Disclaimer: this is quite a detailed journal of the trip, means a lot to me, but may bore the hell out of someone who was not there. While the memory of a memorable trip is still fresh in my mind let me try to reminisce an amazing journey through the Canadian rockies,

Day 1: Flew into Calgary and drove down to Banff in the afternoon, settled down and had a nice lunch in the bedrock of some amazing of glacier capped mountains.

Calgary Airport Immigration Lines

Sulphur Mountain View

Started the trek up Sulphur Mountain with wifey, took 2 hours to get up there but the view was well worth it, even though there was a gondola going up there. This was the start of the hike everyday phase. Pretty neat that wifey could take the toll of it, more to come later. Came down and pretty much headed into downtown Banff a neat town with great cuisine and wonderful people. Had a wonderfully satiating dinner at a fondue place, don't miss this fondue place in Banff(Grizzly House), the meats on the hot rock were the highlight.

Priya Sulphur Mountain

Both of Us

Spectacular Lake Louise

Day 2: Checked out of the hostel with shared bathrooms thankfully with no issues, and headed on to the heralded Lake Louise and it was pretty spectacular, with the the Victoria glacier that feeds it hence the name, (Louise was Victoria's daughter) and the peaks surrounding it like Mount LeFroy and Mt. Farview.

 We did the Lake Agnes trail. After seeing the sights of Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes, I left Priya behind and began my ascent up to the Big Beehive.

On the way up the Big Beehive

Pretty much the same view with the both of us

The views of Lake Louise from the Big Beehive were just mind-blowingly spectacular. Its a very steep but short climb to the top. I then headed down to the plains where we met up again and headed onto Lake Moraine.

Valley of the Ten Peaks, hike that I will come to back to, amazing site

Another glacier fed lake surrounded by spectacular mountains, with beautiful azure (blue green) waters.

Mirror Lake on the Beehive Trail

 Near the teahouse at the end of the Beehive trail

Pretty much the same spectacular view at the end of the Beehive Trail

We then moved into our abode for the night the Lake Louise youth hostel and amid the rains headed out on Bow Valley Parkway(1A) to see the sights and sounds.

Moraine Lake, what a site to behold

We got lucky with the weather again and finally decided the Johnston Canyon hike up to the Upper Waterfalls. While the lower waterfalls lookout takes your breath away, the upper waterfalls are a spectacular sight too. Also the eroding of the canyon as the water runs through it is a amazing geological phenomenon.

That's me on top of  Lake Louise, wonderful feeling

View from the top of the Big Beehive

Crowfoot Glacier

Walking on the glacier

Both of us on Athabasca 

Day 3: The day we hit the the Icefields Parkway(93) to get to Jasper. Amid the glacier capped mountains, we first stopped at the Crowfoot glacier. Then after numerous stops due to the breathtaking scenery headed towards our Icewalk on the Athabasca glacier. It was a novel and surreal experience walking on the glacier, seeing the mill wells and crevasses. The Columbia Icefields staring at us straight ahead. An extremely pleasurable cant miss experience, we were blessed with good weather too.

Views from the Tramway

Maligne Lake

Bear and it's cubs

After this decided to head straight to Jasper since we were running low on gas and check into our B&B. On the way there we finally saw a bear, Priya almost jumped out of her seat, a beautiful black bear with her 2 cubs was grazing peacefully alongside the highway. It was quite beautiful amid the chaos of the people in their cars straining to take pictures of it, admittedly I was one of them. Reached Jasper with some beautiful memories of the Parkway and its sights and sounds and got some gas finally. After this headed out to Gertrude's B&B, where we were gonna stay for the next 2 days.

Bear at the trek

After taking tips from here regarding things to do, decided to do Old Fort Point and then Pyramid Lake. Took the loop trail to Old Fort Point and were meandering along the trail without the faintest clue that this could be bear country. Suddenly when a family of people were returning from the trail, one of them told me there was a bear on the trail and hence they headed back. We went ahead with extreme trepidation and after 100 mts met another dude who was quite shaken up and told us he saw the grizzly 50 feet from where we were. We decided to think about this but then we met 2 other people who were not convinced to go ahead either, finally when 2 more showed up we went ahead with a little more gusto. True enough we saw the bear 200 ft down, what a sight a beautiful brown coat and much bigger than a black bear. We stayed away from it, it was peacefully grazing and went on to enjoy the view from Old Fort point. After this adrenaline fueled trek we then headed towards Pyramid lake and after lazing there called it a night. On the way back from the lake saw a family of about 20-30 elk in full view, it is quite a sight to see wild animals.

View from the Top of Opal Hills

Day 4: Greeted by rain on this morning put our plans in a binder but we decided to try and stick to the hike we had planned, Opal Hills on top of Maligne lake, it was extremely steep as is characteristic of a lot of trails in the Canadian rockies, braved some rain, to be rewarded with the best view I have seen on top of a mountain.  It was awesome, I decided to head on ahead of our co-hikers to climb the next mountain ahead but decided to come back after it got too cold and lonely after climbing it. There was another peak to be conquered but it was freezing.

