Jasper, Alberta - April 14, 2017 (Day 1)

My day started off at 4AM to catch a flight from the Ottawa airport at 6AM to Calgary Alberta. The sky was clear, the weather was wonderful and the flight was quite pleasant. I landed in Calgary at 8:30AM and awaited my flight from Calgary to Edmonton with little lay over (just enough time to grab a Starbucks coffee). My flight to Edmonton was quite pleasant too and only 40 mins long, however, 40 mins was long enough to cause a climate change. I landed in a full on snow storm! I arrived in Edmonton it was 10:30AM, by 11AM I was at the Hertz car rental picking up my vehicle (Got a sexy 2017 Jeep Cherokee Trail Edition with snow and mud tires). 

By 12PM I was on the road heading to Jasper, Alberta where my hiking/mountaineering journey would begin. It was a 4.5 hour drive from Edmonton to Jasper and about 3.5 hours was driven in horrible snow and hail making it hard to see ahead at times. As I approached Jasper, the sun was shining, and the snow stopped! And then wildlife began to appear =) 

I entered the town of Jasper, got settled into my little nest (I rented a room in a ladies basement to have a place to crash and also park the vehicle). Then I set out to start my adventure! I walked down the main street of Jasper and slowly the shops began to disappear, the people lessened, the wild life and beautiful scenery began to appear and all of a sudden I was alone. 

 The first sign of wildlife I experienced were Bighorn Sheep, the pack leader (the male) sat high in the mountains looking over his heard. In the meadow below grazed the large group of female Bighorn Sheep.

My trek continued to more beautiful pastures and scenery and I was spoiled with the presence of more wildlife. It seemed everywhere I turned something was waiting to be discovered. Traveling solo felt odd, but the sounds and smell of nature were very soothing. 

 Everywhere you turn here there are Elk and Mule Deer gracing you with their presence. Very cool to see them so close in a natural environment. Each heard I have run into has about 10-14 Mule Deer (female) and a single Elk (male) leading them. 

As I continued my trek the more snow I began to see! 

This is probably where I had my first tiny scare of my trip, The only path I could take to continue my hike was along the ice, although I took my time and walked very carefully half way through my leg caved into the ice and I was stuck in ice cold water up to my right hip. Although a tint of fear entered my body, discomfort and awkwardness was more prevalent (I was basically doing the splits cause one leg was in the water, the other on the cliff where I had been standing, thank goodness my coaches make me do pull-ups). Although it sounds horrible, I assure you it was not life threatening, just awkward to get out, and a bit of a piss off cause I was now wet! Luckily for me I was wearing appropriate gear, so aside from some wet socks, and boots I was doing just fine. 

The rest of my trek was much like the photos above, lots of woods, small mountains etc. I completed my trek and called it a night to ensure I would be rested for tomorrow, as tomorrow I shall snow shoe to 3480M above sea level and may I add they are not giving the best of weather conditions! 

Thanks once again for following me on this journey, I hope you enjoy the pictures and awesome stories along the way! I did not have wi-fi so my blogging is a little behind schedule. I will post day 2 tonight :) 

- San