JJ wanted to go the mountains for the last time as a Calgarian and before he relocated back to London. JJ, Anne and we set out on a Sunday morning (18/Oct/09) having a quick Cafe Beano's coffee. It had just started snowing in the mountains. So we could see the snow capped mountains. But it hadn’t yet snowed enough for the Skiing season to begin. The tracks hardly had any snow.
We first went to Bow Summit which is a viewpoint for Peyto Lake and glacier. It’s on the Icefields parkway road within Banff National Park - around 30 minutes from Lake Louise. We drove up to the Bow Pass/Summit. The lookout point is a short trail from the parking lot. The path was icy and slippery. Sharan and I didn’t have shoes which could be used on this terrain. JJ being the English gentleman that he is, very kindly offered to help me walk. Sharan was on his own with his Camera. The viewpoint is that of Peyto Lake and Glacier. The lake is turquoise blue and shaped like a dog (or that’s what it looked like to us). It was stunning. We could also see the half melted glacier which forms the source of this lake. We hear it in the news and read it elsewhere but really the affects of global warming is clearly seen around these areas with glaciers melting. The lake is surrounded by lush coniferous forests. Behind the forest are the Rocky Mountains. The place looked absolutely enchanting. As we hung around having hot “Chai” (tea) brought by JJ in a thermos, it started to snow. So we quickly drank up and left for our next destination - Mistaya Canyon
We first went to Bow Summit which is a viewpoint for Peyto Lake and glacier. It’s on the Icefields parkway road within Banff National Park - around 30 minutes from Lake Louise. We drove up to the Bow Pass/Summit. The lookout point is a short trail from the parking lot. The path was icy and slippery. Sharan and I didn’t have shoes which could be used on this terrain. JJ being the English gentleman that he is, very kindly offered to help me walk. Sharan was on his own with his Camera. The viewpoint is that of Peyto Lake and Glacier. The lake is turquoise blue and shaped like a dog (or that’s what it looked like to us). It was stunning. We could also see the half melted glacier which forms the source of this lake. We hear it in the news and read it elsewhere but really the affects of global warming is clearly seen around these areas with glaciers melting. The lake is surrounded by lush coniferous forests. Behind the forest are the Rocky Mountains. The place looked absolutely enchanting. As we hung around having hot “Chai” (tea) brought by JJ in a thermos, it started to snow. So we quickly drank up and left for our next destination - Mistaya Canyon 
Mistaya Canyon is also on the same highway as Bow Pass. But it’s further up and took us another 30 minutes to drive to that place. A trail off the highway led us to the Canyon. One cannot miss it as it is well sign-posted. Along the trail we saw the wrath of storm that lashed this region last year. Trees were uprooted and ripped apart. Mistaya Canyon is formed by the Mistaya River whose source is a glacier around Peyto Lake. The white water of Mistaya River roared down the Canyon and a spray of water surrounded the place. The Canyon was really deep and one could easily notice the path the river had taken, eroding and curving the rocks along the way. We hung around the place for a while enjoying views of this boisterous river in a tranquil background before heading back home.
We had seen the mountains in summer and fall. It was our first time in the mountains after it had snowed. The 2 places were exquisite in their own way and nothing like what we had seen before. I suppose it was a good day for JJ - to say goodbye to the mountains. I guess he’ll miss the proximity of the mountains the most for he'd be back for the skiing season(s) but that's a different matter.
More Information on these 2 destinations:
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