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Trivia Quiz #7
Jill Hayward and her husband Bob have a number of items on their 'Bucket List'; like seeing the Salmon Glacier, British Columbia, on July 23, 2011 | Submitted by Bob Hayward | Submit yours!
Grizzly Bear. Photo taken near Kananaskis Lakes, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Kananaskis Country, Alberta | Submitted by Trevor Ward | Submit yours!
First summits! Photo taken at Mount Fairview, in 2010, Banff National Park, Alberta | Submitted by Tanya Koob | Submit yours!
Time to play! Photo taken at Deception Pass, in March 2011, Banff National Park, Alberta | Submitted by Michael Southward | Submit yours!
Binocular, photo taken at Lake Louise, in September 2011, Banff National Park, Alberta | Submitted by Yu Liu | Submit yours!
Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta | Submitted by Gary Clennan, Calgary, Alberta | July 17, 2010 | Submit yours!
En route for Lake McArthur, British Columbia, July 2010 | Submitted by John Drew, Toronto, Ontario | August 10, 2010 | Submit yours!
Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta | Submitted by Debbie Sheridan, Kamloops, British Columbia | July 27, 2010 | Submit yours!
On the Bow River, Bow Valley, Alberta | Submitted by David Hudson, Taunton, United Kingdom | March 30, 2010 | Submit yours!
On the way to Miette Hot Springs, Jasper National Park, Alberta | Submitted by Damien Bottolier-Curtet, Haute-Savoie, France | February 21, 2011 | Submit yours!
Pyramid Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta | Submitted by Dale Doram, Edmonton, Alberta | July 23, 2010 | Submit yours!
Self portrait on top of Panorama Ridge viewpoint overlooking Garibaldi Lake, British Columbia, July 2007 | Submitted by Claude Robidoux, Penticton, British Columbia | March 21, 2011 | Submit yours!
Submitted by Alexander Babos,
Fort Collins, Colorado, U.S.A. | October 8, 2010 | Submit yours!
Discovering Athabasca, Icefields Parkway, Alberta |
Submitted by Anders Rempel, Steinbach, Manitoba | September 23, 2010 | Submit yours!
Looking over Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta, in the morning. |
Submitted by Andrej Zlatos, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. | September 26, 2010 | Submit yours!
"True Canadian Splendor". Shot at Wilcox Pass in Jasper National Park, Alberta in July, 2010 | Submitted by Benjamin Barlow, Eaton Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A. | October 17, 2010 | Submit yours!
Submitted by Brian MacDonald, Grande Prairie, Alberta | August 29, 2010 | Submit yours!
Bow Valley, May 17th, 2010, taken off the Bow Valley road in between Banff and Lake Louise. | Submitted by Caroline Freebairn, Calgary, Alberta | August 1, 2010 | Submit yours!
Iceland poppies, Lake Louise, Alberta, August 2010 | Submitted by Cesar Bueno, Vallejo, California, U.S.A. | August 22, 2010 | Submit yours!
Sun rising on Victoria Glacier with the Death Trap below, Banff National Park, Alberta. | Submitted by Cindy Walker, Calgary, Alberta | August 31, 2010 | Submit yours!
Submitted by Claire Stanhope, Coldstream, British Columbia | October 30, 2010 | Submit yours!
"The 3 Amigos", Bighorn Sheep in Radium Hot Springs | Submitted by Dale Genest, Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia | September 3, 2010 | Submit yours!
Hiking along a Jasper trail, Jasper National Park, Alberta, August 2010 | Submitted by Dale Nally, Saint-Albert, Alberta | November 17, 2010 | Submit yours!
"A moment to remember", Edith Lake | Submitted by Darlene Nguyen, Edmonton, Alberta | August 12, 2010 | Submit yours!
Fly-fishing in the Kootenays, British Columbia, on August 2, 2010 | Submitted by Debbie Sheridan, Kamloops, British Columbia | September 8, 2010 | Submit yours!
My daughter enjoying the view from Whistler Mountain summit, British Columbia | Submitted by Fernando Ortiz, Naucalpan, Mexico | October 17, 2010 | Submit yours!
"Stop", Medicine Lake, Jasper National Park, 2009. | Submitted by Ganna Melekh, Edmonton, Alberta | August 1, 2010 | Submit yours!
Chipmunk on a stone barrier, Lake Louise, Banff, Alberta, August, 2010 on a hiking trail just next to the lake itself. | Submitted by Grace Mah, Edmonton, Alberta | August 28, 2010 | Submit yours!
Storm on Mount Vimy, Waterton Lakes National Park, October 5, 2009 | Submitted by Greg Abt, Ponoka, Alberta | August 8, 2010 | Submit yours!
A mother grizzly with her two cubs in Jasper National Park, Alberta, May 2010. | Submitted by Guy d'Anjou, Prevost, Québec | November 30, 2010 | Submit yours!
Elk | Submitted by Jaliya Rasaputra, Nepean, Ontario | October 14, 2010 | Submit yours!
Blue heron, Bowser, Vancouver Island, British Columbia | Submitted by Jennie Holt, Wabasca, Alberta | August 26, 2010 | Submit yours!
Canmore, Alberta, my first helicopter ride, and a view from the top, back in May 2009! | Submitted by Maria Roxas-Enriquez, Banff, Alberta | August 5, 2010 | Submit yours!
"Mountain Spectrum" From the end of Maligne Lake, Cornet Creek, Jasper National Park, Alberta. | Submitted by Laura Barlow, Eaton Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A. | October 17, 2010 | Submit yours!
Submitted by Marietta Pangan-Dutkoski, Calgary, Alberta | December 10, 2010 | Submit yours!
Submitted by Mark Brooker, Calgary, Alberta | October 7, 2010 | Submit yours!
Nothing more to ask for...Glacier Lake, Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, October 2, 2010 | Submitted by Mylene Poulin, Calgary, Alberta | October 4, 2010 | Submit yours!
"Taking it all in", canoeing at Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park, British Columbia | Submitted by Owen Yuen, Calgary, Alberta | September 4, 2010 | Submit yours!
Mineral spring, Wells Gray Provincial Park, British Columbia | Submitted by Petra Wildschuetz, Fuerstenwalde, Brandenburg, Germany | August 15, 2010 | Submit yours!
Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park, British Columbia, my favourite lake of the Canadian Rockies | Submitted by Priscilla Turocy, Parma Heights, Ohio, U.S.A. | October 4, 2010 | Submit yours!
On our way to Vancouver, the girls by the river seemed to be comforting each other. July 10, 2010 | Submitted by Ray Chiang, Calgary, Alberta | September 7, 2010 | Submit yours!
One of the many wonderful landscapes in Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A. | Submitted by Tatiana Ciolacu, Moscow, Idaho, U.S.A. | August 8, 2010 | Submit yours!
Lake Louise, a few minutes after a rain squall had caused a wedding ceremony to finish up quickly. | Submitted by Stanley G. Munn, Calgary, Alberta | August 9, 2010 | Submit yours!
Baby loves hiking, Kananaskis Country | Submitted by Tanya Koob, Calgary, Alberta | August 9, 2010 | Submit yours!
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Experience The Mountain Parks Blog

