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.All Trips / Alberta / Central Canada / North America
Banff National Park: A visit to beautiful Boom Lake
In a region where every turn of the road brings an even more beautiful view, it’s hard to pick favorite spots in Banff National Park. I’ve recently grown very fond of the area near Castle Junction, off Highway #93 on the road to Kootenay National Park and Radium Hot Springs. The ascent of Hwy #93 from the Bow River Valley gives grand views of the mountains and forests, brings you near the treeline and hanging glaciers, and provides easy access to some great high altitude trails, such as that to Boom Lake.
Boom Lake’s trailhead is located behind the Boom Creek picnic area parking lot a few kilometers west of the TransCanada highway. The trail crosses a bridge over Boom Creek and begins …
“Pic of the Week”. December 28, 2012. Sunrise over the Western Icefields, Mt. Kilimanjaro.
I love being in the mountains! One of my greatest travel experiences was a trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro. Mt. Kilimanjaro is a massive free-standing extinct volcano (actually a fusion of 3 volcanoes) in Tanzania, just south of Kenya and near the equator. It’s the highest peak in Africa (5,895 m or 19,341 ft) and, as such, one of the Seven Summits (highest mountain on each of the seven continents). Its summit can be reached without technical climbing gear but it’s a long walk up.
Our camp before the night of our ascent to Uhuru Peak was at around 18,000′ (5500 m) above sea level, right beside the glaciers of the Western Icefields. The light at …
.All Trips / British Columbia / North America / Western Canada
Kootenay National Park: Fire and Ice; views from the Stanley Glacier Trail
Among the most popular hikes in Kootenay National Park is the trail to Stanley Glacier, situated in British Columbia near Alberta, close to Castle Junction in Banff National Park. The trail provides a great half day hiking opportunity. It’s an 8.5 km round trip hike (just over 5 miles) and has a modest elevation gain of 365 m (about 1200 ft). I would rate it as a “moderate” effort hike.
The hike encompasses much of what makes the Canadian Rockies a special place to visit. There are grand panoramic views of tall mountains and a deep valley, a hanging glacier in a hanging valley, crystal clear creeks, and the sequelae of several forest fires …
.All Trips / Europe / Iceland
A journey around Iceland (Part 5) Snaefellsnes Peninsula
The last full day of our Icelandic trip was spent off the Ring Road in West Iceland on the charming Snaefellsnes Peninsula. Anyone who is a fan of SciFi will remember this as the place Jules Verne’s Professor begins his Journey to the Center of the Earth (which was reached from the volcano via a series of lava tubes). The lovely conical Snaefellsjokull volcano, located on the western end of this peninsula, was the center point of Verne’s story.
A visit to the Snaefellsnes peninsula has been described as a way to see Iceland in miniature. This finger-like appendage to the island is only 43 miles long and only …
Tagged glacier, Iceland, Snaefellsnes, volcano
.All Trips / Europe / Iceland
A journey around Iceland (Part 3) South Iceland
Many think South Iceland offers the island’s most spectacular scenery. It’s hard to argue with this except to say that we found all of Iceland to be filled with beautiful landscapes. South Iceland is remarkable for pretty farms in its western portion, rugged mountains, beautiful waterfalls, and the close proximity of several large glaciers (and a memorable glacial lagoon) in its eastern portion, all of which are easily accessible. Like the entire island, South Iceland offers a dramatic representation of the island’s volcanic history.
We drove the Ring Road in a counter clockwise fashion so the following commentary and associated photos are more-or-less based on what we saw and did in sequential fashion:
Kerid …
.All Trips / Africa / Tanzania
Mount Kilimanjaro (Part 3) Summit and Descent
We had spent the past week slowly working our way up the slopes of Kilimanjaro via the Shira route, an experience I’ve previously described in blog posts here and here. Finally, after a chilly night’s camping beside the Furtwangler Glacier on the Summit Plateau, the Roof of Africa was only a few hours away.
Looking back at the Western Icefields, near the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. You can see our camp being disassembled, bottom right.
We were up before dawn, enjoyed hot tea and a light breakfast and were eager to tackle the 800′ climb separating our camp from Uhuru Peak (19,340′). It was slow going in the thin air and steep slope but what an experience to watch the early light of sunrise on the eastern horizon! The sky above us was mostly …
