Canada 2024: Paget Lookout and Whyte Museum

Our goal on July 16th was to climb to Paget Lookout, which Joan and I had only visited once before -- in 2012! The first part of the trail serves two destinations: Paget Lookout and Sherbrooke Lake. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

Across from the parking area and Wapta Lake runs the Canadian Pacific railroad.

The trail climbed steadily, with flowers along the way.

On reaching the intersection, we took the right-hand path,

and the flowers continued -- for a while.

The trail grew steadily steeper and narrower, and the foliage began to change; after all, the lookout is 2,000' above the parking lot. Here are some flourishing pine cones.

The view began to unfold as we huffed, puffed, sweated, and pushed on our hiking poles. We could see Kicking Horse Pass and, beyond it, the flatter lands around the town of Field and its Canadian Pacific train yard.

On the far-side slopes above Sherbrooke Lake, the geological stresses of the past are evident.

The trees thinned and the sun grew hotter. This was real work! Then the old lookout hove into view.

Below the hut lay a bench composed of three aging slalom boards. Here's a panoramic photo looking outward; the two segments composing it were taken from slightly different positions, so you may notice a few discontinuities. 😎

Other hikers came up. We had some good chats, particularly with two young women who have been working in Golden, about twenty miles southwest of Field, for five years. One was Dutch, and the other Quebecois.

 

Some continued on to scale Paget's peak. There is no trail, just route finding amongst loose rocks, and that did not appeal to us. The view to the east revealed a hazy sky; this image also includes the tan stones that form the upper reaches of Paget.

After consuming water and snacks, we descended to the Sherbrooke Lake intersection and headed for the water. Along the way we saw this spruce grouse. She was continually cheeping to lead her four chicks off the trail.

We had visited the lake several times in the last dozen years, most recently in 2022. I didn't take any photos this time, even though the route was lush in flowers, including orchids and insect-eaters. As usual, the prime lakeside spots were already taken, so Joan and I beat up the trail to find a decent spot to sit, and encountered our Dutch & Quebecois ladies again! We eventually found a suitable spot, ate another snack, and then began our return. The weather threatened and sprinkled a bit, but it didn't really count as rain.

The next day, the 17th, was entirely different. We began with the visitor center in Field, adjacent to the Kicking Horse River.

The river was high today, with various braided channels in the stream bed merging into a vigorous stream.

Joan and I arrived a few minutes before the visitor center opened, and we were treated to the passage of a train.

 

Inside the visitor center, I took a photo of the double spiral tunnels that the railroad takes to halve the steepness of Kicking Horse Pass. These double tunnels, modeled after those in Switzerland, were finished in 1909 after twenty-five years of runaway trains, the need for extra pushers to overcome uphill gradients, and other problems.

Then we drove up the pass and on to Banff, solely to take in the MacDonald exhibit at the Whyte Museum, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the artist's first visit to Lake O'Hara.

The geologists Patricia Cucman and the late Stanley Munn worked for 18 years to identify the spots from which MacDonald made his paintings. They also found evidence, such as paint scrapings and teacup shards, in those locations. Being Lake O'Hara devotees, Joan and I tried to identify as many of the painted views as we could. We had a great time at the museum.

 

Otherwise, there is little to recommend Banff anymore. Visitor cars must be parked at an extensive lot on the edge of town. In town, the swarms of tourists are subjected to a beehive of gift shops, art galleries, restaurants, and other methods of diverting you from the mountains and draining your purse, with quality ranging from high to, say, modest. The day was hot, and we bought some ice cream. One park had a vendor fair that we perused, but it was so hot that we saw one soft drink can, left in the sun, explode. I will confess that we did enjoy some of the veteran art galleries in town. But be aware that walking around the Banff core in high season is like trying to part the waters.

Then it was time to drive on to our next base of operations, the Lodge at Bow Lake. First opened in 1922, it has been refurbished and reopened, with ongoing work of expansion and infrastructure updates. (We got the 4th floor suite and loved it!)

