On our first day in Jasper I persuaded @shepherdmanswife to go on a short hike, just 5 miles, but the hike did ascend 350m up a mountain for some nice high level views of the Angel Glacier on Edith Cavell Mountain.
We climbed a steep and stony track that led up the mountainside, before entering a forest, and eventually emerging into a high alpine meadow of low shrubs and ground hugging bushes, nothing like the cropped and grazed alpine meadows that we have seen in Switzerland. We were level with the Angel Glacier on the far side of the valley, its icy angel’s wings spread out over the valley below, and on our side of the valley there were occasional small patches of snow, despite the hot sunshine.
We passed through some shoulder high pine trees to the top of the trail, where we joined a small group of people enjoying the view, and we rested as the sun descended behind the mountain on the far side of the valley, casting a cool shadow over us. As the sun disappeared behind the high ridge above the Angel Glacier, we noticed ice crystals in the air above the mountain, illuminated by the sun’s rays.
I got all a bit freaked by the bear risk to go off hiking :(
Fav