Banff & Jasper National Parks

Alberta & British Columbia

If you have never been to the Banff & Jasper National Parks area of western Alberta, it certainly deserves a place on your travel bucket list.  The first (and last) time we were here was October 1977, and we would have moved to Banff if it were in the US (we never made it to Jasper that year).  It's grown up a bit since then (not all for the better), but the scenic majesty is still in evidence.  We next visited here in June 2015 with our good friends, Dave & Barb Maloney.

In 1977, you relied a lot on travel agents, and we were booked into a local motel at $40 a night (it seemed like a lot back then); we discovered after we got to Banff that we could have stayed here (the Banff Springs Hotel) for $25/night, off-season rates:

Have I convinced you to head to the Canadian Rockies?  If you do so, however, avoid the area in the summer - it can get VERY crowded.

rb

We never went back to that travel agent!  

Some great hikes around town.

Dave, our hiker extraordinaire.

We were here in early June - of a drought year.  Ordinarily, many of these trails are covered in snow that time of the year.

And then there's the wildlife.  Canada Highway 1 - the main highway across the country - runs through Banff National Park, and they have done a good job of keeping the abundant wildlife (bears, elk, moose, sheep, goats, etc) away from the freeway by erecting fences and overpasses (sometimes underpasses) to allow for wildlife to move from one side of the highway to another.  Apparently, it works!

We came across these grizzlies grazing in a meadow, and they drew quite a crowd.  I'm not sure how friendly they were to each other, as one of them reared up when he felt threatened by the other.  I'm sure those barriers would not be enough to contain these bruisers if they really wanted to get at you; but that didn't stop a bunch of idiots (oops, sorry; that's Tracy & Dave in the middle of the crowd) from wandering too far from the safety of their cars to give them a closer look.  I kept my distance; as did Barb!.

One day, the four of us drove the 35 miles (56 km) to Lake Louise, home of a fabulous chateau and ski area (you can see the chateau in the distance; see also the photo at the start of the story).  People were canoeing on the lake, but we opted for a leisurely walk around the lake, then up toward the ice fields.

The next day, on our way to Jasper, we came across this lonely, young male grizzly (he was about 100 feet away, and we stayed in the relative safety of our cars); one stupid lady, however, didn't do so, so the ranger eventually shooed the bear into the woods):

He was cool.

On our way to Jasper:

Tracy's family rode one of these 50+ years ago when they went up the ice fields (which have been receding since 1844!  Obviously, faster in recent years):

Athabasca Falls; there are 14 species of fish below the falls (the river runs into the Mackenzie River, then the Arctic Ocean); one (the bull trout) above; methinks it was human intervention that allowed that.

A train Tracy wants to take across the Canadian Rockies some day; any volunteers to accompany her?

Beautiful local lakes around Jasper (a smaller tourist town than Banff, not quite as closed in by the mountains; however, gorgeous scenery).

Our travel companions, Barbara & Dave (left to right):

Dave & Tracy; warm lakes in June!

An elk, doing her owl neck impression:

First, Maligne Lake, where we were told we might see a moose; but I think we needed to get further up the lake (our kayaks would have been nice to have with us):

But I talked to a local fisherman, who said he saw a moose on the drive back to the lake, not far from where we were standing.  So we went looking:

We stayed close to the car, as he grazed along a ditch; he then bolted across the road, down a slope, making it easier to photograph (a bear might have made it up the slope, but I doubt if the moose could have).

A black mama bear with her two cubs; they drew a nice crowd; they were down a slope next to a lake; the spectators (about 25 of us) were pretty respectful.  

This black bear was next to the road on our way out of the Lake Maligne area; obviously, we stayed in the car!

And then there's Mount Robson, which I mistakenly thought was in Jasper; it was about an hour west, but we made the drive over to take a look.

Some more wildlife as we left the park heading to Edmonton; unfortunately, my long lens was on the fritz.

One morning, Tracy wanted to go on a "moose hunt."  Dave wasn't really excited about the early morning start, but damned if he was going to stay put if we were lucky enough to see a moose!  And we ended up seeing far more than that that morning.