Banff and Jasper National Parks - Incredible nature and incredibly many tourists

Monday morning it was time: I rented a car for 3 days, otherwise you're really lost in Banff and Jasper National Parks. Really cool to be so independent 👍👍 First of all, I went shopping to have something for dinner and for breakfast in the hostel. When I arrived at the hostel in Banff, I was positively surprised how well-kept a hostel can be! All other accommodations were unaffordable anyway. Unbelievable how everything is geared towards tourism, including the prices 😉. So I put my stuff in the fridge and headed to Lake Louise for my first hike. It's so beautiful there, with the green-colored lake in front of a gigantic mountain backdrop! 😍 But there were so many people! It was almost disgusting. The parking lot at Lake Louise was crowded, there was even an overflow parking lot with park and ride and it was also full 🙈 fortunately, I found a rest area 2 km before, where there was still space. So off I went, the trail to Agnes Lake and the Little Beehive was pretty crowded at first. But it got less crowded, so you could also enjoy it. And it's better to walk in a group than to encounter a bear alone. The official recommendation from the park rangers is to hike with 5 or more people, then the bears stay away ☺️ The view at the top was amazing, it was worth it, see pictures. All 3 hikes I did were about 12-14 km and 500-600 meters of elevation gain, doable in about 3 hours. Back at the hostel, I made pasta to save some money ☺️ it was delicious and off to bed.

Since I could extend my stay at the hostel for one more night, I decided not to make the long drive to Jasper (5 hours), but to do hikes from Banff. However, I had to change rooms again. After breakfast with fried eggs, baked beans and bagels (yummy!) I headed to Jasper National Park. Hard to believe, but the further I drove, the more breathtaking the scenery became! Accordingly, I stopped often and tried to capture it in pictures. Everything that the cell phone camera allows ☺️ First, I stopped at Peyto Lake. Wow, it was beautiful! I think it was the first time that I asked someone to take a picture of me ☺️ That someone was Lena and Benni from Stuttgart 😂 They also shipped their T4 here to travel through North and Central America for a whole year! We exchanged addresses right away. They also write a blog, so you can follow their journey 👍

Then I continued to the Wilcox Pass Trail. A beautiful trail, not so crowded and the landscape kept changing. At the viewpoint at the top, you had an incredibly beautiful view of the Athabasca Glacier right in front! 😍 At the same time, you also saw one of the main tourist attractions in the park: you can take gigantic bus trucks to a platform about 500 meters onto the glacier surface. Just so you can say that you've been on the glacier. How stupid is that? Well, you don't have to do it.

Back at the hostel, I cooked for myself again. And while I was cooking, I heard a band playing somewhere. And indeed: looking at the calendar, I see: jam night! And I was also a bit thirsty for beer. So off to the hostel pub. The hostel provided all the instruments so that people who could play or sing could let off steam. A really cool action! I also played a bit of drums and sang and made some acquaintances ☺️👍

My third hike took me through Johnston Canyon up to the Ink Pots. On the way there, I picked up 2 Germans who were hitchhiking. They reported that hitchhiking works really well here. So it's definitely a cheap alternative. And I saw a beautiful female deer in the forest, my highlight when it comes to wildlife. Unfortunately, I didn't see any bears or moose 😐

The Johnston Canyon was also crowded with people (disgusting), but it got better the higher you climbed. The ink pots are so called because cold springs flow into 5 small lakes at different speeds, stirring up different amounts of rocks and sediments. Impressive. Back at the car, I headed towards Calgary again, where I returned the car and went to my Airbnb accommodation. I was looking for a cheap place near the airport. And I found one ☺️ Upon arriving at Len's place, I also knew why it was so cheap 😂 Len is a friendly older guy, with whom I talked late into the night about conspiracy theories, science, and religion. But I could hardly walk into the house with my backpack, he had collected so much stuff. I thought any moment now Sükrü from the Trödeltrupp should actually park outside with flashing lights to empty the place 😂 But the bed was okay and I had breakfast with me. It was cool that he drove me to the airport for half the price of an Uber 👍 Now I'm sitting on the plane to Toronto. This will be my last stop before the flight home.