Canadian Rockies

From Vancouver we took the Sea to Sky Highway for some dramatic scenery and headed in the direction of a familiar spot for us - Jasper, nestled in the Canadian Rockies.  We've been there quite a few times, but we were a few weeks earlier than we had ever been before so we were hoping (and expecting) to see quite a bit of snow.  Sadly we were disappointed.  It turns out the whole area was experiencing a bit of unseasonably warm weather and the town itself was completely clear of snow, although a few of the nearby lakes and surrounding areas were still slightly covered.

Helmcken Falls

A little snow on the way to Jasper

We spent some time at Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake, both of which looked very different to how we usually see them.  Medicine Lake was practically empty and that's how it stays until the higher elevation snow melts.  Maligne Lake was still frozen - usually its a nice shade of blue so it did look very different.  We also took in a decent sunset at Athabasca falls and the massive mosquitos had a bit of a feast on Rob.

Medicine Lake

Maligne Lake

Sunset at Athabasca falls

A coyote wandering around close to Jasper

We roughed it a bit around Japser and slept in the car a couple of nights.  On the third night we treated ourselves to a nice room next to Pyramid Lake - it was great to be in a proper bed and to have a proper bathroom and everything!

Anyway, we made our way out of Jasper and headed down the Icefields Parkway (which is gorgeous and got even more snowy as we gained elevation).  We stopped at lots of viewpoints on the way, overnight we slept at Lake Louise (in the car again) and it was cold!  Last time we stayed here we had ice on the tent, this time it was ice on the car! Lake Louise was still frozen and snow covered, but it looked a bit rough as some people had scraped a load of the snow away to make an ice skating rink and this had spoiled the natural snowy beauty.

Athabasca river

Columbia icefield

Lake Louise

After thawing out, we paid a final visit to Peyto Lake which is one of our absolute favourite spots and this time it was even better than normal.  The whole area was still covered in fairly deep snow, so the walk to the lake was great fun.  Rob completely sunk into the snow at one point as he stepped off the trail - it was hilarious trying to get him out!  When we got to the lake we were the only ones there which is very unusual as its usually swamped with tour buses - it was amazing, so peaceful and beautiful.  We stayed a while, took lots of photos and then slid our way back down the hill to the car, stopping for a snowball fight on the way.  It was a really great and fun morning.

The walk to Peyto lake

Peyto lake

Left leg disappeared in the snow!

Both legs disappeared in the snow!

And he made it out!

Radium Hot Springs next.  This is where we usually see some bears and this year it didn't disappoint, sadly no grizzlies but we did get to see some black bears.  In total this trip we saw 4, we think we were a couple of weeks too early for all the others.

On the way to Banff we drove my favourite road, the Bow Valley Parkway, we didn't see much on the wildlife front and sadly no moose were frolicking in Moose Meadow - they never are, it's so inappropriately named.

We stayed two nights in Banff and to be honest it was probably one night too many as we ran out of things to do.  As much as we love Canada and especially the Canadian Rockies, this kind of confirmed our thoughts that we are right to take a break from North America for a few years and start to explore new countries.  That said, we still had a few new places to visit further south.

Sunset at Mount Rundle, Banff

Next .... We head back to the USA towards Yellowstone National Park and a few others in Utah.