Bow Lake itself is a magnet, situated just off the Icefields Parkway, that attracts walkers, hikers heading up to Bow Falls or Bow Hut, watercraft renters, wedding parties, and gawkers. There is a reserved parking area for lodge guests a short distance from the lodge, which provides transit services for guests via golf cart. Here's a photo of one portion of Bow Lake in the late evening calm.

Our goal for tomorrow is Helen Lake, an extensive hike we had done only once before, long ago.

Sightings at Clear Creek, Rhododendron Cove, Wahkeena, and Christmas Rocks

Between June 10th and 23rd, 2025, Joan and I visited four different parks and preserves with the goal of 1) checking them out, and 2) building up our hiking stamina!

 

On our first visit, Clear Creek Metro Park, we focused mainly on the Fern and Hemlock trails. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

A view of the Hemlock Trail, before it starts its big climb.

Various mushrooms and fungi ...

Click on any image to enlarge.

Best of all, a grey rat snake, holding still and hoping it looked like a stick.

Not far away, at the Rhododendron Cove State Nature Preserve, there were some early rhododendron blooms, but just a few on our June 12th visit. Here's a good one:

Further along, we saw two eastern American toads, of distinct sizes and coloration.

This one was quite young!

After descending from Rhododendron Cove, Joan and I drove to the nearby Wahkeena Nature Preserve (Fairfield County Parks). We enjoyed the one-mile loop walk, the ponds, and the exhibits in the visitor center; photographically, I caught this image of a blue dasher, one of the best photos I've taken recently.

While chatting with a staff member outside the visitor center, we caught a brief glimpse of what we believe was a river otter. Wahkeena isn't far from the Hocking River, so it's plausible. There was a green dragon outside the visitor center, a plant Joan had been hoping to see for years.

 

On the 16th, we returned to Clear Creek, but started at the far western side. The day was hot and humid, but at least the percentage chance of rain was low. The next photo is another American toad.

The same patch hosted a much smaller toad.

Here's a surprise an hour later on -- fire pinks!

A panoramic shot representative of one of the less steep parts of the Chestnut Ridge trail.

Five minutes later, a green adder's-mouth orchid! Too bad the focus was on the single leaf rather than the bloom ...

There are sometimes water trickles, rivulets, or minor creeks tucked into folds along the trail. Today we noticed one hosting many small "froglets,"

and a bigger sibling.

At the east end of the trail, Joan and I encountered a butterfly study group led by two Metro Park staff. Along that path there was a green-fringed orchid.

We continued to the intersection of the Fern and Hemlock trails and, with the heat and humidity sapping our strength, decided it was time to retrace our steps back ~3 miles to our starting point. About an hour into our return we noticed a blooming southern catalpa -- it's hard to miss --

native to the deep south of the United States, but now widely planted and naturalized well beyond its original range.

 

On June 20th, Joan and I visited Christmas Rocks State Nature Preserve. It was a hot and muggy day -- but according to the forecasts, the best day for at least a week!

To make this a more substantial hike, Joan and I did the loops in both directions, clockwise and counterclockwise. This had the salutary side-effect that plants and animals that weren't visible in one direction were detected on the other loop. And what did we see early on, but yet another American toad! Perhaps they enjoy the warm, humid air.

The view at the crest of the orange loop, called Jacob's Ladder, is minimized by greenery in summer,

but there are some landmarks to see with binoculars, and we watched a kettle of vultures begin to coalesce in the rising columns of air.

Next, a token on the side of the trail, which someone had obviously deliberately placed.

Then, another blue darter damselfly!

This midland painted turtle looks like it has algae on its shell, doesn't it? We found it well up the hillside.

Here's a view of a sandstone formation on the blue loop.

The "panorama" mode on my camera created some sun streaks.

And we encountered another damselfly, a female ebony jewelwing.

Then, our friend the rattlesnake plantain. Joan and I saw quite a few here.

Finally, although I don't have a photo, on our clockwise trek on the blue loop we encountered a kentucky warbler, who must have read a guidebook based on its behavior. Bug in mouth, it chittered at us from a bush adjacent to the trail, distracting us from the actual location of its nest.

 

It's been a great treat/workout exploring nearby Ohio Parks and Nature Preserves. Now if only the heat would let up.

