Eiffel Lake

Trip Date: September 2014

"If you don't like the weather in Alberta, wait ten minutes!"  I was introduced to that expression shortly after moving here from Saskatchewan.  At first I thought people were being a bit over dramatic, but the longer I live here the more realistic that statement becomes.  That espression really hit home when Christine, Sarah, Jeff, and I hiked to Eiffel Lake in early September.  We experienced all four seasons over the span of a few hours.  Sunshine, rain, wind, snow, and drastic temperature changes were all prevalent throughout the day.

Eiffel Lake is located in the Moraine Lake area of Banff National Park.  The trailhead is the same for the hike to Larch Valley. If you'd like more information about Larch Valley please read my previous posts here and here or the most recent story I did for Calgary is Awesome.  Parks Canada rates the hike as 'moderate'.  It's 5.6km one-way with an elevation gain  of 370m.  The trail splits off the Larch Valley trail after switchback section.  You're rewarded with amazing panoramic views of the Valley of the Ten Peaks and a picturesque alpine lake.

The turquoise waters of Moraine Lake.  Is there a better starting spot for a hike?

The trail quickly gains elevation through a series of switchbacks.  As you continue to climb views of Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks begin to emerge. 

Mt. Fay and the Fay Glacier above Moraine Lake

I'd been to Larch Valley on a couple of different occasions, but this was the first time I had been to Eiffel Lake.  After the trail branched away from Larch Valley we were in uncharted territory.  From this junction the trail levels out considerably and the remaining distance to Eiffel Lake is relatively flat.  Parks Canada requires any hikers in the Moraine Lake area to be in groups of four or more due to the high concentration of bears in the area.  Luckily we didn't see any of the resident bruins, but we did see a lot of their scat along the trail.

You can see the snow squall moving in from the right.  Our view of the Valley of the Ten Peaks was obstructed by the snow for a brief time.

The snow disappeared as fast as it arrived and we were rewarded with some spectacular views of the Valley of the Ten Peaks

Our first view of Eiffel Lake

Christine and Sarah thoroughly enjoying the view

Jeff is dwarfed by the surrounding peaks

Eiffel Lake with Wenkchemna Pass in the background

Rain and cooler temperatures forced us to turn around after a quick lunch break

Rome, Sarah, Jeff, and Christine hiking back to the parking lot

I spotted this Pika playing in the Rockpile near Moraine Lake

It felt great to get back into the mountains after being away for most of the summer.  I hope there's a few more opportunities for hiking this fall before the snow decides to start sticking around.  I'm not ready for winter just yet!

Spartan Race

Event Date: August 16, 2014

I missed out on this summer's Zombie Survivor race because we were in Africa in July.  I had so much fun at last year's event, that I wanted to do another adventure run in August and that's when the Spartan Race presented itself.  My running mate from the zombie race, Rob, and I both signed-up for the Spartan Sprint, which is a 5km run with 15+ obstacles.  In hind sight, deciding to enter an adventure race 10 days after a month-long vacation may not have been the smartest idea, but I had already committed, so I was running it no matter what!

I was more than a little anxious the morning of the race since I only had a few training runs under my belt.  It was comforting to know that Rob had spent close to a week in Seattle watching Mariners games and eating hot dogs the week before the race, so we were basically on the same page fitness-wise.  

The race was held at the Wild Rose MX Track

We arrived at the track and learned that there would be 18 obstacles throughout the 5km course.  The consequence for skipping an obstacle, or leaving one incomplete, was 30 burpees; a fairly harsh punishment considering the number of obstacles.  After a brief spartan-themed pep talk from the master of ceremonies, our 200-person heat left the starting gate at 10:30AM.  We were off...

Just one of the 18 obstacles

Finishing the sandbag hill climb

Crawling through the mud under barbed wire

It turned out that Rob and I had to do burpees on the same two obstacles.  We didn't get our spear to stick into the hay-bale and we were unable to complete the rope climb, which resulted in separate sets of 30 burpees.  The worst part was that these were the final two obstacles on the entire course and we were pretty tired by that point.  

Happy to be done the burpees and finishing the race

Jumping over the fire that marks the finish to the Spartan Race

All of the Spartan Races are professionally timed using a timing chip attached to each participant's wrist.  All of the statistics are posted on the Spartan website after the race, so you can see how you finished and where you placed.  Rob and I crossed the finish line at the same time, completing the race in 1:01:24.  I placed 961st out of 3,181 participants in the open (everyone) category, 712th out of 1,627 for my gender, and 34th out of 89 in my age group.  Not too bad, considering I barely trained for this event.  I really enjoyed the Spartan Sprint and I'm already looking forward to next year's race. 

Mockingbird Fire Lookout

Trip Date: August 2014

After our big vacation in July (see Amsterdam, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zanzibar) I wanted to get back into the mountains and do some hiking.  I also wanted to drive into work and check our trail cameras to see what we had captured since we'd left in June.  I decided to head out to The Ghost and hike up to the Mockingbird Fire Lookout and then swing into work on my way home and check the cameras.  It was shaping up to be a great day out with Rome.  

