Ireland

This travel adventure will be somewhat different then our past trips,a wedding celebration for Joe and Nancy's daughter Elizabeth is the main reason we will be touring Ireland,and what a great trip it turned out to be,of course we got some hiking and biking in, between the pub stops.

The End of a Great Adventure

Ok, I'm back it's been a very busy summer for me, a trip to Ireland and moving to a

new house,built in 1762 (not so new) I would like to end this 2009 adventure by saying

it was my first trip to the Canadian Rockies and as you can see in the photos the beauty

of the mountains is a sight to behold,also meeting and making new friends was a highlight

of this trip,I'm sure we will get together again for some adventure,we end our trip at the

Sunshine Village spa to soak those aching bones.

Next up an Irish Wedding Adventure

Wonder Pass

After another day of hiking around Assiniboine Provincial Park,we meet that night at the camp kitchen with our friends and decide we will all take the Wonder Pass back to our Van which is parked where we started the hike in,at the MT. Shark trail head,this way we can give our friends a ride back to their car which is parked at Sunshine Village where they started there trek,we also decide to make the trip out in a day an a half with an overnight stay at the Bryant Creek Shelter where we stayed on the way in,The Pass lies on the Alberta/British Columbia boundary with a magnificent view of Lake Marvel.

Nub Peak Trail

The Nub Peak Trail takes about an hour and a half to reach the twin hills known as the Nublet and the Niblet,we decide to have our lunch there with a spectacular view of the lakes and Mt

Assiniboine we then head back on the Sunburst Lake Trail which takes us pass the Sunburst,Cerulean and Elizabeth Lakes,that night we meet up with our Canadian friends at the cooking shelter,and after many hour es discussing the difference about our Countries,the politics,War,and Health Care we end on a lighter note thanking them for Chris Pronger...Lets go Flyers!

New Friends

The Naiset huts have a new cooking shelter with tables cook stoves a sink and propane lights,that night as we eat and discuss our next day trek, we meet four hikers who are staying in the huts near ours,Stu,Ross,Cheryl and Tom, Canadians all from the Edmonton area ,we spend a good amount of time talking about our hike in,they came in from Sunshine Village,now there trek in was a lot more eventful then ours since they meet up with one of the parks grizzly bears

on one of the trails near lake Magog,this is one of the great things about back country hiking(not getting up close and personal with bears)but meeting people from all over the world and making new friends....tomorrow the Nub Peak trail.

Fleabane Hut

Thursday 9/10 were told we could chose any available hut and and the weekend we could expect about twenty more guest,so we picked the fleabane hut which was in a

nice sunny location,we took a good two hour nap then Joe and Phil went to the Lodge

for the afternoon tea and cake,and meet the folks who sleep on a bed with clean sheets

not that I'm complaining my REI down sleeping bag worked just fine,While Joe and Phil

were going I heard voices there was a new group looking at one of the other huts,maybe

will meet them at dinner?

The Lodge

The trail system that we've been on in Banff and the Provincial Parks that surround the N.P. have been great,so well maintained and the view's have been nothing but spectacular,as we approach Assinbione Lodge we meet our warden friend and the proprietor of the lodge,after some small talk she asked where we were staying so we told her we had planned on tent camping she said that would be five dollars a night but for fifteen we could stay in the Naiset Huts she also wanted to know if we had a permit ,we told we didn't, no problem we'll give you a drop-in-permit...I love this Country there was also a camp kitchen we could use with two camp stoves tables,running water and a food locker,so much for the tents and stove with fuel we hiked in with.