1 June – 4 June
Wednesday:
Our drive today is taking us past Calgary and as it’s consistently voted right up there on the best places to live list we figure we’d best go and take a look. It’s all right, but we can’t really see what the fuss is about. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere and it’s just a fairly ordinary city.
I guess after the splendour of Montana anything’s a bit of an anti-climax. Still, it’s the biggest city we’ve been in since San Diego and we could do with some shopping. We call in at the mall where we discover that any shopping we need to do best wait till we back in the US where things are a bit cheaper.
We decide to skip out of Calgary early and head up to Banff National Park. When we get there we find out that the town of Banff is included in the national park and so we’re going to have to pay an extra $20 entrance fee just for the pleasure of staying in over-priced accommodation, and then another $20 to cover tomorrow. Things aren’t really looking up for us – Banff is awash with tacky souvenir shops, busloads of tourists and hideously overpriced grocery shops. We put ourselves to bed early hoping we’ll be in better moods tomorrow.
Janet adds: OK, I think it’s pretty obvious. We’re struggling to warm to Canada. I know we haven’t given it much of a chance but it’s a lot more expensive than the US and just not as cool. Sorry Canada.
Thursday:
And we are in better moods. Dispute all its flaws you can’t fault the setting of Banff. We’ve left the dull prairies behind and we’re back in the glorious Rocky Mountains. It’s also a novelty not to have to drive somewhere to do a hike: we simply pack up our rucksacks and walk out of the hotel. The snow that is still about on higher ground restricts what we’re able to do, but we find a lovely walk through the forest on the banks of the Bow River. The walk ends at some hoodoos and a car park.
And again that’s the problem with Banff: it’s set up for drive by tourism so you really don’t need to get out of your car to see any of the major sights. It kind of takes the fun out hiking.
But, if you can’t beat them join them. We head back to the hotel to grab some sandwiches and then hop in the car. Our first stop is at Johnston Canyon. Here a boardwalk winds along the walls of the canyon to some powerful waterfalls. A tunnel carved through the rocks gets us close enough to get soaked by the spray.
Next we drive to Lake Louise to find it still frozen. The grand Fairmont Chateau stands proudly at the foot of the lake. There’s a good crowd of people lining up to get their pictures taken against the magnificent backdrop, including a bride and groom. We’re hoping to get tea and cake but alas, none is to be found.
Then it’s back to lake Minnewanka (which the Canadians, against all logic, insist is pronounced Minnie-wonka. Yeah right). Pronunciation aside it is of course beautiful, but somewhat upstaged by the group of bighorn ship licking the road to get minerals.
Janet adds: maybe Canada isn’t so bad after all.
Friday:
Today we’re tackling the promising sounding Icefields Parkway. This road cuts up through the Rocky Mountains with plenty of opportunities to stop off and take in the sights.
As beautiful as they may be, there are only so many alpine lakes you can take in on one day so we’ve got to be a bit selective. Our first stop involves a fifteen-minute slide over hard-packed snow to views of brilliant blue (and still mostly frozen) Peyto Lake. It is definitely well worth the effort.
We’re driving past the Columbia Icefield, which covers about 325km2. We can’t get any sense of the scale of it from the road, but we can stop for a closer look at the Athabasca glacier.
It’s cold with all that ice around and we’re happy to move on to the powerful Athabasca Falls.
We turn off the main road for a brief detour hoping to see some wildlife. We’ve already spotted one bear on the way up and here we’re rewarded with another 2 bears calmly going about their business. We watch them for a little while and then leave them to it.
We’ve reached Jasper. We thought about staying here for a night or two and exploring some more, but as everything is so expensive and most of the good hikes are still snowbound we decide to head out of the national park instead. We point ourselves in the direction of Vancouver and find a convenient place to stop for the night in the quaint Valemount.
Saturday:
It’s a lovely sunny day as we set off this morning and for the first time in a few weeks it gets properly warm: we have to stop after a couple of hours to change into shorts. What bliss.
It’s a day begging to be spent hiking, swimming or lazing about in the great outdoors. Unfortunately it’s a driving day for us so we can’t take advantage of it. On the plus side, what we’d expected to be a dull blast down the highway is in fact a beautiful road that follow the course of a river (or various rivers?) down through the mountains.
We’re not making it all the way to Vancouver today so in the late afternoon we pull into the town of Hope. We’re expecting a bit of a small town backwater but again we’re pleasantly surprised to find a charming town in a gorgeous location: on the banks of the Fraser River, surrounded by mountains and forest.
A quick flick through the town guide in our motel room reveals a very unexpected surprise: Hope was the location for the filming of Rambo: First Blood. Nick thinks it’s Christmas. It’s a good excuse to take advantage of the warm evening and so we head out on a walking ‘Rambo’ tour of town. Our walk takes us through the green town square lined with chainsaw sculpture, along the banks of the swift and full Fraser river and finally across the bridge. (Nick tells me that this is the bridge Rambo walks back across into town after the sheriff drops him off at the start of the film, before they 'pushed him'.)
Back at the motel we catch the last few minutes of the ice hockey. The Stanley Cup final is on and the Vancouver Canucks are playing the Boston Bruins. Confusingly enough the final is played over 7 games and this is game 2. The Canucks slip in a last minute goal to claim their second victory.
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