...all about the Alberta-to-British Columbia mountain parks, including life in and around the parks. Not all our news and stories are here, though, so you might want to check our news section and Bob's "tweets" —conveniently placed in the upper right of each page.

Getting Off The Grid. Great for Adventure Lovers!

Sunday, May 19, 2013


Fishing enthusiasts have long understood the benefits of visiting remote locations. Although the lodging at fly-in camps may be off the electrical grid, the setting meant a better experience. Now, other adventure lovers can have an off-the-grid experience and without the cost of a flight. Nipika Mountain Resort in southeast British Columbia is a scenic four-hour drive from Red Deer and offers premium cross-country skiing and mountain biking conditions with space to roam.

 


Nipika was the brainchild of Lyle and Dianne Wilson. A former coach with Canada’s Olympic Cross Country ski team, Lyle discovered the location that would make his dream of a resort a reality, while out skiing in 1979. Dianne and Lyle bought 144 acres of this land adjacent to Kootenay National Park and started creating trails and adding buildings. The result is an eco-resort with several cabins, a conference centre and day lodge, all developed in harmony with the natural environment.

Most of the buildings and furniture at the resort were built from wood killed by the mountain pine bark beetle. The Nipika Day Lodge is a recycled building. Lyle found an old farm building near Golden and took it apart, labelling each piece of wood so it could be rebuilt in its original form. Gazing at the solid wood beams, I could see no signs of mechanical cutting, everything was hand-hewn when these trees were felled.




