5/30/12 JASPER, CANADA

5/30 Wed – Left Banff today. We stopped at Lake Louise and thought we’d spend the night here but it’s very cold, windy and snowing a bit.  I was disappointed to find the Lake frozen over, just starting to break up.  When not frozen this lake is a beautiful turquoise.  On to the Columbia Ice fields we toured the exhibits at the visitor center.  Very nice.  We took the tour of the ice field.  The Glacier is over 1,000 feet deep, enough to cover the Eiffel Tower.  They take you out to the Glacier in a bus then you board a huge 6 wheel drive all terrain vehicle called Ice Explorer.  The tires are 5 feet tall, it was really something.  You can see the Glacier from the visitor center and it is amazing.  You get a better view from there as opposed to driving out onto the Glacier.  When we were done with the tour we contemplated staying the night in the nearby campground, no hookups, but it was very cold (10 degrees!) and windy.  I just wanted to trudge on to Jasper.  It was 5:00 or so but it doesn’t get dark until 10:00 or so.  Even then it’s not real dark until maybe 2:00 a.m. or so.  We are now in the Whistler Campground for 4 nights.  Nice place with FHU, lot’s of pine trees, no satellite.

Lake Louise

Scenic Pull out

Out on the Glacier (10 degrees!)

Monster Truck - Holden would LOVE this!

5/31 Thur – Went to the visitors center to get info and a hiking guide book.  I asked the Canada Park employee to suggest a few hikes for us .  One being the Maligne Canyon.   Shortly after we started this hike it started to sprinkle.  Since it was 60% chance of rain I thought we were in for another wet day of hiking.  But soon the sun was out and it couldn’t have been a nicer day.  Lot’s of nice waterfalls along this gorge.   There is a cave system that carries water underground and gushes water into this canyon. It’s very interesting to see.  There are 5 bridges that cross the canyon located at various points all the way up.  Once on top the views are incredible.  Rushing water falls, blue sky, snow capped mountains, pine trees, heavily moss covered rock cliffs, frozen snow on the sides of the canyon in places the sun don’t shine.  All over the Canadian Rockies there are warning of bear and elk.  The bears are a concern for me.  I’m glad to see other people along the way, it helps alert the bears.  I’d like to see bears but from the safety and comfort of our truck.  They have several areas closed due to bears and/or elk.  It’s calving season for elk and they are very protective of their calves.  The bears are down in the valleys in search of berries and other food.  The campgrounds are very strict about campers leaving anything out.  Put up your BBQ grill, ice chest, trash, etc. or they’ll confiscate these things for you and kick you out. 

After dinner last night we drove out to Athabasca Falls.  WOW, this place is amazing.  The falls are located near the parking area so not much walking.  There’s a bridge that goes across the falls so you get up close.  The amount of water rushing down these falls is amazing.  It’s interesting to see how the water has carved the rock.

6/1/12 Fri – A 12 pack of Bud-Lite $24!  One gallon of drinking water $5.00 (.79 cents in Texas).

We hiked 3.5 miles around Valley of the 5 lakes.  Beautiful turquoise lakes.  More of a hike than I wanted given my sore knee from previous hikes. This turned out to be moderate in places due to the steep grades up and down.  Another perfect weather day even though 50% chance of rain, which never came.  We did not see any wildlife until we got back to camp.  While sitting outside enjoying the previously mentioned bud-lite an elk calf & her momma walked right by us down the dirt road that goes around the camp ground.  They were soon accosted by paparazzi then moved on. 

6/2/12 Sat – It doesn’t get dark until ……well I’m not sure when.  I do know it’s still light at 10:00 p.m.  And it’s dark at 2:30 a.m. and sunrise is around 4:30 a.m.  It’s messing with my internal clock, I get very sleepy but toss & turn for hours even though it’s pitch dark in the bedroom with our blackout curtains.  We saw the two elk again this morning galloping right by our RV.  Apparently this is their daily routine.   It’s raining off & on this morning, our last day here.  I’m ready to move on, glad we didn’t plan to stay any longer.  I did some house cleaning this morning and fixed French toast for breakfast.  We’ll go into the town of Jasper today, do some window shopping and look for a place to enjoy a good pizza & beer later.  Our next destination is Dawson Creek then on up to Muncho Lake then Watson Lake.