I Rode The Moose and Survived

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Ok technically I rode the Moose bus, not an actual moose, but wow what a great time I had.

On the 5th of September I set out on the Big West Tour from Vancouver to Whistler, through to Kelowna, Banff, Jasper and back to Kelowna and Vancouver. Moose Travel is setup for independent travellers, so the moose bus comes to pick you up and you join a group of other travellers, the bus driver is your tour guide and you have the option of hopping on and off at different places and being flexible about your own itinerary.

Thursday 5th September
The first leg of the trip, Vancouver to Whistler was driven by the lovely Dusty who bore a striking resemblance to Charlie Hunnam, which is never a bad thing. The route through to Whistler took us along the Sea to Sky Highway which provides stunning view after stunning view of the Burrard Inlet and the Howe Sound. Along the way we stopped to view Shannon Falls and Brandywine falls as well as some other scenic spots.

Once we arrived in Whistler we took some time to explore Whistler village which was not at all what I expected it to be. I know it's at the bottom of the ski hill so it's set up to cater to people coming and going but it just looks like something Disney built at Epcot. Very artificial and not at all quaint mountain ski resort, but still fun. After a little exploring we retired to the Whistler Youth Hostel (which is VERY nice and stylish) for some food and a quick change before heading back into Whistler village for some drinks and good times.

Friday 6th September
Up and out nice and early to do some ziplining through the trees of Whistler Mountain. We met our ziptrek guides and got harnessed up and set off for some thrill seeking. I'd never tried it before, but was very glad I did. I only did the beginners course, but it was enough for the first time. I eventually got brave enough to go with no hands!

After ziptrekking, a few of us grabbed some lunch before taking the gondola up the mountain. The first gondola up is an enclosed one and takes about 30mins to go the 5,000 metres up with some great views of the surrounding area and the mountain bike park (complete with the crazy mountain bikers) From there we hiked over to the Peak Express which is an open chair lift and rode that for the extra 401 metres to the summit of the mountain. I'd never been on an open chair lift before but I managed to suck it up and get on and it was totally worth it. Amazing views of the glacier on the way up and unbelievable views all around from the top.

Once we descended from the summit again, we took the Peak 2 Peak Gondola over to Blackcomb Mountain. This one takes bout 15mins to travel the 4,400m between the two mountains and was thankfully a fully enclosed gondola, although we did go in one with a glass floor and managed to spot a black bear hanging out on one of the slopes.

We finally returned to a more manageable altitude in time to meet back up with the moose bus and head back to Vancouver for the night.

Saturday 7th September
New day, new tour guide and a few new people on the bus. Our new guide was Caleb who arrived in board shorts, a t-shirt, sunglasses and a tuque (that's what Canadians call a woolly hat) Always a good sign in my view :-p

We set off for Kelowna which is in the Okanagan Valley. Along the way we stopped off to view Bridal Veil Falls and grab some lunch at the Blue Moose Cafe in the little town of Hope.

Once in Kelowna, we dropped our stuff at the youth hostel and went out for a jetboat trip around the lake and then a little more relaxing trip on a houseboat (with a bar) That evening we had another group bonding session over beer and drinking games and took a late night trip out for some yummy Poutine.

Sunday 8th September
This was a long driving day as we pushed on to Alberta and the lovely town of Banff, getting up into the Rockies. The drive was broken up by a few stops, including Craigellachie which is the site of the last railroad spike hammered in for the Canadian Pacific Railway line and a very fun stop to go kayaking in Revelstoke in some handmade wooden kayaks. The kayaks were beautiful but definitely not as stable feeling as the ocean going kayaks I was using when I did my beginners course in Vancouver. I had a good time but spent most of it fairly certain I was going to roll the thing over :-p

As the light started to fade, we arrived at Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. It looked exactly like it does in all the pictures you're likely to have seen. Stunning, serene and very turquoise. We also took a look at the Natural Bridge which has been carved out of the rock by the power of the rushing water.

From Yoho Park our drive continued on until we arrived in Banff were we all settled down for a quiet and early night at the hostel

Monday 9th September
Our first scenery stop on Monday was at beautiful Lake Louise which again looks exactly like it does in all the pictures. The water is that unnatural looking bluey green and you can see the glacier that feeds it, sitting up on the mountain above.

