The Rockies - Jasper National Park

On the road

On the road. And what a road!
We soak up the breathtaking scenery unfolding before us and the wildlife we come across in the early morning.
Elk and mule deer share the road with us. We make the most of it, stopping a respectful distance away (meaning about 6 feet). Not exactly ferocious, the animals look at us, smile for the camera, and stick their noses back in the grass to graze.
Along the way we find a great little campground called Wilcox, about thirty sites. No front office. Here it's first come, first served, and you pay by slipping your dollars ($18 a night) into a drop box.
This is where we get to experience our first road rage episode, with a jerk driving the wrong way (the grade must be 13% at that spot, and there's just one very narrow lane...)
I ask him in English to back up. He answers by insulting me in perfect French.
It took us 6,000 miles to find THE one boor who doesn't understand Canadian road signs. Too bad for our lovely nation: he's French... As usual!
While I'm at it, I'd like to point out that after 6,000 miles on the road, we still haven't seen a single accident. Here in Canada, people respect each other on the road. Driving is sooo relaxed, and it's really pleasant.

We'll also spend the night of August 19 at Wilcox, on our way back down the Canadian Rockies. We'll cook up a fabulous chicken tagine with purple olives and preserved lemons. Cooked over the campfire (Survivor-style)!
It's pretty classy to enjoy Mediterranean flavors on a freezing night (the temperature drops below 32°F at night), all by the fire.

Jasper will also be the kids' culinary stop (does the Guyot family do anything besides eat and drink???). First meal made entirely by Juliette. On the menu of our gourmet dinner: appetizers served on a tray for the parents, pasta (super al dente — that's my girl, you're getting back to your Italian roots) and honey ham.
A feast, judging by the kids' photos.

Athabasca Glacier

August 16, 2012.
Up at 7, on the road at 8: today we're among the first 20 adventurers ready to take on the Athabasca Glacier.
We're at over 6,500 feet, and the air really is a bit thinner than back home in Lille.
The climb (short, 30 minutes max!) is actually super easy (now that we've become such top-notch athletes), and here we discover part of the Columbia Icefield, a huge ice cap covering 115 square miles and up to 3,000 feet thick!
This mountain feeds water to 3 oceans (can you guess which ones?), and here we see climate change happening "live". Signs show exactly how far the glacier has retreated over more than a century.
No doubt about it. It's speeding up.
I'll let you judge the distance lost since the year 2000: impressive!

Rodeo Championship 2012 Edition

We end our day on August 16 here, at the Rodeo Championship Edition.
Here, rodeo is a family affair. It's a real show night, American-style.
Cowboy boots, Wrangler jeans, cowboy shirts and hats for the men. Tight tops and ultra-short skirts for the gals.
We're getting back a bit of civilization after 10 days surrounded by oh-so-sexy hiking boots and shorts custom-cut for hikers' thighs.
It's not Louboutin yet, but we're getting closer. (We're still 6,000 miles from Paris, after all...)

Horse races, lassos flying, raging bulls. No more fooling around. This is competition, made in Canada!
We even get a pretty smile from Miss Rodeo. Quite a show!
The kids are thrilled, and so are we. We have a really great evening.

Do you know why the animals are so wild when they enter the arena?
Take a good look at the photos and you'll see that just before they're let loose, their family jewels get squeezed with a big strap (yellow in our photos): guaranteed effect!

Maligne Lake

Once again, we manage to get up fairly early. An hour's drive from Jasper, 30 miles of pretty mountain road.
We start our hike at 9... There's nobody on the lake (magical — and it's 14 miles long!), and the stroll turns into a hike straight out of the movie The Beach.
We're completely alone for over 2 hours (one way); not a single footprint ahead of us. Only animals have been through here in the last few days.
We quickly realize we haven't stayed on the marked trails.
This morning, nature truly rules. The mosquitoes attack us (gently), but the swarms of bugs are definitely Big Size.
For our 3 little monsters, it's their first real-life rock-climbing lesson. We take our time, and the rocks are conquered!