May 16, 2012 - Lundbreck Falls PP to Mosquito Creek PP, north of Lake Louise

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 Lundbreck Falls Provincial Park, Alberta to Mosquito Creek Provincial Park (just North of Lake Louise) 249 miles TRAVEL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber I guess Mosquito Creek, Alberta qualifies as a destination I didn’t know I was going to……. Had a good night’s sleep except for the sleep machine battery dying, which meant we had to listen to just a bit of highway traffic occasionally but mostly Canadian geese honking! Not too bad,...

May 13, 2012 - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Saturday, May12 We left Lethbridge at 8:15 heading west towards Ft. McLeod. Our beautiful mountains filled the entire horizon in front of us. When we got to Ft. McLeod we turned north towards Calvary, so now the mountains were to our left and just flat farmland to the right. We were probably 60 miles from them but they still commanded the view. At Calvary we finally turned west again and headed right into them! OMG, how gorgeous they are, they just take your breath away at every turn. I really regret not buying a new camera before this...

Aug 29, 2011 - Banff National Park

Aug 4 Thursday: This morning we drove 131 miles to Lake Louise. On the way we drove by Athabasca Glacier (Columbia icefield) and noticed how much it has receded since we were here in 2006. Going into our camp we saw a bear alongside of the road. At the camp even tho it is still a provincial park we have electrical hookup only. After setting up we drove up to Moraine Lake to look for moose…no such luck. The lake is quite pretty even tho it has logs backed up at the lake resort. Lots of mosquitoes here. It rained off and on a lot of the way....

Aug 27, 2011 - Jasper, AB to Lake Louise, AB

Our route from Jasper to Lake Louise was down the Icefields Parkway. The Icefields Parkway parallels the Columbia Icefields, from Jasper down to the Trans-Canada Highway, Route 1, just north of Lake Louise. The road climbs along the Athabasca River from Jasper at about 2500 ft to the glacier fields at about 5,000 ft. The climb is fairly gradual to about 5,000 ft and then you climb up to a bit over 6,000 ft at the top of Sunwapta Pass. The coach was straining at the end of the climb. The Icefields Centre is at Sunwapta Pass . We stopped for...

Aug 16, 2011 - Banff, Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway

Tuesday was our big sightseeing day. We decide to go as far north on Highway 93 (Icefields Parkway) towards Jasper as Peyto Lake at Bow Pass (2067 m) where we were told there was a short hike to good viewing area of a glacier and the lake. The short path ended up a very steep short path so Jerry and Judie stayed in the parking area while Ed and Kathy went on the walk and took pictures. Ed enjoyed the different wildflowers along the walk and took several close-ups for Judie to enjoy. Peyto Lake was a very turquoise color with the glacier...

Jul 20, 2011 - Lovely Lake Louise

Even though we enjoyed our time in Revelstoke, we were ready to leave. The rain made the campground very dirty and muddy; it’s in bad need of maintenance, drainage improvement, and tree trimming. Joe did all the dirty work outside getting us unhooked from the utils and getting the Jeep hooked up. We did our light and roll check and headed out of there. Between Revelstoke and Golden lie the Selkirk mountain range and two national parks. The Trans Canada Highway (TCH) skirts the southern edge of Mt. Revelstoke NP and runs right through...

Jul 15, 2011 - On the way to Jasper

Hi everyone, This morning we left the motor home behind and headed for Jasper in the car, about 175 miles north, this stretch of road is called the ice field parkway. The road passes within viewing distance of seven larger glaciers and about 25 smaller but still noticeable glaciers. We took many more pictures than we can send, many mountain lakes with glaciers in the background. We got pictures of a bear and mountain goats, and two waterfalls that have cut incredible passageways through rock. At the Columbia ice fields we hiked up to the...

Jul 7, 2011 - Lake Louise, AB

We got going early this morning. We drove out to Lake Louise again to try to get a better picture. Then we headed to the Lake Louise Gondola. It was a 15 minute ride up to the top. When we got back down before we got out of the ski lift chair we asked if we could ride it again and they said yes so up we went again. During our two trips up and two trips down we saw a female grizzly with two cubs and two black bears. It was hard to take a picture because the chair was bouncing so much. Next we headed west for Yoho National Park. Not long...

Jul 6, 2011 - Lake Louise, AB

After visiting the Banff Farmer’s Market we headed for Lake Louise. We got an electric only site at the Lake Louise Trailer Campground. About a dozen grizzly bears and several black bears rely on the habitat in the Lake Louise area. The combination of developments and the mountain terrain forces wildlife to move closer to people in some places. This is the case at the Lake Louise Campground. Therefore, they have installed an electric fence in order to safely guide the bears around the area and to prevent bears from being attracted into the...

Jun 19, 2011 - Wet and Winey at Lake O'Hara

Our second trip to Lake O'Hara Lodge in 3 months, how decadent! As the rain poured down on Friday morning, we boarded the bus and headed to the Lodge for the annual wine weekend. The agenda for the weekend is hiking on Friday followed by an excellent dinner, then more hiking on Saturday followed by a 6 course, wined paired feast, this year featuring wine from Laughing Stock Vineyard in Naramata BC. What happens Sunday depends on how much wine is consumed on Saturday night! This year we were joined by lots of friends: Barb and Kevin, Bob and...

Jun 17, 2011 - Lake Louise Area

2011-06-17 Lake Louise Area We started out today to check out the area around Lake Louise and we saw a lot of beautiful sights in spite of the cold and rain. Linda, ever the optimist was continually saying, "I think it's clearing up." or "I see the sun trying to shine through." we did have a few brief periods of sun and we had a great time. Look at the pictures and read the captions; you'll get the idea. Later, Gary

Jun 17, 2011 - Lake Louise

jene unter euch, die von uns eine Postkarte aus lake Louise erhielten, moegen wohl lieber 2x hinschauen. Richtig, das ist nicht St. Moritz, obwohl es sehr daran erinnert, auch preislich ;-) Eigentlich ist es gar kein Ort im europaeischen Sinn. Vielmehr steht ein (fuer kanadische verhaeltnisse) altes Luxushotel am wunderschoenen Lake Louise. Am Empfang des Chateaus Fairmoints erwartete uns ein waschechter Steirer in gruener Tracht, im Hotelinneren gings dann weiter in die Walliser Stube, geschmueckt mit Jagdtrophaeen und Wandbildern...