Monday, August 1, 2011 Edmonton
5:10 am
The temperature is +12 C, with a high predicted of +22 C.
From the Environment Canada website: Today Clearing this morning. Wind becoming west 20 km/h gusting to 40 near noon. High 22. UV index 6 or high. Tonight Clear. Low 11. Normals Max: 23°C Min: 11°C.
Today's forecast for Jasper is holding good.
3:00 PM Geocaching
This was a very good day for me and geocaching. I only found 2 geocaches, but they were numbers 999 and 1,000.
Leach Lake
Here are 2 photos of the lake:
Here is a copy of the log I posted on the geocaching.com web site:
"This is a very special cache for me. Our family, friends, and relatives often came here to picnic, build a fire in the picnic shelter, and play a game of ball on the road (it was gravel then, and the only road to Banff). There were more bears on the road than cars, but they all let us play. I would also try fishing from shore and one summer I put a canoe on the lake when visibility due to early morning fog was almost nil. Truly magic! I finally saw the mountain peaks long before the trees along the shore. Find number 999. A special thanks to Browneyedsusan for placing a cache in this location!"
Canadian Rocky Mountains
This is an Earthcache which requires one to go to the specified coordinates and find the answers to a few questions. The answers are then emailed to the cache creator who sends back a message indicating that you have permission to post a "find". I have sent the email and am now awaiting a reply before officially claiming my 1,000th find.
The trip to the coordinates involved taking the Jasper SkyTram to a sub-summit and then hiking about 2 km to the final summit.
Here are a few photos of the hike to the summit of Whistler Mountain:
[Addendum] Here is a copy of the log I posted at the geocaching.com web site:
"This was find 1000.
The cache is a very special one for me. I first hiked up this mountain in 1959 when the only way up was the trail. Today I used the SkyTram. Thanks for the Earthcache - they are my favorite type."
8:30 PM Life
We returned to Jasper after completing the geocaching for the day and stopped at the Jasper Pizza Place on the main street for a beer and pizza.
We then checked into our motel. For the second time this year they upgraded our room. This one has a full kitchen and a fireplace (sans wood in the summer).
We got cleaned up and then headed back for dinner at a new Moroccan restaurant where I had a delicious chicken kebab and some deep fried shrimp in a gorgeous coconut sauce.
Then further downtown we stopped briefly in a shop that specializes in Canadian books where I bought three:
- "Emperor of the North" (2008) by James Raffan
- I have his earlier biography of the canoeist Bill Mason, and am looking forward to this.
- "The Palliser Expedition" (1995) by Irene M. Spry.
- We live in this area, known as the Palliser Triangle. I am looking forward to this story.
- "The Forgotten Explorer" (2009) by Samuel Prescott Fay
- I have never heard of this expedition.
Then time for a quick purchase of wine and back to the motel.
We have completed all of the items on our agenda for this quick trip to Edmonton, Stony Plain and Jasper. Tomorrow we head home.