Beautiful British Columbia, Jasper & Banff

I have to say as beautiful as the places are in the US, it is nice to be back on Canadian soil. We arrived back in Canada through Osoyoos and drove through the beautiful Okanagan Valley. We completed our 14 day quarantine and then got to explore a little bit of beautiful BC. We spent a couple of days on a hobby farm and then to Dutch Lake where we absolutely loved the little town of Clearwater, BC. It was the perfect spot to swim, kayak and fish.

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Jasper

We loved everything about this park. We split our 6 nights between Wapiti and Wabasso campgrounds and had campsites along the Athabasca River in both parks. The scenery is breathtaking and it seems like each spot we visited offered a different perspective of the park.

We rode the Jasper skytram to the top of Whistler mountain (named for the marmots who make “whistling” noises if you get to close). From the top of the skytram you can hike to the summit which is a steep 1.4 km, but the view from the top is incredible. We found some snow up there, and had a snowball fight and even managed to build a tiny snowman.

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Jasper Rafting Tours took us for a rafting trip down the Athabasca River. We had the perfect day to be out on the river and the trip was fantastic. Piper was pretty nervous about rafting through rapids but enjoyed every second of it when we got out on the river. Our guide had a wealth of knowledge about the park and we were all soaking wet by the end of the trip.

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We took the long windy road out to Edith Cavel where we hiked out to see the melting Cavel Glacier. The views were amazing and we got down close enough to the lake to touch the chunks of ice that have separated from the glacier.

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Our last day in Jasper we hiked the Valley of Five Lakes, the hike was great and the blue water of the lakes was so beautiful in the sun light. The daylight hours are so long here in the summer, dusk doesn’t start to set in until 10 PM and it isn’t fully dark until around 11 PM.

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Icefields Parkway

Hands down Icefields Parkway was my favourite part of our trip through Jasper and Banff. The views of the mountains and Glaciers were absolutely stunning and the campgrounds were quiet and small with fantastic views. We stayed at Wilcox Campground and Rampart Campgrounds and had great campsites at each campground.

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We hiked to The Toe of the Glacier which allows an up close look at the Athabasca Glacier and a reality check of how much these Glaciers are shrinking every year (about 5 meters per year). We also hiked the steep trail – Parker Ridge, which has stunning views of the Saskatchewan Glacier once you come over the peak of the mountain.

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Banff

We arrived in the Lake Louise Campground to find quickly how much busier it is in Banff than Jasper and Icefields Parkway. Upon driving up in the afternoon to catch a glimpse of Lake Louise, we learned that the parking lots fill up around 7 am and after that it is one car out/one car in, which doesn’t work out well of you are driving a motorhome. We headed back to the campground and decided we would need to get a very early start to our days at Lake Louise of we wanted to be able to see the lake viewpoints. The campground had a great bike trail along the Bow River that we biked instead that afternoon, which had tons of wildflowers blooming along the trail.

We got up at 5 the next morning and secured a parking spot at Lake Louise. We got a glimpse of the lake at sunrise and hiked up the trail to Lake Agnes and enjoyed the view with hot apple cider from the tea house on the top.

Day two was another early morning start, which rewarded us with stunning views of Lake Moraine and an early morning hike to Constallation Lakes where a Horay Marmot greeted us. We kayaked Moriane Lake in the morning, and had a picnic lunch and kayak at Bow Lake in the afternoon. It was a perfect day in Banff.

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Two Jack Lakeside

Our last two nights in Banff we had a perfect campsite at this quiet campground outside of the busy town of Banff. We had a nice swim hole, fishing spot and kayak launch behind our campsite. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic visit to the Canadian Rockies.

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