| KAYAKING ON JASPER LAKES |
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| Canada - Canada 2008 | |||
| Written by Daniela Pascan | |||
| Monday, 14 July 2008 00:00 | |||
...or a dream came true!Another weekend is coming and we don’t want to spend it at home! Where to go? What to do? Hiking again? Florin and our CARA friends plan to attempt Athabasca, an old project on their list. CARA girls, plan to do an easy hike. I am a little bit bored with hiking. I want something else! The weather promised to be quite nice but as we all know in Alberta weather doesn’t read the weather forecast. Saturday morning (more like Saturday night) the need of doing something new, shapes the idea: kayaking! Kayaking has always been one of our top preferred outdoor activities. We were “infested by kayak virus” while in USA, after spending 3 years on the Atlantic Ocean shore (Hilton Head Island). But once in Canada, we were so overwhelmed by the Rocky Mountains (hiking, climbing, skiing) that we “forgot” our passion for water and kayaking. Every time we faced a nice blue Canadian lake we both thought,”How nice must be to kayak on this turquoise waters!” And the day to kayak on such waters came naturally, without to much planning. We bought the kayak car rack at 8:00 am on Saturday, then we went to pick up the “boats”. We do not own kayaks, obviously, but we rented them from the Outdoor Center (University of Calgary) and the price is very decent! First lake …or “let’s get our toes wet” was Waterfowl Lake in Jasper on Saturday afternoon. We paddled slowly for 3 hours, to absorb every sensation and to fill our being with the rediscovered pleasure. I didn’t want to leave! I couldn’t get enough!
That evening, too excited and too happy we left for the camp were we meet with the others. All evening was spent with the boys making plans for the next day ascent on Athabasca. But who cares about their plan? I couldn’t wait for the sunrise and to get back on the water, by myself! But one “individual’ didn’t participate to their planning session: the weather. It supposed to be a nice day, partially cloudy, but at 5:00 am when they woke up to leave, it was pouring heavily. I guess no one insisted to leave on such conditions; therefore, they all came back to their sleeping bags for few more hours. I was sorry for them as I knew how much they wanted to go on Athabasca, but on the other hand I was happy to have a kayaking partner. Late morning, the rain stopped; the others spend the day hiking in Jasper, while Florin and I “hit” almost every lake on our way back home – 3 lakes. We started on Waterfowl Lake again, as warm up. We got rained a little bit, but just few drops to “refresh” us.  Then we moved to Bow Lake, much bigger water surface and “troubled” by wind, waves and currents. We paddled all the way to the “end” where we found a nice white sandy beach and a small stream. We “parked” the kayaks and followed the river to discover that it comes from a huge waterfall! There is also a land trail that takes you there but we followed the water trail.
 Bow Lake on May 4, 2008 still frozen!
 Bow Lake on July 27, 2008 !
The third lake, the “icing on the kayaking cake” was Lake Morraine in the Valley of 10 Peaks. Any Canadian landscapes calendar or book must have at least one picture with this lake, it’s like a perfect shot for any photographer pro or amateur; the view is so perfect that composes its self in as “stupid proof” photo. About 20 years ago, in my mom’s office, I saw a picture of magical Lake Morraine in a calendar. This was before 1989 in Romania, a communist county at that time; to own a passport was a special privilege and not a right. I was just a little girl, born and raised in the communist system and by seeing this picture and some others in the calendar; I concluded that Canada must be the most beautiful county on Earth. At that time Canada seemed to be such a farway land, almost unreal, almost like another planet, so untouchable! That image of the lake followed me for the next years of my life: glass smooth turquoise water, blue sky, the snowed mountain majesties around the lake and few red kayaks on the water! The day we decided to start the emigration process for Canada, I goggled “Lake Morraine” on Internet and I found a nice desktop picture which I had on my laptop until I got to see the lake live, 2 ½ years later. Also when we decided for Canada, we looked at the map and we knew it had to be a place close to the mountains. We didn’t know much about Calgary and frankly we didn’t care much, but the location was perfect for our plans. It worked out better than expected! On Sunday July 27, at 6:00 pm we launched our red kayaks in the waters of the famous Lake Morraine. By doing this I closed a circle, a 20 years old dream came true, I was part of the picture that inspired me (or maybe obsessed me) so many years! That moment is so precious to me that will not trade the memory of the feeling I had for nothing in this world! My picture in a red kayak, on the Morraine Lake will always be the proof that if I really want something, nothing can stop me! Who could have imagined 20 years ago that the little girl looking at those colorful calendar pictures will end up one day being part of the landscape?
What mind can imagine the man can accomplish! 
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| Last Updated on Monday, 08 December 2008 18:54 |
