Oh, Canada…

We crossed into Canada on June 21 and spent five very long days exploring Canada on our way to the Alaskan border.

  We stayed two nights in Banff exploring Banff National Park and the surrounding area. The campground in Banff was different from what we’ve seen before. Instead of having a small driveway type of spot for each campsite, you just kind of pull up on the road and stop next to your table and hookups. It was unusual, but worked for us.

We tried to do a hike, but found a sign letting people know that a baby bear had been spotted not far down the trail only 20 minutes before we got there. So, we poked around at the trail head and decided not to take the chance since we’d so brilliantly left our bear spray back at the RV and we all know how mama bears get around their babies.

We did get to see the Continental Divide! It was pretty neat to go a few miles toward Banff and see the rivers flowing one way and go a few miles toward Kootenay and see the rivers flowing the other way.

Everywhere we looked it was like looking at a postcard or a movie set here! I think we all just walked around with our cameras in front of our faces snapping constant photos! There wasn’t a bad view anywhere to be found.

We celebrated our first night in Canada with s’mores and a campfire!

A good portion of the next day was spent at Moraine Lake. We had a great time hiking around the lake and up what felt like 200 stairs to the top of the path to get the top picture above. But with a view like that, it’s hard to complain…too much. The mountains in the top photo above area called the Seven Sisters. I guess people come from all over the world just to get that shot. I have to admit…it’s probably the most beautiful lake and mountain view I’ve ever seen! I mean, just look at the color of that water!!

All along the roads in Alberta we saw this flower. They grow in patches and clumps. I love the way they look like flames along the roadsides!

We crossed into British Columbia and started down the Columbia Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper National Parks. The views along the road were wonderful…more postcards…more movie sets!

We stopped at the Icefield Center toward the middle of the drive where you can hike up close to the Athabasca Glacier. It was our understanding you could hike up and touch it, but it was all roped off. You can take a guided tour up on the glacier, but we didn’t have time and to be honest, it’s a little pricey to just go stand out there on slipper ice in the freezing cold. You can’t walk around on it by yourself because you might fall into a hidden crevasse. The view of the glacier was better from the visitor center than right in front of it. From the visitor center you can really see the size of it!

We stopped to get a picture of Bridal Veil Falls (left photo). We found a “trail” down to another waterfall. So, of course, we had to climb out, stretch our legs and get a picture with it!

We made it to Jasper, but only had one afternoon to get all of our site seeing done. We stayed at the Whistler Campground which was right down the road from the Jasper Gondola.

The Jasper Gondola takes you about 2300 meters up onto Whistler Mountain where you can then hike another mile or so to the summit. The view was spectacular!!

The boys had to throw snowballs off of the mountain. They thought it was pretty cool that there was snow during the middle of summer!

We had to get a photo to prove we were actually there too! We’re still not over those views!

From the gondola center on top you can see the town of Jasper. I love the different colors of the lakes and river! Can you spot the rainbow in the picture above? A rain storm had just passed by.

We got half way up to the summit and this came over the top of the mountain. We pressed on thinking that it was just another shower… And then ten minutes from the summit (we were sooo close)…the storm really showed itself and it wasn’t just rain. It was a winter mix of sleet and snow and wind! We kept going since we were almost to the top…until the lightening started. The first zip of lightening had my hair standing up and a guy in front of us on the trail immediately turned around and started waving his metal hiking poles in the air as he ran as fast as he could back down the mountain. We all stood still for a minute processing what had just happened and then we all started hot-footing it back down the mountain to the safety of the gondola center. In all of my hiking wisdom, I had on the absolutely wrong pants. I’d decided to wear my skinny jeans. They look super cute, but when they get wet they shrink and cling…so I basically had to kind of waddle back down the mountain with my camera shoved into my rain jacket. Jerl sent the boys ahead and he kept trying to hurry me along as the storm picked up. By the time we got to the gondola center we were soaked and frozen, but we have a great story and memories that we’ll never forget! We were bummed to get so close to the summit and not make it.

Once we dried off back at our home-on-wheels…and the storm passed, we decided to head back out to find the Athabasca Falls. We passed by it earlier in the day and it was completely crowded, but when we got there about 9:30 pm we had the place to ourselves! It was wonderful!! The double rainbow was the icing on the cake! It’s faint, but it’s there!

The next few days were…well…a blur. We had very long days driving from one campsite to the next. We got to drive the ALCAN Highway, got some of the best cinnamon rolls ever (they were still warm from the oven), saw mountains, glaciers, rivers, and lakes…

And then there was the wildlife…Stone sheep, wild bison, and bears! We saw some moose, elk, and deer too, but I didn’t get any good pictures of them.

We entered the Yukon on the fourth day and made a short side trip to Carcross, YT.

The town was neat, but we really went to see the desert. Yup, you read that right…there’s a desert in the Yukon! The visitor center was closed…I think we got there too early. I love the totem poles and the designs on the buildings!

We strolled around the dunes and played in the sand for a few minutes, then hit the road again! We had another really long drive day as were trying to make it to Alaska.

The roads weren’t too terribly bad. We’ve actually seen worse. We had to drive down this dirt road between Haines Junction and the border into Alaska. Our poor RV is a mess!!

We’re still adding stickers to our map! This is what it looks like right now.

We spent five very long, very eventful days traveling through Canada and we loved every minute of it!

Oh, Canada…we’ll definitely be back to visit!

See y’all on the road!

 #alaskabound