Today we hiked at Johnston Valley in Banff. There was a narrow canyon and two waterfalls. Afterward we drove the Icefielda Parkway into Jasper. Beautiful. There were mIre glaciers than in Glacier NP! We stopped near the Columbia Icefield and hiked to the toe of Athabasca Glacier. We are signed up to walk on the glacier tomorrow. It is unusual to have a glacier so accessible and amazing to see where the glacier was in the past (they had markers for certain years). As we drove to our camp ground we passed some cars stopped to look at wildlife. Max said he saw “either a baby cow or deer, it was brown.” I have to say it is hard to find wildlife when driving. I mistake trees, stumps, branches, etc. for animals all the time:). However, ... read more

Today was a “day off.” We drove to the town of Banff and I did laundry while Max did some work for summer school and Rick and Maggie did grocery shopping. Banff was crazy busy and a “regular” town with a Gap and Chili’s! After our chores we saw movies (Max and Rick saw Antmsn, Maggie and Chrissy Hotel Transylvania). It was so hot we just wanted somewhere to cool off. On our way back to camp we drove on the Bow Valley Parkeay which was very scenic. It was the road used in the area before the Trans Canadian Highway was built with the animal over and underpasses. However, we weren’t able to spot any wildlife except for a deer and we see those at home! ... read more

Today we woke up early as the parking at Lake Louise fills up early! We hiked from Lake Louise to a tea house at Lake Agnes. We had some cookies at the tea house. We saw Mirror Lake on the way. This was about 2.5 Miles and took 1 hr, 40 min. one way. Later we drove to Lake Louise ski resort and Moraine Lake. It was very difficult to get to Moraine Lake as they have a small parking lot and close it when it is full. Our campground is enclosed with an electric fence which is for those of us who aren’t in RVs. There are also cool animal crossings on the highway which runs through the park so animals can go over or under the road.... read more

Glacier-drove to Siyah Falls then took shuttle to Logan Pass (on the Continental Divide). Rick, Chrissy and Maggie hIked part of Hidden Lake Trail and touched snow! Then we drove to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. In our campground at WLNP there were lots of ground squirrels. Rick and Maggie went for a hike. We rented a surrey (pedal cart) and biked though the townsite. The townsite is a town with private businesses and residences inside the park. When I asked the townsite it I was told this was common in Canadian Parks. The day was very windy and luckily the campground had cooking shelters (as did other Canadian campgrounds last year). In the evening we went to a fire program led by a Warden (Canadian name for a Ranger), which was fascinating. There was ... read more

Glacier still. We drove from the east side of the park to the west side by way of the Going To The Sun Road. The GTTS is an engineering marvel and the drive was spectacular. We checked in at our new campground, Fish Camp, where we are staying for two nights. We drove on an unpaved road for five miles to a trailhead for Howe Lake Trail. The hike was 4 miles round trip and Howe Lake wasn't special. We had a fun hike tho - we saw one group on our way there and one on our way back. We sang, clapped and yelled out to scare away the bears, and later realized we were also scaring away mountain lions! Our van is filthy.... read more