After this we headed to Maligne lake, another lake with all the characteristics of a rockies lake, spectacular, azure, glacier fed and nestling in the valleys of glacier covered peaks, and had lunch. Onwards to Maligne Canyon where the river had carved some spectacular limestone ridges. The first bridge was particularly rewarding where there was a very pretty waterfall. We started at bridge 5 and went up to bridge 1, as the trail guide had recommended and upon reflection concluded that they knew what they were talking about.

Day 5: Headed out back on 93 back north amid plans to visit all the spots I had missed on the way there due to gas running on empty and the glacier walk.

Magnificent Edith Cavell

Started with the tramway upto Whistler's mountain. It was expensive to take the tram and they bunched up atleast 25 people in there, but when we got up there it was very nice. Trek up to the top of Whistlers and you could see beautiful alpine wildflowers and also a view of Jasper City and all the lakes surrounding and also Edith Cavell and a lot of other peaks. The cloudy day did not help picture taking but the hike was well worth it.

Cavell Pond

We then headed to magnificent Edith Cavell, even though the Cavell Meadows trail was closed, a glimpse of this statuesque picture perfect mountain sends shivers down your spine. We did a short hike to Cavell pond which should be renamed "imagine paradise" pond, it was a brilliant light green in color and had little floating icebergs in it fallen down from the so aptly named Angel Glacier that graces this so beautiful of mountain peaks. It just felt that this was the perfect moment for time to stand still. 

Then we moved on to another short hike Valley of the Five Lakes, the lakes were pretty but this is one trek that can definitely be avoided. Then moved on to the Athabasca Falls, an extremely powerful and breathtaking falls. After being wowed by it saw the Sunwapta falls which were pretty neat but paled in comparison even though the gorge it fell into was nice. Then went to see Peyto Lake, what a sight to behold. Blue, beautiful and brilliant, just like the picture I had imagined. Now we had other concerns find acco for the night, we found a nice hotel in Yoho NP where the price was not through the roof and turned in after a nice warm meal.

View from the top of the tram at Jasper

Day 6: Got up bright and early to try and get on the Lake O'Hara bus, made 2 unsuccessful attempts to get on the bus one at 8:30 and the other at 10:30 amid visiting Takkakaw falls, which is quite stately and awing. Then headed off to see Emerald Lake and Natural Bridges. The bridge is very novel in that the water and the rock consorted in such a way that the bridge was formed. At Emerald Lake we canoed for an hour in the green waters and it was peaceful and serene with all the peaks and trees reflecting on the still and calm waters.

Natural bridges

Takkakaw Falls

Peyto Lake

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Emerald Lake kayak

Priya on the Lake

Emerald Lake

This was how the trip ended and we headed back to Calgary to fly out the same day, a nice and serene way to finish a truly inspiring, relaxing and awing sojourn through the heart of the Rockies.

This is now, the married one got hitched in 2008 with the blessings of family members back home and just realized how much I miss India, after you get over the initial shock of the pollution, people and relentless honking especially in Pune, you start savoring the food. Ohh how sweet is Indian food fresh gavran chicken nothing tastes better. After coming back the food here feels like glorified rubber, its like chewing cud bland tasteless and frozen.

Not so seamlessly changing topics the wedding was more fun than I thought it would be, I always had the preconceived notion that it would be a chore, it was pleasant and fun. The whole experience is as they say once in a lifetime so you can really enjoy oneself if in the proper mindset. Just be wary of relatives being pissed off at being disrespected, even though you try your damnedest hardest to try and please them.

Else on other fronts the greatest upset in AMERICAN sports history occurred when the giants and Eli upset the mighty patriots and Brady, not the dolphins again they will never be shut up ever, they might be toasting each other from the graves, *$%@!!

Shaq to the suns goes down as the what were you thinking trade the same thing mortgage the future for the present, didn't the suns see what happened to the Heat, granted the paint defense might get better though I seriously doubt it, now that Shaq is nothing more than a gigantic old slow reincarnation of what was the most powerful dominant center I have ever seen. Anyways if someone can find a way it will be Nash, please win one now.

This is just an image check to see what I look like, this was in the bryce canyon national park in Utah, the cutest national park I have been to, if I can say that.

Adding to that for me there is no better feeling than being one with nature, trekking, climbing. Getting out of the stinking rat race really invigorates you however cliched it may sound.

The trip I was alluding to consisted of backpacking across the Grand Canyon down to the colorado river and back up, a day touristing in the Bryce Canyon and then spending time in the Zion National Park, climbing up Angel's Landing and then the Zion narrows. The walls of Zion are phenomenally grandesque and the trek up and down the Grand Canyon felt like a rite of passage.

My trekking trip has been lauded enough I think, I will sign off by saying that I hope mankind always appreciates fact that nature is more beautiful than anything else and it should be preserved more fervently and I will surely do my bit to help.

Future rites of passage include Alaska, Machu Pichu, Kilimanajaro, Amazon....hehe lofty plans indeed.

