then the group started to pick its way back down the mountain.

Posing and not looking down. 

Those who know me well will know that heights and I don't have a great relationship,  Not gonna lie, the ridgeline scree situation leading up to yesterday's vantage point almost did me in. :p

The whole time we were going up, every time, we went around a particularly sketchy switchback or loose scree section, I was just thinking....omgggggggggg this is going to be a nightmare to go down. There were a few sections, I really just had to look at my feet and just keep going, because I tend to get vertigo any time I'm on a ridge.  

The entire route down was carpeted with gorgeous alpine flowers.

I made it though, in no small part thanks to the quiet and confident encouragement of our excellent guides, Jamie and Manuel (who are awesome, incredibly hardworking humans).

We took a slightly different route at the end, and took an alternate trail that led us straight to Takakkaw Falls, the spectacular gushing waterfall we'd been seeing from afar all day.

Takakkaw Falls showing her colours with a glorious double rainbow

As it turns out, our guides were genius in the way they planned the day. We started close to the waterfall but they indicated that we would end up there at the end of the day.

And to be honest, they couldn't have planned it better. By the time we hit the falls, they were likely less busy than they would have been, and there was also a spectacular double rainbow thanks to the angle of the sun. 

As well, the cool spray rising from the falls felt AMAZING, as we had been hiking and sweating in 30+ degrees all day. Brilliant.

Many of our tour group are avid swimmers, so after we got back to the van, we headed to Emerald Lake, where most of the female members of the group (present company excluded) proved their mettle and plunged into the cool green water.

Emerald Lake is okay, I guess

Both Zoe and Rosie proved up to the test and reveled in the admiration of their fellow travelers (many of whom proved to be incredible cold water swimmers, and all of whom are in their sixties and seventies and are absolutely killing it on this physically challenging trip).

They did it!

We wound up the day with chats and cheers over stir fry and we are looking forward to day of rafting the Kicking Horse River tomorrow with Glacier Rafting.