I was there for a week, we stationed up at the University of Calgary Biogeosciences center an hour or so west of Calgary. During the week we did many geologic tours and several short and long hikes I will only post some of the highlights of the trip here.
Day 1- Travel Flew into calgary, gathered people from many different flights at the airport and got some rental vans to drive off into the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rockies.
Day 2- Lots of driving in vans, Front Ranges
University of Calgary Biogeosciences Center
Mt. Baldy behind some of the cabins that scientists stay in
Some pictures of Mt. Yamnuska on the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. I was with a geology group, so there was much talk about thrust faulting and limestones etc. etc. Whatever is responsible the views are always awe inspiring.
Since most of these rock units were limestone, there was always the chance when looking at a rock outcrop during the trip that one could find some fossils. Here is some which I found along the shoreline of Lac des Arcs in the Bow River valley
Day 3- Banff National park
Hiking around Lake Johnson in Banff national park
The City of Banff is right in the middle of the park. Nearby is Tunnel mountain which overlooks the town. A small group of us decided to hike that with our alloted 2 hours to walk around Banff and buy souveniers.
Summit of Tunnel Mountain 1,680m (5,543 ft)
Obligatory Lake Louise selfie
Day 4- Local (~1.5hrs drive) hike near Biogeosciences center
Moose near Spray Lake
Hike up to Rummel Lake 2300m (7545 ft)
Larix (Larch) around rummel Lake
Day 5- Icefields Parkway (driving...)
Dawn Alpenglow on Mountains flanking the west of the Kananaskis Valley
Breakfast in the Kananaskis Valley
We took a drive far up into the Icefields Parkway.
Here is Crowfoot glacier
Glacial Lake Peyto. Chalky blue with Glacial Flour
Here I am taking a walk on the Athabasca Glacier (And no I didn't bring my crampons!)
Meltwater on the Athabasca Glacier
Day 6- Burgess Shale hike
The Burgess Shale is a restricted Zone and a UNESCO world heritage site. There is a public access trail which goes past the col the shale lies on. However the mountain is off-limits unless you have a guide from the Burgess Shale conservation organization. They limit the groups to 12 at a time in the shale, so we had to split our group of 24 into two, and stagger the approaches so we wouldn't reach maximum capacity. These are one of a kind fossils, and not very many people get to see them outside of a museum display. The trip needs to be booked months in advance, is very cost prohibitive, and is a 14 mile hike up to 7,500 feet of elevatin.
The public access part of the trail. This place has constant rock fall and is very dangerous.
I forget the names of these mountains and its snowcap and waterfall.
Hiking up into the restricted zone to the fossil quarry
Some crazy cambrian explosion fossils! Compass length is total 10cm
Our professional guide has the key for all the fossils
Do you like triolobites?
Me taking a look at some cambrian fossils in the Burgess Shale
Afterwords we had to hike back down along the narrow mountain paths again. Despite looking very steep, most of the trails are switchbacked a lot and very low grade so it's not difficult climbing.
Day 7- Flight back to jersey
As we flew down from the Great White North we actually passed right over some familiar peaks!
