National Park Hopping in Canada

Hi! After moving out of Carolyne's, we explored Downtown Calgary. Big cities are not for us, so we went to Prince's Island Park and hung up our hammocks there. We spent about 4 or 5 hours in the park, enjoying the beautiful weather.

In the evening, we picked up our friend Benny from the airport and got our rental car. We were expecting a Chrysler or something similar, as it was the cheapest option when booking. But we got a Volvo S60 with all the bells and whistles. A great car, just a little low for some of the roads in the Rockies, but plenty of power under the hood :) Unfortunately, this led to us being pulled over by the police on the highway towards Banff. Of course, for speeding... It shouldn't have been possible since the cruise control was on, but I didn't want to argue. Boom, $120 (~82 euros) gone.

Since we couldn't book the campsites in advance, we booked our first campsite at the Tourist Center in Banff: Two Jack Main, just outside of Banff. After setting up the tent, we drove to Johnston Canyon. Besides a lot of tourists, there were two beautiful waterfalls to see.

We had a strong thunderstorm during the night. The echo from the mountains was huge. We packed up our wet tent and had breakfast in the nearby shelter. To warm up, we went to the Banff Hot Springs.

Our goal for this day was Lake Moraine. A mountain lake with a stunning turquoise color. There was a parking lot right by the lake with lots of tour buses and countless tourists. So we hiked up a steep trail to a plateau where there were only 4-5 other hikers. Much more enjoyable! Our trail led us along a mountain lake up to Sentinel Pass. Along the way, we saw numerous small rodents (ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, ...). After hiking 770 meters in elevation over 6 km, we reached the top with a magnificent view! Then we made a detour to Lake Louise, which is also a very touristy destination. It looks very beautiful in photos, but it didn't impress us as much. Lake Moraine was much more beautiful. We spent the night wild camping, outside the national park by the river. More rain...

The route we took in the first few days covered all the tourist destinations in the region that are also visited by buses. So it's not surprising that we weren't alone at the Columbia Icefield. They show nicely how the glacier has shrunk in recent years, which is not nice. And there are even buses (!) driving tourists around on the glacier.

We spent the night at the Honeymoon Lake campground. The place has a really nice lake where you could have gone swimming. We washed some of our clothes and hung them up in the common room, which has a stove. Luckily, it was already turned on. There was a group of German tourists who took over the whole room and even put tablecloths and flowers in vases on the picnic tables... So we took a table for ourselves to cook.

After packing up our still wet tent (nightly rain), we made a short stop at Athabasca Falls and then drove towards the mountain road Mt Edith Cavell. At the intersection, we decided not to drive up the mountain road for the hike because it was completely cloudy and rainy. Instead, we visited the town of Jasper, had burgers at A&W, and then went to the Miette Hot Springs. However, we didn't jump straight into the hot water, but took a hike up the trail there first: the Sulphur Skyline. A sudden 620 meters in elevation over 8.4 km. Unfortunately, the summit was in the clouds, so we couldn't see much. Once we were back down, we jumped straight into the hot springs :) We spent the night outside the national park near an airport, and the mosquitoes drove us almost crazy! More rain overnight...

We had better weather for the hike to Mt Edith Cavell the next day. The hike to the viewpoint there was quite strenuous (taking a break meant getting attacked by mosquitoes), but the view of the glacier and its lake was beautiful :) Along the way, we saw many more ground squirrels, marmots, and chipmunks.

Since it rained again that night, we packed up our wet tent and then walked to Laughing Falls. It was finally a hike without any elevation gain, which can be quite pleasant :)

When we arrived in Golden, we looked for accommodation. It was definitely time for a shower! We found a place at Glenwood Lodge in Blaeberry. They have cabins and campsites there. When we arrived, after driving on gravel roads into the hinterland, we were very surprised to find out that the lodge is run by a Swiss couple. When asked where we came from, we were able to do our booking in German. We really didn't expect that in the hinterland... The place was very nice, with a common room, kitchen, and hot showers! The shower felt so good :) We also met Benny's other uncle Alex and his wife Penny, who bakes excellent fruit pies. The two of them have a small farm where they grow all kinds of vegetables.

After getting some rest in the camper van, we drove to Mt Swansea to get a view of Invermere. After 750 meters in elevation, we reached the summit and had a really great view! We were back at the car after 11.3 km. It was a long hike for a short trip, and we didn't even have any water with us. In the evening, we watched a Canadian movie that nicely depicted the country's bilingualism. The movie was a bit weird though...

Since we've been with Eric, the sun has been shining and the temperature has been rising day by day. Beach day at Windermere Lake. For the next day, we planned a long and challenging hike. And it turned out to be a long and challenging day.

We were picked up by Benny's cousin Tyrel at 6:15 am. An endless gravel road (~38 km) led up to Bugaboo National Park. We hiked up to the Conrad Kain Hut and the view was amazing! The weather was really good, hardly a cloud in the sky. We saw glaciers, waterfalls, snow, and mountain peaks. We visited the hut and continued uphill. There was a summit to climb: Eastpost Spire. At 2,697m, it is one of the highest mountains we've ever climbed. We had to do some scrambling on the way up, and it got tricky on the way down. Luckily, Tyrel had a rope with him and we could rappel down the difficult sections. We continued over a snowfield, a scree field, over another pass, and down a glacier to a lake. We took a long break there, cooled our feet (glacier water!), and refueled for the next leg. We climbed another ridge and along it until the descent began. It was a very long descent. After 12 hours, we were back at the starting point. 1,470 meters in elevation and 18 km were behind us. Then we had to drive back on the endless gravel road. Quick shower at Eric's and off to bed.

We had a bit more action the next day because we went rafting! The glacier water of Toby Creek was very refreshing, and rafting was really fun. We even voluntarily went overboard at one point.

For the next few days, we only have a small hike planned, and then we will drive back to Calgary. Benny's flight is in a few days, and then it's just the two of us again. We will take the bus to Vancouver, spend two days there, and then fly to Auckland, New Zealand!

We really enjoyed Canada, everyone is really friendly and the landscape is beautiful. We won't miss all the mosquitoes, though, they're a real nuisance! What's different here than in Germany? The cars. Our S60 was considered a small car already, as most others here drive huge pickup trucks. V6 or V8, some even with dual rear wheels. The RVs are also eye-catching. They drive huge boxes and tow their trucks behind them. Tourists carry bells to avoid surprising bears (sometimes it sounds like being on an alpine pasture on the hiking trails). Cerina will miss the cute rodents.