Canada 2024: To Twin Falls and Back, a Long Journey

 On July 15th, 2024, Joan and I drove up the Yoho Valley road, including its notorious double switchbacks,

Click on any image to enlarge.

to park at the site of Takakkaw Falls,

Takakkaw Falls bottom right, Twin Falls top left.

and began our hike to Twin Falls and the now-shuttered Twin Falls Chalet, six miles one-way, not counting side trails. Takakkaw is extraordinarily popular,

and was already busy, but Joan and I managed to find a parking spot in the campground parking area. We brought extra water bottles along, given the prediction for hot weather. A fire ban had been declared because of breezy winds and dry conditions.

The first segment of the hike was a gentle grade on gravel and then packed dirt. There are many destinations, but only one way to begin. (Note: the distance to Yoho Glacier is now irrelevant, as it has melted back out of sight.)

As the woods crowded closer to the route, we encountered this yellow columbine.

We observed our first waterfall from a distance.

It was on the other side of the Yoho River, where the summer melt had created white-water conditions.

Joan and I did take the short spur to the Point Lace Falls;

water flows into the Yoho from the heights on all sides.

Continuing on, our next side trip was the Duchesnay Lake spur.

It had contracted a lot in the summer heat. Is it not receiving as much melt as before?

Naturally, we weren't the only ones on this popular trail. We briefly said hello to a cheerful group of Japanese tourists.

As the day progressed, the Yoho grew ever stronger. The glacial sediments remained suspended in the rushing middle, while at the sides they settled, turning the river edges turquoise(ish).

Just a few minutes later, we reached the campground below Laughing Falls, whose waters join the main stream.

Note the tents.

The Laughing Falls.

Laughing Falls

The crowds thinned beyond this landmark. Soon, a major intersection appeared. You can choose to ascend the west wall of Yoho Valley for various destinations, or continue north for Twin Falls.

 After further climbing, with the temperature rising, Joan and I needed the encouragement of seeing the Twin Falls in the distance.

Photo at full zoom.

The trail wound through a long sequence of ascending switchbacks and passed by a spur for the campground. Continuing on, we eventually saw the water from Twin Falls passing through a slit gorge.

After one more climb, the falls appeared.

How things looked downstream:

Joan and I also checked out the now-defunct chalet/teahouse,

Click on any image to enlarge.

sat on a bench, admired the falls, and followed the brief local loop around the site. This photo shows the chalet at its best, back in 2003, on our first trip here. Now, it is in considerably worse shape after various closures and reopenings; the Alpine Club of Canada surrendered its License of Occupation in January 2023.

Here is an interesting note from worldwaterfalldatabase, which confirms what we'd heard about the history of the falls:

  

When one channel of Twin Falls would get obstructed by debris flowing downstream and "turn off,"  workers would routinely be dispatched to the lip of the falls to remedy the situation with dynamite. In one such case, they actually succeeded in completely blocking the channel and temporarily turning the falls into a single plunge rather than a twin. The problem was, however, subsequently "fixed" and is no longer a concern today.

 

Given the heat and looming return hike, we decided not to tackle the climb to the top of the falls, let alone the whaleback trail that begins there -- the high point in the ridge is ~1300' higher up.

 

On the way back, around 3:00pm, at the intersection with the trail going up the west wall of the valley, Joan and I encountered a couple studying the sign. The husband immediately asked (I paraphrase from memory):

    "Which way do I go for the photos?"

It turned out that, having arrived in the mountains unprepared, this late arrival had sought advice from the visitors center in Field. Nonetheless, he couldn't name a specific destination or viewpoint, but still insisted on an answer in a New York minute. Given that, we couldn't help him.

 

The temperature continued to climb, and the last mile or two, out in the sun walking on gravel, were particularly wearing. Still, we continued past the campground parking, where we'd left our car, to get a view of the Takakkaw Falls in the afternoon light.

 

It was crowded. Flocks of people lined the walk towards the viewpoint. I couldn't take an afternoon photo of the falls from the viewpoint due to the constant mist, but before getting there, I took this one.

It had been a long day -- 13 miles total -- and returning on the flat, paved viewpoint path, I stumbled and fell. Got back up, embarrassed but uninjured.