Hiking in the Rockies
It was a bright, cold, clear morning with ice on the car. We said our goodbyes at the Edith Cavell hostel and headed up the road to the start of our trail. Emma very wary of bears as we walked through the woods, but we were behind some other walkers so she felt a bit safer. The path twisted steeply at first, up through pine forest, and then came out onto the hillside, with good views across at the Angel Glacier. We followed the trail up to viewpoint three, and decided to continue up. We got to over 6000ft, with lots of snow and fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. The air was thin and biting, but we survived the hostile environment and are now wanting more!
Later that afternoon, we arrived at our next rustic hostel - Athabasca Falls. We booked in at the same time as two English women, Sally and Maud. The hostel was not quite as primitive as Edith Cavell - it had electricity! Chatting over tea, we told Maud and Sally about our quest to see the Northern Lights, and they suggested that we set the alarm and all get up in the middle of the night!
The alarm went off at 4am, and we went in search of the Northern Lights. We couldn't see anything because of the trees, so we wandered away from the hostel. Emma's fear of wildlife seemed to dwindle; she obviously felt that Maud and Sally would be able to fend off savage bears! We didn't see the NL's but we did see an amazing star lit sky, even a few shooting stars. The freezing cold set in, so we headed back to bed.
