Alaskan Adventures 2014 with Rich & Mary

Rain clouds that kept our view at a minimum in Banff

June 16:     Banff National Park is a place I have always wanted to visit. The pictures I have seen are so impressive and the way the town of Banff sits down at the base of the surrounding mountains makes it a unique town. On our way from Calgary to Banff on Monday, we began to wonder if we would even be able to see those spectacular mountains. It was raining and the clouds hung extremely low, hiding the views we were so anxious to get a peek at. After getting settled at our spot in Tunnel Mountain Village II Campground, we decided to go check out Banff. There is a bus that comes right to the campground, so we hopped on it and took a ride to town with our full rain gear on. We had a great time checking out some of the stores and getting a warm cup of coffee. Banff has a lot of tourist shops and specialty stores that make it pretty typical for tourist towns, but the main street is so pretty with the store fronts and flowers sharing a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. You can even get a carriage ride around town with a handsome horse and driver.

Bow River Falls

June 17:     Tuesday was another day of rain with even more low-hung clouds. We knew there were fantastic mountains all around us, but we sure couldn't tell it with what seemed like fog covering our views. We checked out the temperature this morning and it was 40 degrees! We decided the rain wasn't going to stop us from enjoying where we were, so we got in the truck and headed out to investigate a few places indoors. We started out at Cave & Basin to see the sulfur pools. Not sure why we thought we wanted to smell sulfur! It was interesting to see the pools though. Next we road over to Bow River Falls and took a hike along the Bow River where the water rushes over falls and down into a fast flowing river. By this time it had stopped raining, which made the day seem a bit brighter.

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

There is a hotel near the falls called Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel that looks like a castle. Rich & I thought it would be quite the place to stay. We walked around the inside public areas and the grounds. We felt a little out of place, but I told Rich to just walk around like we had a room there! It was beautiful – oh, and expensive.  

We did get some good pictures of some elk with their babies. It's always exciting to see that kind of wild life. Tomorrow we will head up to Lake Louise and on to Jasper.

June 18:     The highway stretching from Banff to Jasper, which 

includes the Icefields Parkway, has to be one of the most awe-inspiring drives we have ever experienced. A camera cannot capture the beauty of these mountains. It just makes me realize what a miracle our eyes really are. The weather was perfect with the skies being the sunniest blue and the clouds the kind I like to paint. We kept our eyes open to spot any type of animal along the way. When you saw a couple of vehicles stopped it usually meant an animal sighting. Rich, at one point, decided to pull over to get a can of pop out of the trailer. We were there just a short time when about six other cars pulled into the turn out where we were stopped. They were all searching for the animal sighting they thought we had stopped for. We sat in the truck having a pretty good laugh. One lady asked what we had seen. Rich told her he had just stopped for a can of pop. She started laughing too and said that this was a good social experiment!

Our next stop on Wednesday was to Lake Louise. It is as beautiful as we were told it would be, with views of Victoria Glacier for its background. We really enjoyed the stop there. We tried to see Moraine Lake, but due to so many visitors and lack of parking for rigs like ours, we had to continue on without seeing it. Wednesday night we stayed at Mosquito Creek Campground. Who in their right mind would want to stay at a place called Mosquito Creek!!! It really was a great campground right next to a river that was a rapids rather than a quiet stream. 



June 19:     Thursday was an interesting day filled with more majestic views and the experience of walking out on the new Glacier Skywalk that just opened in May 2014. It follows a cliff-edge walkway with a glass-floored platform 918 ft. over glacier-formed valleys and rushing waterfalls. I wasn't sure about just glass under my feet, but it truly wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. 

We arrived in Jasper later in the afternoon to stay at  Whistlers Campground and were treated to a visit right in the campground by some elk, which included about 10 cows and 4 calves. Seeing the wildlife is frosting on the cake for this trip.

     Rich said this doe elk was giving him the eye.  

         In fact, Rich said, "I think she likes me!

Peyto Lake along 
the Columbian Icefields Parkway

Indian Paint Brush Flower

Lichen growing near water fall

Some of the beauty of nature.

Mountain goats licking the minerals along the highway

Maligne Canyon

June 20 & 21: We had a good stay in Jasper with an extra day of checking out the town and touring around to a couple of different places. One was Athabasca Falls, which was great, and the other was a drive to see Maligne Canyon. Both were so worth the time to take to see them.  



Today it was 65 degrees and very pleasant.  We are now in Prince George, British Columbia.  We are going to take a couple of days and stay here.  Tomorrow we are going to go to Prince George Chr. Ref. Church to give our greetings to them from Allendale Chr. Ref. Church.  It will be good to have a day to rest.