Jasper To Calgary -The Icefields Highway

Day 13 to 17 Driving through the Canadian Rockies.

Just like the Maldives, the pictures don't do it justice. We had two nights in Jasper including a tour to mirror lakes, waterfalls and a drive around town. What a beautiful place. Surrounded by mountains but in a wide open valley. Arrival to our accommodation was a bit disorganised, quite surprising given the efficiency of the last two days. We walked into town to stretch the legs and straighten up after two days of sitting. 

The tour to Pyramid lake and Lake Patricia was beautiful, capped off with a black bear eating berries about 50m off the side of the road.

They are easy to spot, just look for the traffic jam and the photographers on the side of the road, all within easy reach of the car door handle. The bear seemed oblivious of the interest, just chomping away on berries, fattening up for the winter. Alas my photos of it were crap.

Maligne Canyon was a deep crevasse in a river with a fantastic waterfall.

We spent the afternoon mooching around the little town of Jasper. Development has been banned here and you can't live here unless you have job in town. The town is inside Jasper National Park so it is going to be preserved as is. It is also a declared dark sky area, like Lake Tekapo in NZ, so light is controlled in town after dark.

Next morning it was off to Lake Louise along the Icefields Highway, straight down the spine of the Canadian Rockies. Driving from Jasper to Lake Loiuse takes you over the continental divide, Jasper being on the Pacific Ocean Side, Calgary on the Atlantic Ocean side. As we left town the local wildlife came out in the form of a huge male Elk and his harem just feeding on the side of the road, crossing the for in front of the bus. 

The drive is full of glacier fed rivers and lakes some of utmost beauty, Peyto Lake, Bow Lake are two we stopped off at. At Bow Lake Num Ti Jah. Lodge looks like a fantastic place to stay for a couple of days to explore the wilderness. Built early 20th century.......

 

Near the apex of the drive lay the Columbia Icefield where we got off our bus and got on a huge  multi wheel drive vehicle driven by at young French Canadian woman who gave us a guided tour in a heavy Quebecker accent onto the Athabasca Glacier.



We got out onto the ice for about hour, then on to Lake Louise and the Fairmont Chateau, all the way surrounded by alpine peaks

Lake Louise is a stunningly beautiful landscape except for the six million three hundred and fifty three thousand two hundred and seventy six people who were also there. The Fairmont Chateau is an iconic hotel that could hold the population of Beijing. I hate to think how much money it turns over in a day, particularly when you consider a beer is $10. But it's about the scenery. The photos cannot do it justice, the lake is continually changing colours as the light changes. We took a walk down along the lakeside for about 2 km, noting the warnings about Grizzly Bears and Wolves. The thunder of avalanches filled the air. It was pure magic.

Next morning, the weather had changed, low cloud, misty rain. it was half a day to mooch around the lake and surrounds then back on the Brewster Bus to Banff, but first a drive over Kicking Horse Pass, one of three passes across the Rockies opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railroad in the late 1800's.  We stopped to look at an engineering marvel. The Field Hill Spiral Tunnel. Four tunnels were started for two spirals through the mountains in 1910. They met in the middle less than 10cm off centre. Difficult to do taday with technology, let alone in 1910. Just on cue a huge Canadian Pacific freight train came along and demonstrated the  use of the spiral. We stood and watched as the behemoth climes the mountain, at one stage we saw the train on three different levels standing at the on spot. Eye candy for Reg.

Then on to Emerald Lake a beautiful glacier fed lake with a quaint log cabin type resort that is 'off the grid' hidden amongst the trees.

We arrived in Banff late afternoon so dumped the bags in the room at the Caribou Lodge and  caught the shuttle bus town. First stop was the Harley shop for Matt. Banff is a beautiful place fully occupied by Australians. they are common as fleas on a dog blanket. The town is surrounded by mountains that are on your doorstep.
Next morning we had a 9.15 pickup for a tour of Banff, a ride on the Banff Gondola to the four  floor lookout building that opened in June.  Great panoramas back across Banff, note the Banff Springs hotel in the foreground.
Then it was off to Cascade Falls just outside town, a quick photo op.

Finally as we left the Rockies we pulled over at Stoney Nakoda Indian Reservation where a casino and helicopter  operation was based. Three Brewster bus loads of  tourists all had booked the helicopter tours. That's about 140 people to get through 12 minute rides in three helicopters. After about 45 minutes it was out turn to jump into the 6 seat Eurocopter and enjoy a remarkable flight over the southern end of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

That pretty much was the end of the Rocky Mountain trip. We then bussed into Calgary Alberta. What a change; after spending two weeks travelling through mountains and heavily wooded forests we were on the prairies. No trees, I mean no trees for as far as the eye could see, including the city of Calagray. We were 25 miles out of town and could see the city clearly over the rooftops. Housing  is all double story and homes are 10 yards apart. We were quite shocked at how stark the place is. We arrived at our hotel about 7.00pm  and lined up for checkin.
Tomorrow we head to Poquoson, alarm at 3.30am, for a 6.45am flight to Houston for a 7 hour layover. Arriving at Norfolk at 11.45pm. Yuk!

Rocky Mountaineer

Day 11 and 12, All Aboard! We were picked up from our hotel at 7.00 am and dropped off to the  dedicated  Rocky Mountaineer station where we were directed to our  carriage for the trip. 

Day one on the train took us to Kamloops where we spent  the first night. The train initially passed through a heavily wooded region ( mainly Douglas Firs, Spruce and Silver Burch which are a vivid yellow at the moment as the leaves take on their Autumn colors ) with  background of snow capped mountains. Once  up over the first set of mountains the  scenery  changed  to a very dry desert region.

High snow capped  mountains, beautiful fast flowing rivers, bald headed eagles everywhere, ospreys with their huge untidy nests on top of trees or discarded telephone poles and large groups of  mountain sheep.

The night at Kamloops passed uneventfully and the  next  day we had another early start on the way to Jasper.
The countryside quickly changed to high snowcapped mountains , some with magnificent glaciers  and heavily wooded forests, again many fast flowing rivers and lakes . The water tends to be  beautiful  turquoise  blue mainly due to the  sediment  brought down from the glaciers which feed them. Arrived in Jasper after a long day on the  train.

More about  the train. Canada has an extensive railway system which is incredibly  busy. Freight trains  are huge ( counted 256 carriages  on one !) . The  long freight trains are  given preference  on the  rail roads with the result the  Rocky Mountaineer  is often pushed off to a siding to allow  the freight train to pass.

This makes for slow going not that it  matters as the  scenery is  magnificent.  Seats are  very comfortable as there  is an outside  viewing platform  if you want some fresh air.  Two hostesses and a chef were assignec to our carriage  for the  two days. Breakfast  and lunch  were served on board as well as numerous snacks  and coffees.

Drinks started  at 10am (somewhere in the world it was 5 o'clock). The hostesses provided an ongoing commentary throughout  tbe journey.  The food and the service were first class - it was a truly  great all  round experience. Our luggage was sent on ahead so when we arrived our suitcases  were already in our rooms ...... amazing  service.