Mt. Robson

We're back, and we had a great time. It seems that we managed to escape the bad weather too. Mt. Robson was gorgeous and most of the time that we were there, the weather was clear enough for us to be able to see the peak. W took this photo through the car windshield on the way there. Mt. Robson, at 3954 m, is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies and it truly is stunning to look at. As we came around the corner on the highway this view just filled our whole windshield, it really was awesome, and I couldn't wait to get into the park and start hiking and exploring. There are so many fantastic hikes in this area that I was easily able to satisfy myself with day hikes from the campground (this time), but after reading more about the Berg Lake trail I know that I will have to go back again, and next time I will bring my husband so we can both go and get to do the whole trail. This is Kinney Lake - beautiful and very cold.

One of the peaks is named Mt. Resplendent, how excellent a name is that? I think that is my favourite mountain name. I am not normally a fan of mountains or lakes named after men who "discovered" or "conquered" them, so it is a pleasure to hear of a peak with such a well-suited name, it truly is splendid. I notice that a few of the park activities (puppet show for kids) and some of the displays at the visitor information center focus on global warming. It is hard to find a place with more dramatic displays of this than at a park with glaciers. The glacier that my husband and I have most often hiked on, Illecillewaet, in Glacier National Park , has receded 2 km since it was first photographed in 1887. The glacier on Mt.Robson is receding at a rate of 52 feet per year. Mt. Robson is where the Fraser river starts, there are actually little particles of Mt. Robson (this is called rock flour and it is what gives the colour to the water that you see above in the Kinney Lake pic) flowing all along the Fraser and coming out along the farmlands in the Fraser Valley area. The Fraser is an extremely important salmon river; we saw Rearguard falls, which is pretty much the end of the line for the salmon migration, only the strongest and largest Coho and Chinook can get over these falls. My son asked me what will happen when there is no glacier to melt a bit each spring and cause the run-off, he wanted to know what would happen to the salmon and their eggs, and I had to say that I don't know.

E enjoyed the hikes inasmuch as he could find edibles along the way. He was finding blueberries, strawberries, saskatoons and raspberries and I showed him some clover and explained that he could find it growing anywhere at home and then he would be able to pick it because it wouldn't be in a park. He had a taste of it and then said, in a plaintive voice, "Mom, I wish you had told me about this before." Which really means - Mom, how could you have let me live such a miserable existence for seven long years without knowing the delight that is clover. He was also not impressed that I showed him something that he thought tasted so fabulous and then told him that he couldn't pick it because we were still in the park. Poor kid.

And here they are in all their grubby silliness, waiting to celebrate Parks Day and wanting me to take their picture.

And here is what we came home to. Fried zucchini sticks tonight!

And a lot of sunflowers blown over (or possibly pelted down by rain?). Off with their heads, I say, they were falling down on my tomatoes...and you don't want to mess with my tomatoes.