Road Trip Canada 2015, Banff and Jasper

June 2015

Glacier-fed Moraine Lake is located in the Valley of the Ten Peaks in Canada's Banff National Park not far from the town of Banff.  It plays second fiddle to iconic Lake Louise, but this gem about killed me. Its brilliant turquoise made my chest ache and I got a crick in my neck staring at the mountains. I kept gushing to PK, who was also properly impressed. We escaped an alarmingly large and noisy crowd of gawkers by taking a quarter-mile trail to the far end of the small lake. Of all the tourist spots we visited in Canada, Moraine Lake was among the most beautiful and by far the most crowded. Few people ventured along the easy trail, however. Too bad for them, but lucky for us. Keep in mind that we visited right before the real tourist season began about five days later when children escape school and families rev-up their vacation engines.

Tackling Banff and Jasper in one post is ambitious. I'll try to stick with the "high points" of which there are many, ha ha ha. 

A hanging glacier clings onto some of the Ten Peaks around Moraine Lake. It's all just too much to take in day after day. Not complaining. Marveling.

Here's the thing about visiting great national parks no matter what country. One amazing sight is quickly overshadowed by the next and you eventually begin to think it's all a beautiful dream. You're sharing it with a gazillion people, probably, and for some, crowds diminish the magic.

Most of the time, I'm not one of those people. I feel privileged to experience environments that make my teeth tingle. Sharing them with people from all over the world feels right and good. Aren't we lucky, I think, looking around at the foreign-looking faces and hearing the strange languages, to be here and see this? Aren't we fortunate to be alive now, when nations have determined to preserve extraordinary landscapes and cultural areas in national parks and World Heritage Sites? You don't have to be rich, young or an extreme athlete to experience these awe-inspiring places.

Then I think, sending beams to people who have trotted across the globe, let's make eye contact. Let's talk about why we all traveled to see this place and what, with this common value, we could also share. 

But then the moment's gone and eye contact doesn't happen and we go our separate ways and all the beauty belongs to mountains and the lakes, streams, and waterfalls, the bears and moose and marmots, and to the night skies. We didn't come here to commune with people, but with nature. 

Canada's great national parks form the northern end of the Rocky Mountains.
The parks are situated on the border of Alberta and British Columbia.

To tell the truth, my deepest nature communing occurred in far less grand places. Small places, like an impossibly clear deep pool on the Chetco River in Oregon's Kalmiopsis Wilderness, a wall of feathery maidenhair ferns on one bank and a serpentine rock outcropping on the other. 

Alone, I was, but for a moment, except for a cloud of midges drifting above the surface, but not obscuring my clear view of the river bottom maybe 15 feet below. We drank from this stream. Imagine that. We probably still could, if fire hadn't blackened the area 15 years ago and if the access road to the trail was still open. 

I digress. My memories of "true wilderness experiences" have little to do with what we're enjoying now. And what is that? We are not IN the wilderness, but it is damn close. Banff and Jasper have hundreds of miles of backcountry trails, and even if you're not on a backpacking trek, even a quarter mile or a half mile off the highway delivers you to a place where you can experience moments of solitude as you drink in the incredible landscape. As a bonus, you get to carry bear spray, just in case. And wonder how you'd do, your first time using it, on a huge and hungry predator headed for its next meal. You.

The famous Lake Louise in Banff National Park.  I got booted off this dock trying to catch a view without a horde of people. Not the greatest sky or time of day to get a good photo.

But, hey, we're all giving it out best shot.

This lovely young woman was just engaged to the guy holding her sari, who was hoping for a gust of wind. I guess they thought it would be nice to have a photo with the sari streaming and with Lake Louise as the backdrop. All cultures melt together at great national parks. Here, and also in Yellowstone on the front end of this trip, PK and I guessed that at least half of our fellow vacationers were Asian, Indonesian, or European. 

Johnston Creek plunges through Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park, where smart nice people have constructed an elevated catwalk along a good stretch of otherwise-impassable narrows. The walk provides access to sheer-walled canyons that most people never get to see.  If you visit Banff, this easy hike is a no-brainer. We were unable to complete the approximately 6.7-mile round trip  due to issues that may later come to light. (suspense!)

The first of two falls in Johnston Canyon. We turned around here due to the aforementioned unmentionable issue. Wait for it. Not this post, though.

PK turned 66 on this day and in this place, halfway between
Banff and Jasper on a quick hike that took us above the tree line.

The highway between Lake Louise and Jasper is called the Icefields Parkway. The entire 143 miles is billed as one of the world's best panoramic scenery shows, and yes, it is amazing. This is the foot of the once-great Athabasca Glacier. The entire area is also known as the Columbia Icefields as its glaciers feed the Columbia river system and much more.

Me at the foot of the Athabasca Glacier, just to prove I was on the trip. It was cold on an otherwise warm day with strong winds sweeping down the glacier.

Just outside Jasper, we scored a campsite in the tent area of Whistler's Campground that has more than 800 sites! Our site was remarkably open with a meadow across the way and trees shielding us from neighbors. A warning at the restroom gave pause. Grizzly bears actively hunting elk calves in the campground! Those bastards! Eating baby elk! That's nature for ya. We did not see any bears but a few elk.

The next morning we hopped aboard the Jasper Tramway to near the top of Whistler's Mountain. We debated whether to go in the morning or later in the day, after visiting other nearby wonders. Good thing we went early as the weather began closing in as soon as we stepped off the tram.

There it is. Weather closing in.

PK trudging into the clouds. We stopped short of the summit as it was socked in. And COLD. 

We saw a few marmots scampering about. This guy was not the least bothered by wind and sleet.

A view from near  the top includes the town of Jasper, which is pretty darn small, in the scale of things. But isn't every human construction small when compared with the natural world?

This photo was taken while driving from Maligne Lake back to to Jasper. Typical scenery. The lake itself was shrouded in clouds and it was raining hard. This was one of the few times weather interrupted our fun on our month-long trip. According to weather records, June is the rainiest month in this part of the world.

This photo was taken in Banff, but just so you know..... if you visit Banff and Jasper and southwestern British Columbia,  you can go for days and never be out of sight of snowy peaks. Our total days of continuous-spectacular-mountain-views was seven including the North Cascades in Washington state. 

We used Lonely Planet's guide to Banff, Jasper and Glacier National Parks to hit the high spots during our short time there. For the next part of our journey, we benefitted from a Canadian friend's advice about our route back to the USA, which was full of wonderful surprises. More about that coming soon.

Earlier posts about Road Trip 2015

Road Notes, first couple days across the Great Plains of Canada

Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Changing Times in North Dakota

Getting Along on the road and Yellowstone Park

Riding the Trail of the Couer d' Alenes

Road tripping in the Four-Wheel Camper