6 weeks on the road means lots of picnics, and a drive through Tim Hortons makes it easy. They are as common as Starbucks in the US. This is Glacier National Park. Not sure what this means…
After Apple cider donuts and press pot coffee we were back to back to Banf. (Lots of excellent coffee in Canada). Our first stop was at a wolf refuge. We had forgotten to stop at the wolf dog sanctuary so happened to find this. As it turns out wolf dogs are quite aggressive at unexpected times (many fatal attacks on humans) unlike wolves that are shy around humans. Sadly the idea this would make a clever new breed did not go well, hence the need for a reserve. To be honest, not sure why the wolves were here at the reserve. Some had been in the film industry and had imprinted on people as they were born in captivity so they were kind of stuck. Regardless it was interesting if also a bit sad.
For about 150 dollars you can take these guys for a romp. Unleashed in the wild. They say they always come back because they want dinner. (Northern Lights refuge)
This area is interesting in that there are 4 National parks in close proximity: Banf, Kootenay, Yoho and Jasper. Ever since looking through National Geographic’s as a kid I have wanted to come here. Happy to say I was not disappointed. In fact it was even more beautiful than I imagined.
A lake in the Kootenays … a teaser for what was to come
We drove to Banff as a day trip from our timeshare in Fairmont Springs which we turned into an overnighter when we happened to find a cabin 1/2 price right next to Johnston Canyon.
Here is our Tahoe style cottage and if you look at the tree in the distance you can see the bear scratches. Note how high the scratches are.
So within the same trip we came back for a couple more days …. And looking forward to returning some day.
On our return trip we stayed at a beautiful spot along the river. They gave you matches to build a fire along the river.
There was also a bucket of water next to each fire pit… and of course forks for roasting marshmallows And yet another perfect coffee spot.
The food has been very good to excellent. I have been surprised bu how many excellent vegan meals I have found. My favorite was a grated beet burger. Not a very spicy place though. I ordered a spicy pho at a Vietnamese restaurant and not less than 3 came back to make sure I knew it was spicy. It was and it was delicious. We have also has duck, trout, salmon and elk. All delicious! (Plenty of blackberries, raspberries and apples too… which pair well with all the homemade ice cream here). My favorite was lemon lavender.
We broke our travel rule (don’t tell Maris) and we to same restaurant twice.The name is Truffle Pig so Brant had to get pork.
Really this was a place about the beauty (sought by people from all over the world)…so the rest is all pics. The first visit in Banff it was a bit cloudy and rainy at times. When we returned there was not a cloud in the sky. The clouds made it dramatic (and dynamic) and the blue sky made it more unbelievable. I kept saying it is so beautiful it looks fake. I sent a pic to Maris and she said, “wow it looks fake! “. Hmmm…. Genetics?
Johnston Canyon. A spectacular hike… for no charge. I’d like to do in winter like Dan and Linda. We compared our photos … both so beautiful but so different This Lake Louise. One of the few spots where we encountered lots of people (though people were impressed we easily got a parking space). Not cheap though… $22 (Canadian).Another of lake Louise. I became obsessed with reflections. the Lake was beautiful but the humongous ritzy hotel on its shoreline did not add to its beauty. It looks cold but we were very comfortable.We had this trail with soft drizzle almost completely to ourselves. A few days earlier in sunshine on Labor Day weekend, the parking lot was jammed. (Marble Canyon Kootenay National Park)It’s interesting how different this canyon was from Johnston Canyon. I took more pics from car than I ever have before. This mountain range is different from the others but they are all in close proximity. I want to hike there when we come back. (Castle Mt)bears admiring the foliage or doing something? Lots of carved bears around here. These red chairs are placed at special viewpoints in each park. And you can add the photos to an Instagram account. Look how excited I am….Actually this was an amazing waterfall. Tremendously loud. I will try to add a video below. It was worth the 25,000 total steps to cap off the day. I think it’s about 7 pm in this pic. Compare to these just a few miles away.When we hiked up the rock pile to Moraine Lake, I worried it would not meet my bucket list expectations…There was no need to worry…. (We asked someone with tons of camera equipment to take this and she worked hard to take this and gave us a mini lesson on using phone camera).…. And just in case you missed the rainbow in pic above. … so beautiful I teared up (not joking)We wanted to do a more remote hike at Morraine, and when we told our van driver (shuttle required) he insisted we borrow his bear spray. I finally found a bear to practice on! (Many trails required groups of 4 and bear spray) About an hour after I took this pic, som e buts arrived and this tiny lake was dotted with canoes. We saw no coyotes while hiking but this beauty was on the golf course checking the sand trap of loot.While we were visiting Vernon the leaves turned. Lots of gold and yellow… spectacular next to the teal lakes This is the glacier feeding Peyto Lake. and of course shrinking dramatically each year.I think the blue skies brought in a few too many spectators for this overlook. Interesting because while it was a good trail, it was a fairly steep trail. Lots of wheezing going on out there.. This is at the base of the Bowman Falls/cascades. A castle like hotel looked over them and unlike the Lake Louise hotel looked like it belonged there. I’d like to go back when it’s snowing. You can walk the trail into the cute town of Banff. Or maybe I’d rather come back and use those rafts you can see on shore? This made a perfect picnic spot. Peanut butter comes in handy. So glad it was not poison ivy we were plopped down on. (Icefields Parkway). Like I said, lots of photos. And many thanks to that very patient guy. An excellent driver, trip planner, hiker and the very best friend to travel with anywhere.
Life's Been Good To Us So Far! 