Despite coming up two hiking days shy, my goals were met. We saw many, many glaciers, and the impact of them on me is still being processed. For now I will just share this thought about the glaciers I saw: when you approach something that is of the ancient days, yet still alive (glaciers move, make sounds - they are quite lifelike) and is nearing death, it is almost like walking onto holy ground. I went to church when I walked among glaciers; it was for me a time for spiritual renewal. My observation is that glaciers are truly a gift to the world, and when they are all gone, it will be the saddest of times.
As for the goal of pushing myself to my limits, through nine days of hiking, by my calculation we knocked out roughly 110 miles, averaging 12 miles a day, most of it in elevation gaining alpine regions. Most of those miles were accomplished in 9 major hikes that I will discuss in upcoming blog entries: Bow Peak, Snowbird Pass, Berg Glacier to trailhead, Valley of Ten Peaks, Citadel Pass & Fatigue Pass, Iceline Trail, Lake O'Hara Alpine Circuit, Russet Lake, and Blackcomb/Overlord/Decker.
We could not have accomplished this ambitious slate of hikes but for the fact we worked very hard throughout the year training our bodies. Even with all of the training and all of the energy supplements (Clif Shot Bloks, Clif Shot Gels, Quest bars, Saltstick cap+, NUUN tablets, trail mix), our bodies were still challenged. Perhaps the greatest challenge was to our knees, especially during the descents. No pain was insurmountable, however. And honestly, I feel as though I could have gone another 10-11 days of long hiking. The pain peaked in the evening, and it was always a rough start the next morning, but within 30 minutes of motivated movement, the pain subsided. It helped tremendously when all around marvelous wonders were there to behold.
And in Canada, marvelous wonders are everywhere. The difficulty is narrowing down what can be accomplished in the allotted time that you have. I mentioned this previously, and I will say it again here: buy "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies." To save weight, we made copies from this book of each hike we hoped to do, and then made copies of back-up hikes in the event our primary hikes could not be accomplished. One fellow hiker we met on the trails, used his cellphone to take photos of specific sections of this book. Either way, have this resource with you in the Rockies portion of your trip.
Seven hikes that I had originally planned for, we were not able to do for various reasons including logistical issues, weather, bear activity etc. Those hikes are Panorama Ridge, Wedgemount Lake, Parker Ridge, Wilcox Pass, Plain of Six Glaciers, Glacier Crest Trail, and Cirque Peak. Additionally, some of the hikes that we were able to do, had to be altered in large part due to weather considerations. It is important to have alternative plans ready for each day as a trip of this nature is quite unpredictable. Despite the alterations, we were still able to get in 9 full days of spectacular hiking. And because of the alterations, we plan to go back and complete what we were unable to do.
