"The Rocky Adventure"

Hello everyone,

Well as you know...this past weekend was very typical. I stayed inside, watched a few movies, and learned more about Lost's sixth and final season! Spoiler alert: Juliet and Daniel will be back...as will Boone? AND...my favorite piece of news to report...Richard Alpert is getting a detailed back story! Get out your eyeliner now people, it's going to be huge!

Okay, maybe I did not do all of those things this weekend...and instead went camping! (The Lost info is true...found that out last night!) It was an epic weekend full of danger, drama, and even a little disregard for provincial laws...but more on that later! We started on "The Rocky Adventure" after work on Friday, and drove (not me, because it was a "standard") the four hours to get to Jasper. We met a guy at the hour three mark, and made our way to the campgrounds. Once we got inside the national park, I saw a moose running along the side of the road! It was a majestic creature, but it disappeared into the woods before I could take a picture. Speaking of pictures, I took a lot of good ones (for once), and you can check them out on Facebook now, or see them when I get back! We arrived at the campground, and they informed us that they were full (first come, first serve), along with the rest of the entire park, and we would have to find somewhere else to camp. We then went to the hostel to try and stay there, but they were also full! At this point, we were a little dismayed...and after a long debate, we decided that we would stay in a hotel, and camp the following night. We went to a Best Western, at which we were informed it would be $225 a night. After we picked our jaws off the ground, we decided that the price was ridiculous, and we would keep searching. The guy we met up with at the hour three mark told us that he was sick of the situation, and drove home.

What were we going to do? Stay in someone's yard? Sleep in the car? All of these were options as it was past 11pm, when one of my friends remembered that his roommate was at one of the campgrounds, so we called him to see if we could crash there for the night. He said we could, and we drove to his campground. Once inside the campgrounds, we noticed a few empty sites, so we decided to go to the check-in booth, and see if we could get one. Lucky for us, they had an 11pm "no-show rule", and those sites were available, so we got one in the RV area. We had no fire, so we used the car's headlights to setup our tent. After it was setup, we sat around a candle, and had some snacks before bed.

The next morning, we got to move to a real "tenting" campsite, and it had a fire pit. We had to wait until later in the morning to move in, so we drove to Mount Edith Cavell, and home of a glacier! Anyone who knows me knows that I love snow, ice, and freezing cold, so the thought of getting to see a glacier was awesome! We had to hike through a virtual desert (where the glacier used to extend 40 years ago) to get to it, but as we got closer, the temperature dropped. One of my friends said it was like outdoor air-conditioning, and I agree completely! As we got near the lake, a mini-avalanche occurred, and some pieces of the glacier fell down the mountain. I have never heard such a loud sound before, as it was louder then any crackle of thunder I have ever heard before! We finally got to the lake underneath the glacier, and there were many pieces of ice floating, so I had to pick one up! The water was freezing cold, and was icy around the edges. As we looked up the mountain, I noticed a few ice caves. Immediately, my heart was set on where I wanted to get to, and we trekked to the caves. Snow lined the outside of it, and I threw a snowball (in July) at one of my friends. We went inside the cave, and it was amazing! The walls were completely ice, and looked like that egg carton foam. I could see my breather inside, and it seemed like a yeti could live in there! We kept going further in, but had to stop because it was too dark, and we did not have a flashlight! I really think I could have lived in there...but I guess I will never know! On the way back to the car, and I grabbed a rock to remind me of the awesomeness of the Rocky Mountains (which is apparently a federal crime), and we made our way through the desert again.

Our next stop was the "edge of the world", which was a nice hike to a perfect view above the town valley. After this, we needed a break, so we went back to the campsite to setup, and relax for a bit. After about an hour, we continued our adventure, and went to Horseshoe Lake. This is a common local hot spot for cliff jumping and cold, relaxing waters. While I did not cliff dive, a lot of people did, and it was fun to watch! The water was as cold as promised, which was perfect for the hot 32 degree day! After hanging out there for an hour, we were going to take the gondola to the top of a mountain, but the clouds look very ominous, so we decided to just go back to camp. On our way back, we saw a few elk running about, which was neat! When we got back to our campsite, there were three young elks waiting for us. Elks make a bleating sound, as you can hear on my video, and it sounded like they were calling for their mother. They finally ran off, and we prepared ourselves for rain. The rain came, but it was not that bad, and we had a great fire-cooked dinner of smokies and potatoes. We then went on a walk, and saw UFC 103: Elks vs. Dog...which I think went to the elk! We kept walking, and saw UFC 104: Elk vs. Stupid Guy in Blue Shirt. The guy was getting too close to the elk, and he obviously did not read anything about the "do not approach wildlife" clause...but he learned quickly. The elk grew irritated at him, and began to charge...which was really scary! The guy ran back, and the elk stopped his charge...for five seconds, and then he charged again! This time the guy got the hint, and ran off, and no blood was spilled. After we got back, we had smores, and turned in for the night.

The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast, packed up out camp, and went to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain. It was a beautiful view from the top, and I saw many mountains with snow-covered peaks! After we spent some time up at the top, we took the gondola back down, and started the return to Edmonton. Before we left the park, there were two mountain sheep on the side of the road, so I took a few quick pictures, and we returned back to the city. The trip was amazing, and I wish we did not have to come back so soon! I think I am starting to love the non-city life more and more...so we will see what happens! I am glad I got to go, and hopefully I will be able to go back again!

I strongly encourage anyone to go see the Rockies...as they are much more awesome then the Appalachians, and they even have snow! It was a great weekend, and it will make me miss Canada even more when I leave on Friday! I also played my last game of Capture the Flag when we got back, and hopefully will be able to get it started at Tech when I get back there. As for this upcoming week, I need to finish writing two reports, and will hopefully get to play one more game of poker! More to come on Thursday!