Here we go again, it has been ages or eons since I last penned my thoughts. Shit loads has happened since my last entry, I now have been riding a Honda VTX 1300R for a year now and it runs well, though I am torn between the cruiser and the superbike feel. Did I mention that it abosolutely looks like a dream machine, nickname Powerful Sweetness (walter payton shout out) to the layman NFL fan. Ohh but the sweet pleasure of biking is undescribeable just winding down the roads powering away from those 4 wheeled crapshoots the whole zipping through traffic phenomenal.

There is too much for me to write and I will not cover it all, between buying the most expensive home I would have ever thought I would have owned and the mortgage killing many dreams of unempoyed bliss that I envisioned to the fact that I did get married this year. All the signs that I am settling down even though my fairer/better half is perfect in the sense that I can be whacko around her, better people would have walked away.

My customary music blurb where I saw queensryche, megadeth and deep purple this year, btw geoff tate live sounds like GOD's voice, holy hell it was absolutely mind blowing, operation mindcrime better late than never, I am fortunate to have finally discovered this album, makes you wonder what I was doing all these years claiming be a rock/metalhead when I never heard this album in its entirety just the hits. This album rekindled my passion for album listening so lost an art in the mp3 download age, metropolis was a little disappointing though, maybe I need to grow into liking it; and the sojourn will continue...

In the throes of relative bankruptcy now, due to the fact that I have poured everything into the house but it seems worth it, finally have an investment but kinda seems that I am setting down after all those years of living in the notion that I was destined to do something different by not bucking to the trend but remaining a free spirit almost gypsy like, turns out that I am one of the masses(as a friend constantly used to remind me of the same). Auf Wiedersehen.

After my introductory spin I just started thinking that I had not blogged in a while due to enormous time constraints caused by switching jobs. Did I mention that there are pros and cons to working in a startup that everyone knows and must accept. Anyways here in the middle of the day in the post lunch hibernation syndrome I realized that printing a few thoughts would probably make my mind sharper. This I hence dedude is one among the many reasons to write blogs, you dont have to particularly good at anything to blog, a command of the language and correct grammar would definitely make it more readable, but just being able to rant and espouse about various topics is the primary skill. Being opinionated also helps which I have been accused of many a time, so here it goes that was my introduction to my second blog.

Lets start with the most hateful people around, people who think they are it and noone can break my bubble, %$#& them I swear their ability to monopolize any conversation is absolutely horrendous. Getting back to my favorite topics music, sports and bikes. Music has been stagnating lately due to the aforementioned hours that need to be dedicated to my new job, but will a conscious effort to listen to the new bands that I needed to download music of Opeth, Pain of Salvation and a lot of my favorite genre of music, melodic/operatic death metal.

Point 2 is sports with the NFL season now underway and it being the best sport to watch ever on Hi-Def, the need feeds the need, sundays are a blur, if only I was not in the Bay in California, and have to watch the dreadful Raiders and the 49'ers serve up garbage blowouts every week, thank god there is Sunday and Monday night football, which is not regionally based. Last year was a more pleasurable year football wise on the east coast because the Patriots, Giants or Redskins were on TV most of the time along with my team, The Pittsburgh Steelers, did I forget to mention that 2005 will be the greatest sports year for me, Steelers won , Heat won though Shaq was mere shadow of the most dominant force I have ever seen on the court and of course the Evil Empire lost in the first round. Go Tigers, as we speak they have just lost game 1, but its ok, my support is wholly with them, even though I want the A's to win it all. There is an allure about small money teams that win it all, Florida Marlins through every yard sale I always cheer them on in the playoffs. I could go on and on about sports, but I would like to conclude that Jamie Gold is the luckiest SOB alive, sometimes life just ain't fair.

Lastly I come to my bike saga, have been trying to buy one for the last month, even though the end seems near, soon the beacon will shine and there will be light. I have completed the licensing formalities and will soon atop one whenever I choose to pull the plug, even though pulling it is harder than I thought, the newer expensiver one always looks better. My license is in the mail and then I will sign on the dotted, sorry I am ranting again, I apologize but I cant help it, atleast I am consistent in my blogs.

Man strives to improve himself, I say strive to improve the life of people around you, that is the greatest gift you can give humanity.

Just pen a few random thoughts that come to my head. Roger Federer is the best tennis player to have ever graced the game, hands down no Sampras discussions please, you must be on hallucinogenics to think that there is a comparison.

Music has kept me going through this hard and trying last decade, may sound blasphemous but it is probably the only GOD I worship with in flames being the current flavor of the last 2 years, so in a sense I idol worship In Flames, which is quite an oxymoron since religion is so misunderstood and manipulated by a few hateful, wretched people. Anyways as usual I go off on a tangent, which had nothing to do with the last religious tantrums.

Live and let live, that should be the motto for everyone, especially the ones in power who have the ability to change the lifes of so many people, cases in point, usa war on iraq, israel war on lebanon and to a smaller extent the bombings in Bombay, stop trying to step over countries or screw up peoples lives over petty motives.