June 3, 2020, Vision Quest Ridge (false summit) and Icefields Parkway
Distance: 6.3 km to summit
Elevation gain: 851 m to summit
On Wednesday, June 3, Fred and I decided it was finally time to drive into the national parks and scope out conditions. Because we were opting for a long drive this day, we chose to hike up Vision Quest Ridge by Abraham Lake in David Thompson Country, an area we have never been to before. While rising at 5:30 am felt extremely early, Fred and I both realized shortly after we got in the car that we need to seriously switch our sleep schedules. Accomplishing long hikes off the Icefields Parkway need a much earlier wake up time. It is taking some time getting into a summer hiking routine.
Just before reaching the Stony Trail overpass, I saw something moving on the road ahead of us. I grabbed Fred’s arm so hard – to try and stop the car 😆 – but this strategy is not typically successful. Thankfully, Fred saw the same movement and stopped. Once closer, we saw it was a momma duck walking her four extremely young babies across FOUR lanes of traffic. The babies were so small and could barely jump the curb onto the grass.
The drive to Canmore was uneventful except for a lone female elk eating grass in the middle median on the highway by Dead Man’s Flats. I shudder seeing this and sent a wish out to the universe that she would be cross two extremely busy highway lanes safely. Shortly after, I became immersed in the views. The Bow River was running extremely high. Mountain peaks were covered in snow. And the trees and grass, etc., had greened up considerably. Clouds were moving over the peak of Temple, but the crisp morning air made for stellar views of its glacier. We pulled into Lake Louise to grab gas and were stunned to be the ONLY car at the four-way stop. Seriously! Someone posted a picture of Lake Louise from the Big Beehive and there were NO cars in the two large parking lots up the hill. No cars. While the pandemic has been tragic in so many, many ways, I think these environmentally sensitive areas have had a much needed break from humans, and would benefit from a continued break from people.
Once on the Icefields Parkway, Fred and I were in our glory. Simply driving this road is a wonderful experience. We stopped at Herbert Lake only to find all snow and ice had melted, making for gorgeous views of the lake with the Lake Louise giants behind. Further along we saw that Bow Lake was starting to break up and Waterfowl Lakes had fully thawed. The clouds were swirling around Mount Chephren peak making for a dramatic scene.
Shortly after Waterfowl Lakes, we came upon some road construction. Both of us commented on how far back from any construction vehicles needed to reduce their speed to 50. And then by the time we reached the construction (or rather a construction worker with a stop sign), we stopped and waited for quite some time before a lone pick-up truck came. Interestingly, our wait was for this pick-up truck to come and lead us down the road through the construction. It had a huge sign on it that read “follow the pilot car.” Fred being Fred, made a joke about where was the pilot car. We both felt it was a silly system because likely 4 pylon cones would have done the trick.
By the time we reached the Saskatchewan River Crossing area, it was getting to be late morning. We turned onto Highway 11 and made our way to Abraham Lake. I must say I love this area. Quite quickly we were at the turnoff to the Vision Quest trailhead. Given the lateness of the day, Fred and I opted to climb to just the false summit. Abraham Lake water levels were extremely low and we thought it would be great to come again when we had better views of a full lake in front of Mount Michener. That said, we enjoyed the steep climb up and the views from the false summit. Once back at the car, we decided to drive a bit further up Highway 11 and then walk down to and roam the lake’s shoreline.
After exploring the shoreline, it was time to start the 3.5 hour drive home. When we reached the Saskatchewan River Crossing area, we were treated to a gorgeous black bear in complete euphoria gorging on “candylions.” He would lay down and just eat what was around him before standing, walking a few steps, and then lying down again. At one point the bear was lying on his side with his head on the ground just eating. What an amazing sight to see. I was incredibly thankful I had my long lens with me.
Shortly afterward we entered the construction zone. This time we waited a long while before the pilot car arrived to lead us through this challenging course 😆 and then we waited even longer while the driver jumped out, had a smoke and chatted with her colleague for about 5 minutes. What ended up being so hilarious is even with a pilot car, Fred and everyone following us ended up going over a HUGE bump in the road because the pilot car led us the wrong way.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful. We did see another black bear off the Icefields Parkway but I was not fast enough to get a picture. It was a fabulous day in the mountains!
