Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Revelstoke

After leaving Medicine Hat (which, by the way, I would like to retract my tongue-in-cheek "bucket list" comment from the previous post - it is actually a really nice and very livable city - sorry to any Medicine Hattians that I may have offended), we made a slight detour to Dinosaur Provincial Park located in the Badlands. We learned that the naming of the Badlands relates to reports from early French-Canadian explorers citing alack of animals to trap and a scarcity of water. We stopped by the visitors centre to see some of the dinosaur specimens discovered nearby and the kids played with the interactive exhibits (all part of our homeschooling plan!).

As we drove past Calgary towards Canmore, the landscape changed drastically from prairies, to foothills, to mountains. A quick stop in Canmore to pick up some food for camping and some bear spray (the $50 spray gets 15 feet of range and the $60 spray can gets 30 feet of range...we figured that if we are going to get mauled by a grizzly, that extra 15 feet should come in handy).

After a few wrong turns we end up at our campsite in Banff - it is an "equipped" campsite - it comes with a canvas tent with cots to sleep 6 and a propane stove - this is midway between the glamping tent we had in Pukaskwa and the normal 4 person tent we will use in Jasper/Yoho (part of the plan for a smooth transition to "normal" camping).

The first evening we went for a short hike at Stewart Canyon. I have to admit, I was shocked at the shear number of people in Banff - it was a long weekend, so granted higher traffic than normal, but it was a real turn off in some of the more popular areas. As we made our way out on the trail past hoards of people barbequing, and eating picnics, we managed to find less people (Mel remarked 'no wonder there are grizzly bears coming down from the hills' - I couldn't agree more!). As we got to the Stewart Canyon bridge, there was a sign that required hikers to walk in groups of 4 people minimum and to carry bear spray due to increased bear activity. We were happy to turn back at the bridge. We managed to find a parking spot (parking is an issue everywhere in Banff) at a beach near the campsite where 75% of us went for a swim in the glacial waters (voted colder than Lake Superior by the kids).

We also saw some wildlife along the road!

The next day we set out to Sulphur Mountain to do a hike. There is an 8 minute gondola ride for $60/adult and $40/child ($200 total) - we decided to opt for the hike and spend some of that money on food and beer afterwards! We hiked up 650m of vertical - which is a lot - CN tower is 450 m for reference). This took about 2.5 hours up and 1.5 hours down. The views from the top were incredible and it was a nice reward for reaching the top.

After a brief stop on the main strip in Banff (for beers, ice cream, and souvenirs), we headed back to the campsite, exhausted, to make a delicious spaghetti dinner.

Our campsite had very little privacy and we were lucky that both sites on either side of us were unoccupied.....or so we thought. At 10 pm the first night, our neighbours rolled in - two couples from Ohio - nice enough people. The next night at dinner, they made a fire with some very wet wood (not realizing that there is free dried wood supplied by the park). After being smoked like a brisket, I walked over and helped them get their fire going with some dry wood (they clearly were not seasoned campers). They were very thankful and I, of course, was just happy to not be smoked out.

That same evening, we were awoken by loud voices and lights shining on our tent. I went out for a pee and saw that the neighbours were preparing to leave. It is a very popular thing to wake up early to catch the sunrise at Moraine Lake or Lake Louise. Mel and I are not morning people, and 3 a.m. is debatably not even morning yet. After the neighbours banged around and yelled across the campsite to each other (3:45 am at this point), I turned to Mel and said - we have two choices - we can either be pissed off and try to sleep through all this racket or pack up our stuff and head out to catch the sunset - we chose the latter. We hurriedly packed our stuff up and had the car packed in less than 15 minutes (our neighbours were well past the hour mark at this point). As we were closing our trunk the neighbour called over - "are you guys heading over to see the sunrise too?". I had to bite my tongue, and politely responded - yes.

After a bleary-eyed drive to Moraine Lake we were directed to an alternative parking lot since the Moraine Lake parking lot was full (need to be there before 5 a.m. to get parking...are we seeing a trend here?). Slight change in plans - we had to suffer through the view of the sunrise at Lake Louise. This was absolutely incredible. We sat centre stage along the boardwalk awaiting the changing light as the mountains reflected in the mirror-like Lake Louise. We were freezing cold and exhausted, but it was well worth it. We left Lake Louise and parked in a picnic shelter while I made coffee, tea, and oatmeal on the propane stove to keep us all warm as we awaited for the road to Moraine Lake to open up. Sure enough, 30 minutes later, they started letting cars in and we spent time walking along the lake and skipping rocks (a new favourite pastime for the boys). The scenery is just incredible and we took a million photos. I'll keep it to 8.

We headed northbound towards Jasper, as we travelled along the Trans Canada #1 Hwy, I noticed that we seemed to be going west - this was further confirmed when we crossed the BC border. I asked our trusty navigator if we perhaps missed a turn since we were entering Yoho National Park instead of Jasper (it turns out that this was somewhat ironic in the end...read on). After doing a 180 and heading back into Alberta, we headed north on Hwy 93 - the Icefields Parkway. I recall that my boss, who had lived in the area previously, had mentioned that this drive was really incredible - he was not wrong. Driving past rivers, and glaciers, and massive jutting rock faces, we wanted to stop at every spot and take photos. We drove the 3 hours (not counting the earlier detour) to Jasper Park where we went into the Parks building to register. I overheard the words "fire" and "evacuation" from the conversation ahead of me. It turns out that a fire 50 km north of Jasper had taken out the main power line and the park was shutting down and evacuating. So we got back in the car and headed south to, yup, you guessed it, Yoho National Park.

After our 6 hour drive up and down Hwy 93 we arrived at Kicking Horse campground which is a first come first serve campsite at the National Park. As we pulled to the window, the Quebecois attendant told me that they had 1 site remaining, would we like to take it? YES!!! What a stroke of luck. Turned out to be a great site and we were relieved to arrive after having been on the road for almost 8 hours of driving (including the early morning drive to Lake Louise plus the detour).

The next day we went to Takakkawa Falls, Canada's 2nd highest waterfall at 373 m (I had no idea beforehand). Kids spent time skipping stones and making clay figures (Art class) in the river bed. From there we hiked the 3.5 hour round trip to Laughing Falls.

We drove from Yoho to Revelstoke - saw some pretty crazy construction along the highway from Yoho to Golden - they are expanding the highway from 2-lane to 4-lane which requires some extreme engineering - additional bridges, rock cuts, cable bolting, etc. I was impressed to see that every person on site seemed to be doing something unlike the construction in Ontario.

Now we are in Revelstoke - had a nice meal at an old high school converted to a restaurant (I did a double take as I walked by - honestly thought it was the current local high school.

Off to hike around Revelstoke National Park tomorrow and then on to Kelowna to see my best bud John Wilson and Christine, Cade (son), and Gus (dog) - very excited!