According to my guidebook, the hike up to the lookout is approximately 3km with 354m of elevation gain.  The hike follows an old fire road up to the lookout.  The trailhead is near marker 121, which is 3.8km west of Highway 940 along the Waiparous Valley Road.  Please note, my guidebook stated that the road to the lookout was positively identified by a sign "Dangerous road closed to all vehicles with 4 or more wheels", but this sign has since been removed.  There is no sign indicating the road to the lookout, so keep your eyes peeled for marker 121, which is on the south side of the access road.  

This is what the trailhead looks like today

On the trail with Rome

Wildflowers along the trail.  The purple ones are Common Harebells

Fire lookouts are an integral part of Alberta's forest fire detection system.  Lookout observers are Alberta's first line of defence for spotting and reporting wildfires.  Forest protection relies on early detection to help suppress wildfires while they are still small.

Welcome sign just below the lookout

The Mockingbird Lookout was originally constructed in 1952 to replace the Black Rock Fire Lookout on the summit of nearby Black Rock Mountain, which ceased operations sometime in 1950.  The old box-like structure, that acted as the Mockingbird Lookout for over 20 years was torn down and the present day buildings were erected around 1973.  Rumor has it that the Mockingbird Lookout received its name because the surveyors, who were scouting new locations, were listening to a transistor radio as the song Mockin' Bird Hill was playing.

Mockingbird Fire Lookout

Standing on the summit

Mockingbird is an active fire lookout, meaning it's operated throughout the summer months.  I was fortunate enough to run into the operator on my visit.  She explained to me that she's basically on-call all the time and has daily reports she needs to submit about weather conditions, temperature, wind speed etc.  She'd been up there since early May and wouldn't be done until Thanksgiving.  Considering she's not allowed to leave, that's a long time to be isolated!

Devil's Head

Black Rock Mountain.  If you look closely you can see the remains of the old fire lookout on the summit.

Panoramic shot of the front range of the Rocky Mountains

After spending some time exploring the area around the lookout, and chatting with the attendant, Rome and I started the walk back down.  It was time to head into camp and check the status of our trail cameras.

Another view of Black Rock Mountain from the trail on our hike down

If you're curious about what we caught on camera over the summer, please visit the Summer Catch post on the Wild About Base Camp blog.  We ended up with a few really great shots of some elusive critters.

Zanzibar

Trip Dates: July 26th - August 3rd, 2014

The flight to Zanzibar was only an hour from mainland Tanzania.  We were stuffed into a small, 13-seater plane for the short flight over to the island.  Needless to say we were all looking forward to having a little downtime and to be on our own schedule for awhile.  We had nothing planned for the next six days, other than soaking up some sun and pure beach relaxation!

The island of Zanzibar is officially known as Unguja and is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.  The Zanzibar Archipelago sits between 25 and 50 kilometres off Tanzania's eastern shoreline in the Indian Ocean and is comprised of two large islands and numerous smaller ones.  Unguja is the largest island and is home to the capital, Zanzibar City.  The Zanzibar Archipelago, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are referred to as the Spice Islands, because one of the main industries is spices.  The archipelago is home to approximately 1.3 million people and the official languages are Kiswahili and English. 

The map on the left shows the location of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania and the map on the right is a more detailed view of the Zanzibar Archipelago

Bush 2 Beach had arranged a transfer from the airport in Zanzibar City to the Zanzibar Retreat Hotel on Matemwe Beach on the northeast coast of the island.  The drive only took an hour, so we were at the hotel before we even knew it.  Matemwe Beach is an idyllic spot with 25km of white-sand beach and clear blue water.  Unfortunately the water in front of the hotel was home to thousands of Sea Urchins, so swimming wasn't a friendly option.  

Local fishing boats are called dhows

Matemwe's endless white sand

The girls were quite jumpy when these guys were around!

One of countless Sea Urchins that were in front of our hotel

Sunset

Walking to Seles Beach Bar as the tide's coming back in

Christine and I booked two dives with Scubafish, a local company on the island.  We would be diving at two locations around Mnemba Island; Kichwani and the Aquarium.  Both dives sites were beautiful and we saw numerous tropical fish including, Scorpionfish, Clown Fish, Lionfish, Trumpetfish, Moorish Idols, Leaf Fish, Moray Eels, Mantis Shrimp, and even several Green Sea Turtles.  We were really hoping to see the resident Dolphins that live in the area.  We were finishing our second dive when my sea sickness suddenly kicked in.  As Christine and I were surfacing I fed the fishes, several times.  Shortly after we got back on the boat the Dolphins decided to show up!  They didn't stick around very long, but I like to think that I helped lure them in.  Even though we weren't in the water, it was still pretty cool to see them that close to the boat!