The building is now used for waxing skis, and trail orientation. It was a luxury to leisurely apply wax to my skis while my toes stayed warm. Usually, I shiver and quickly slap on wax in a parking lot.

A new barn roof has been added to the day lodge to create room for meetings and events like small weddings. "There are no drawings or plans to tell you how to build a barn roof like this,” Diane explained, "I had to stop at barns all over the countryside and ask permission to look inside so we knew how to build this!"

That same resourcefulness was needed when it came time to turn on the lights. With no access to conventional energy sources, the Wilsons explored alternative energy sources. "Wind technology nowadays would probably work, but when we started, there was not enough wind in the area to power the resort,” says Diane. Instead they installed solar panels to collect sunlight and batteries to store power for later use.



You cannot plug in a hair dryer at Nipika, but it should not be a problem since you will find yourself wearing a bike helmet or ski toque much of the day. Water for coffee is boiled on a stove, not brewed in a coffee maker. Disconnecting from the wired world is probably the hardest change, but rumour has it, that if you wander around the main reception area you might pick up an occasional wi-fi signal.

With over one hundred kilometres of trails, you can ski for hours and see far fewer people than in a provincial or national park. In the summer, the same trails are popular with mountain bikers and equestrians. There are no horses on the property, but riders are welcome to bring their own.

Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the Nipika trails or the neighbouring Cross River Canyon Recreation Site, making it a great place for self-propelled adventure lovers. As I explored the area, the stillness was broken only by the sound of skis slicing through the snow, and I realized it was a wonderful place to renew a soul that spent too many hours on the grid!

~By Carol Patterson

If you decide to go, visit www.nipika.com for more information. 

Carol Patterson helps businesses and people reinvent themselves through adventure. When she isn’t travelling for work, Carol is travelling for fun. More of her adventures can be found at www.naturetravelgal.com

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And the second place in the Friends & Family category goes to...

Sunday, May 12, 2013



Melanie Lessard, of East Broughton, Québec, submitted this shot: "Jasper National Park, Alberta, at the top of Sulphur Skyline, by Miette Hot Springs".

Melanie won a portable campfire courtesy of Campfire In A Can with an approximate retail value of $330.

Congrats Melanie!


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And the second place in the Landscapes and Sunsets category of our 2012 RECESS IS BACK readers' contest goes to...

Friday, May 10, 2013


 

Mike Mueller of Regina, Saskatchewan, submitted this shot called "Moraine Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta".

Mike won a portable campfire courtesy of Campfire In A Can with an approximate retail value of $330.

Congrats Mike!


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And the second place in the Wildlife & Flowers category goes to...

Thursday, May 09, 2013



Yu Liu, of Calgary, Alberta, submitted this shot called "Foxy, Waterton Lkanes National Park, Alberta, September 23, 2012".
Yu won a portable campfire courtesy of Campfire In A Can with an approximate retail value of $330.

Congrats Yu!


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And the winners of our 2012/2013 Photos and Videos Contest are...

Sunday, May 05, 2013




The winner -scratch and reveal the name at the bottom of the winning photo-- of our 'Friends & Family' Category, has won a Dream Getaway to Revelstoke including the following:




The winner -scratch and reveal the name at the bottom of the winning photo-- of our 'Wildlife & Flowers' Category, has won  a Dream Getaway to Banff including the following:




The winner -scratch and reveal the name at the bottom of the winning photo-- of our 'Landscapes & Sunsets' Category, has won a Dream Getaway to Jasper including the following:




The video winner in the category 'Experience The Mountain Parks Videos' was submitted by Liam Mullany, of Coquitlam, British Columbia. 
The text he sent us along is the following:"3 days, 2000 kilometres, no sleep. After spending years looking at my computer's desktop background of Moraine Lake, I decided to saddle up and make the trek, along with Patrick Hage-Moussa, from Vancouver to the Rockies to check it out first-hand.
The trip involved climbing one of the peaks overlooking Lake Louise, Mt. Fairview as well as a scenic drive home through Jasper on the Icefields Parkway."

Liam won a three-day (long) weekend experience for up to 20 guests (!!) on a houseboat, the Genesis 75 during peak season (yes we said 'peak season') of the summer 2013. This incredible prize, valued over $6000, is sponsored by Waterway.
2nd places in each category as well as runner-ups will be announced shortly, along with more prizes to be distributed!!


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