Icefields to Mountain Biking in Jasper (Day 29)
Woke up at the Columbia Icefield campground, and headed up through Jasper to town. Set up camp at Whistlers Campground, and then jumped on the bike… and rode for 5? hours. Then showered, woo hoo! Headed into town, called Kristen and Home with Skype (it’s awesome!), went into a pub, got 1.5 beers, a chicken Caesar salad, and talked to some guys from Edmonton. All in all, a long, good day.
Columbia Icefield
Close up of the Icefield
Wow
Athabasca Falls, Are you “Fall”-ing for someone?
wow again
Looking downstream
Winding River in Jasper
Ahh, nice view on the bikeride
Goose, Goose, Goose, Goose, Duck?
One word… “blue”
Me like this one. Shot from the makeshift biking bridge on “overland” trail.
I was there… at least my (John’s old) bike was there.
As far as I went, before I decided I should turn back…
Wind up… (the music box) (from below) (stream)
Sun breaks through…
Green, blue, white
I like this one too…
After I was “lost”, hiked up what seemed like millions of steps with my bike, and trudging back towards the campground, I found the bridge I wanted to take a picture of originally. I was soaked, and it was still lightly raining, but this made it all worthwhile!
What’s at the END of the rainbow? A POT OF GOLD… and it’s UNDERWATER!
Have you seen something more vivid? Awesome.
Handstanded the Rainbow, for the 2nd time! (see first one in Cozumel, Mexico)
So I biked a long ways, for about 5 hours or so. The red is where I THINK I went 
Ever Been to Heritage Park in Blacksburg, Virginia? You should go.
Heritage Park is beautiful. They just finished a new bridge there back in January and you can ride all the way to Pandapas Pond. My goal was to get back to the top of Horse Nettle Trail where I was this past Thursday. I was successful and managed to make it up and down while avoiding the rain. I found it very peaceful to be up there on the trail because when you stopped, you heard absolutely nothing. Ahhhh… So great.
I took my new wide angle lens and went at it! Here are some pictures of Heritage Park before and after I hiked up to the Horse Nettle Trail. I used Photomatrix to create these HDR shots and they turned out pretty decently.
HDR makes everything better
Trail in Heritage Park
Abandoned Building
View From the Gazebo at the Entrance to the Old Farm Trail that leads to Horse Nettle
Stream, Cows, Field, Clouds
Mountain Bikingat Pandapas Pond – Put a Leash on your Dog!
Well, it’s slightly confusing. Best bet is to use a map… and I bought one at East Coasters for $2.50, but you can get it from other places around Blacksburg that are listed on DXHiker.com.
This past Thursday I hit up Pandapas Pond with my Mountain bike to check out what there is to be seen. I did a loop of Poverty Creek -> Snake Root -> Horse Nettle -> Lakespur. It was a nice ride (walk at times).
Poverty Creek Trail
As I was coming up Snake Root, I kept looking for a good place to take a picture, but there were too many trees to ever get a clear shot.
Snake Root Trail
This is the best shot I got, and I treked around a while before deciding to “settle” for it. Today definitely gave the argument for getting a telephoto lens 10 points.
Best Photo I Could Get From Snake Root Trail
Once I got up to Horse Nettle, I found a huge tower that was installed for Cell Phone Service. The last time I was up here (within the last 2 years), it was not there, and it was actually an abandoned house or something. Odd..
The Big Cell Phone Tower
View From the Tower (Standing on top of the gate)
It was getting closer to sunset and was time to get back down to the car. I took one of my favorite roots onto Lakespur so that I’d come out at Pandapas Pond. About 1/2 way down the trail I hear growling and barking coming from behind me, and it freaked me out. I was shaken up at first, then got to a more calm “NO!”, “Go.” This dog had a collar, but it didn’t seem very friendly. I got it to go away, and went down to the pond to get some pictures. However, once down at the pond the dog came out again, but this time with another dog! They both were barking and growling loudly at me as I stood by the water’s edge. I consistently said “NO! Go! (And Waved)” This time he was less reluctant to leave but finally did. I didn’t have my bike with me at this point so I felt a little more vulnerable.
I saw two ladies walk by and asked if they were their dogs. Of course not. A few minutes later a lady emerged from the trail and collected her dogs. What a crappy pet owner. She never appologized, and said the dog was young. I said “did you hear someone in the woods yelling ‘No!’?” and of course she had, but she didn’t really get it. If you have dogs, make sure you have them in sight if they are not on a leash, please.
A Washed out shot of Pandapas Pond
Sunset From the Parking Lot