A video compilation from our two dives

A couple of days later we booked a snorkeling trip with the same company.  We spent the majority of the day at the West Gardens, which was teeming with underwater life.  We saw Moray Eels, Clown Fish, Snake Eels, Mantis Shrimp, Octopus, Trumpetfish, Starfish, Urchins, Squid, and countless other species of tropical fish.  We also did a drift snorkel on the opposite side of the island.  The current was pretty strong though and the guides pulled the pin earlier than expected for safety concerns.  We also struck-out on seeing Dolphins while snorkeling, so that was a bit disappointing for us.  Other than that it was a great day out on the water.

On board the Caroline with Scubafish for our snorkeling trip

Mnemba Island is completely private and costs $1,500.00/night to stay there!

Sergeant Majors

Mantis Shrimp

Diving down for a closer look

Longfin Spadefish

A video compilation of our snorkeling trip

Our time at Matemwe Beach was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us, but the time flew by.  Before we knew it, we were back in the car and headed for Stone Town.  Our last two nights would be spent at the Emerson Hotel in the heart of Stone Town.  We would be doing some last minute exploring and shopping before starting the long journey back home.

Stone Town is the historic centre of Zanzibar City and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.  Stone Town was a prominent centre of both the spice and slave trade in the 19th century.  The name "Stone Town" came from the widespread use of coral stone as the main construction material and the architecture reflects the African, Arab, Persian, Indian, and European influences all mixing together.  

Stone Town is made up of these narrow, winding streets

The most well-known feature of homes in Stone Town are the elaborately carved wooden doors.  Some of them, like the one below, have big brass studs, which come from Indian tradition.  There are two main types, rounded tops, which have an Indian influence, while the rectangular ones are from the Arab culture.  The carvings are often Islamic in content and many feature scripture from the Qur'an.

A typical Stone Town doorway

While in Stone Town we visited the site of the former slaver market.  It was the largest slave market in Zanzibar and the last open slave market in the world.  The slave trade was reputedly started by the Portuguese, but grew immensely when Zanzibar came under control of the Sultanate of Oman in 1698.  Slaves were typically captured or purchased from the African mainland, chained together, and forced to carry ivory to the coast.  Those that survived were transported to Zanzibar where they were forced to work the spice plantations or were sold by Arab traders.  From Zanzibar most slaves were shipped to the Middle East, with some going to the former French colonies of Reunion, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Madagascar.  Some even made it as far as North America.  

By decree of the Sultan of Zanzibar on June 6, 1873, the slave trade was abolished.  This happened following the anti-slavery campaign spearheaded by famed explorer Dr. David Livingstone.  Another key opponent to slavery was Edward Steele, the third Bishop of Zanzibar.  To celebrate the end of slavery, Bishop Steele built the Christ Church Anglican Cathedral directly on top of the former slave market.  The church was completed in 1887 and the altar was placed in the exact location of the whipping post.  At the base of the altar inside the church there is a round circle of white marble that is surrounded by red marble.  The white circle depicts the location of the whipping post and the red marble represents the blood of the slaves.

The Christ Church Anglican Cathedral

There is nothing left of the market today, other than two subterranean slave chambers, one for women and children and one for the men.  Dozens of people were kept inside this small space.  Many of them died from starvation, disease, or drowning because the whole area would flood at high tide.  To give you an idea of scale, I'm 5'10" and I couldn't stand up straight inside this room.  

All that remains from the former slave market are two small rooms that were used to keep slaves

Outside the church there is a graphic sculpture created by Clara Sornas.  The monument depicts five slaves with chains around their necks, standing in a sunken pit.  Our guide informed us that the chains used in the monument are original.  The entire experience was really moving.  Unfortunately we felt rushed the whole time, so we were unable to reflect on the tragedies that occurred in this place until after we had already left.  

A nearby inscription reads, "Memory for the Slaves"

The Darajani Bazaar is one of the largest markets in Stone Town

It had everything from meat to fruits and vegetables, and of course spices!

Forodhani Park

Frangipani flowers in the park

Christine and I standing along the shore

The House of Wonders was a former Sultan's Palace, but is now home to the Museum of History & Culture of Zanzibar & the Swahili Coast

This is the Old Arab Fort that was built around 1700 to defend the city against the Portuguese

Christine and Sarah on a swing at our hotel

Our last dinner was a traditional Swahili meal on the rooftop of the Emerson Hotel...delicious!

Sun setting over Stone Town

This was definitely the trip of a lifetime.  Everything worked out better than we could have hoped for.  We saw everything we wanted to and more.  I can't count the times someone told us that we were "lucky" or that something was "rare" to see.  I definitely see myself returning to Africa at some point, but would like to experience other parts of the continent as well.  Now that we've checked this off of our bucket list it's anyone's guess where we'll end up next.  All I know is I can't wait for the next adventure to begin!

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