Our one month Rocky Mountain vacation culminated in a five night stay at the Mount Assiniboine backcountry campground. We decided to forgo the 17 mile one way hike from the road to Mount Assiniboine and instead treated ourselves to a short helicopter ride into the wilderness. This allowed us to take a few luxury items such as grapes and a inflatable sleeping mattress.

The locals we met said that Assiniboine was more beautiful than Lake O'Hara (if that's possible) and we were eager to judge for ourselves. To say that Mount Assiniboine and the surrounding area is beautiful would simply not do it justice. My opinion is that Mount Assiniboine is surpassed only by Patagonia as the most stunning landscape I have personally had the pleasure to visit. The entire area was simply stunning.

We debated whether to stay in Mount Assiniboine park for three nights or five nights as dictated by the helicopter schedule. We chose five nights and that amount of time is about right to enjoy all the splendor of Assiniboine. During our stay we took many hikes including Nub Peak, Sunburst Peak, Wonder Pass, Wonder Peak, Cautley Peak, and Windy Ridge. There isn't much territory that we didn't cover on our trip into Assiniboine. Our favorite views were those from Nub Peak, Wonder Viewpoint, and Cautley Peak.

Norah's favorite activities in Mount Assiniboine were tea time at the Assiniboine Lodge (4:00PM everyday), building cairns around Lake Magog, and running around the maze of trails at the campground.