From Here to There and Back Again

Relentless:/ showing or promising no abatement of severity, intensity, strength or pace...(just hold that thought for a bit...)
July 15 was Parks Day in Canada...did you know that? So for Parks Day this year we hiked a portio of  the Sulphur Skyline Trail just outside Jasper. When you read the description of a hike beware of words like "relentless". This hike described a vista that you will not get anywhere but the trail is relentless climbing...sooo off we go...
We ended up on a ridge at the top of the world...no kidding...we were on a ridge that was wellll...a ridge at the top of a mountain. This is the picture we tweeted to Parks Canada for Parks Day..

The view was spectacular and you can see the weather again was terrific.
At the top though it did get a bit cooler and very windy.
I am not good at heights...so what the heck was I doing there in the first place...sitting in the middle of the ridge and hanging on...
Simon was amazing as he scaled to top
and then, took a nap...
We went early in the morning so as to beat the crowds. We were at the top with 2 Aussies, 2 Germans and 4 Americans. Just enough people on the ridge for me.

On the way down we passed about 60 people on their way up...perfect timing. Some of them were sure not to reach the top as they were ill prepared for the climb wearing flip flops and stilettos as Pauline says...
On July 16 we left Jasper sadly and headed to the Icefields to hike the Wilcox Pass. From the top you get an amazing view of Mount Wilcox, the Athabasca and Dome Glaciers. It starts off nicely and you end up in meadow and then a final hike to reach the best point to see the glaciers.

 On the way up you also get to see the red chairs perched on the edge of the cliff...as you can see I am taking the picture from a safe distance back...
At the top there is plenty of time for reflection as you can see from the picture of Pauline and Simon...he was really funny just sitting there looking out over the scenery as if he was contemplating life...or at least his next treat...

 We ran into some weather at the top that we had not expected...a hail and snow storm blew in with thunder. The thunder was quite something at the top. Needless to say, we made record time getting down.

Yesterday we sort of took a day off. We were not planning to go to Banff but we took a campsite just outside of town and in the morning we took a ride in to town. It has gotten soooooo big...it is a bit crazy. We walked along the Bow River to The Banff Springs Hotel and back to town. We picked up a few things like a craft beer called Pond Hockey Pale Ale. We toasted all the ponders later that night...

We are now in Canmore. The smoke form the BC wildfires is making it difficult to see the mountains at all in the distance and the smell is overwhelming.
Today we took a short hike into the Ink Pots (11 km when it was all over...it's all relative right?) The Ink Pots are small ponds fed by springs that bubble to the surface making ink like circles in the sand underwater.We left early again to beat the crowds and when we came down there were hundreds of people coming into the falls that we passed on the way up...we really need to get up, in and out early here...
We will be heading out tomorrow to Waterton Lakes NP a day earlier than planned to get out of the smoke.
All is good as we continue our journey...
More later...