Rocky Mountains previous:
Day one
Day two
Ground squirrel
Marmot
Day three
Day four – first half
Day four – second half
Day five
Pika
Day six
Day seven -Sentinel Pass
Our adventure came to an end, and it was time to move towards Calgary, because next morning my friends should flight home. But it was pity to spend whole day just driving, and we decided to stop in Banff, to take a short hike, spend the night somewhere close to Calgary, and next morning to go to the airport. After the long debates, we decided to go to Moraine Lake and hike to Sentinel Pass. I was there several years ago, and the Pass left me with very nice remembrances.
On the road – view to Athabasca Glacier, the place where you can ride on the glacier by the special bus.
The glacier, closer.
We came to Banff later afternoon, and started hiking almost in sunset, so the lights were not really good. On the other hand, all the traffic on the trail was against our direction. Very soon we met ground squirrel on the trail. It diligently pretended to look like a shy girl.
The way to the Sentinel Pass laid via larch valley. It is nice during the summer, but really beautiful in the fall, when larches turn yellow.
Mount Babel (with a glacier) and its neighbours.
Way to the Pass among larches.
Some views of Mount Babel with variations of foreground.
To the Pass.
This is a view from the Pass to another side.
It was time to go back, but before leaving, we took our time to play with animals living at the pass.
The animal of the Pass was a young chipmunk, very shy, teenager really.
Among chipmunk, there were several ground squirrels on the pass. One of them effectively used the hikers as its food niche. We spend about forty minutes playing with this squirrel, and, of course, feeding it with nuts and dry berries. A lot of photograph were made, so I will make a separate post about this rodent.
At the dusk we went down, and it was the end of our adventures in Canadian Rockies.
To be continued:
Sentinel Pass – Ground Squirrel
Rockies Fungi