After taking in the views of Lake Louise, our next stop was at Bow Lake and the Crow Foot Glacier. It was around this point that my brain started struggling to process the beauty of it all and I just had to hope that my camera would be able to capture at least a fraction of the wonder I was seeing

Our lunch stop for the day was at Mistaya Canyon which is a deep curving canyon formed by the Mistaya river. There is something about the power of flowing water that always captivates me and this trip certainly provided a lot of opportunities to be caught in the awe of rapid water and waterfalls.

From the canyon, we continued along the Icefields Parkway to the Athabasca Glacier where we got to take a trip up to and actually get out and walk around on the glacier. We even filled up our water bottles from the pure glacial melt water flowing down. It was pretty chilly up there, but I braved it in shorts and a hoody!

That night we stayed at the Athabasca Wilderness Hostel which as the name suggests, was pretty out in the wilderness. We all slept together in one big cabin/dorm and there was a separate cabin that housed the cooking facilities. There was no running water, only well water stored in tanks and there were no flushing toilets, just good old drop toilets. We cooked up a big group meal together and then sat for a while around a campfire. There was a mild bear threat, but we all survived the night

Tuesday 10th September
After spending some time in the main room to defrost a little in front of the fire, we loaded up and set off for a look at Athabasca Falls and then travelled through the Athabasca Valley to Tangle Falls and went for a little scramble up the side of the waterfall, led by Caleb in his tuque.

We travelled back past the Athabasca Glacier and paused in front of The Weeping Wall for some group shots on top of the moose bus.

Next up was a stop at the Saskatchewan River Crossing which is where the North Saskatchewan River, the Howse River and the Mistaya River all converge. We paused here for a little while and Caleb shared some of the history of the treatment of the Canadian First Nations in the past and the present.

We took a few more group shots at Peyto Lake which is in Banff National Park and is another glacier fed lake with the mesmerising turquoise water. The shape of Peyto lake also kind of looks like a wolf.

The last Glacial lake we visited was Moraine Lake where I took the opportunity to dip my toes and go for a paddle with a few of the other girls. It was cold but probably no more than we're used to from spending time in the sea on English beaches!!

That night we spent back in Banff were we booked some activities for the next day, had a group meal and went out for a little walk around the town before another quiet night.

Wednesday 11th September
3 of us set out early and took a stroll down to the stables to go on a horseback ride. On the way we came across 2 deer out for a walk in the town, stopping traffic as they went. Days spent on the road driving through some of the most picturesque natural wilderness and it's in the town that we see some wildlife. Typical!
The horse riding was great, I really love the western style trail riding and we got to see some lovely scenery around Bow Lake.

When we were done with the horsies, we went back to the youth hostel to meet the rest of the group and the bus that would take us an hour outside of Banff to the banks of the Kicking Horse river for a white water rafting trip. We got kitted out with full wetsuits, helmets and lifejackets and huddled up for our safety briefing which basically amounted to - Don't fall out of the raft and if you do fall out, try not to drown or get a head/body injury before you get pulled back into the boat.

Once we got into the raft, our guide gave us an overview of the commands he would be yelling out along the way so we would know when to paddle and when to hang on and then we were off down the river. Although you don't need any previous experience to go on this trip, it's not a leisurely sail along the river. It's a 2hr, 20km trip through rapids that go up to a class 4 (the classification scale only goes up to class 6 and class 6 is a waterfall) You have to paddle hard, stay alert and hang on tight. It was an amazing experience and I really hope I can do it again sometime.

After we conquered the river, we went back to Banff and all went out for a nice meal at the Elk and Oarsman restaurant which serves elk meat. I tried an elk burger which was nice but it's a very dense meat. Once dinner was done, we hit a couple of bars and I tried an Agwa bomb which contains a liqueur made from the same plant you make cocaine from! It was yummy

Thursday 12th September
Started the day with only a minimal hangover, which is always a bonus. This was another long driving day as we started the trip back to Kelowna. It was also a ridiculously hot day, but thankfully Caleb had some driving games and some good stops planned to keep us entertained.

First up was the spiral tunnels in Yoho National Park. These are the railway tunnels that allows a train to get down the steep gradient in the mountains by spiralling round and crossing over itself. They are an amazing work of engineering!

After the tunnels we stopped off for a look at Takakawa Falls and then on to our lunch stop at Kicking Horse Pass, overlooking the Kicking Horse River

Next stop was at Roger's Pass for a look at the Howitzer cannons used by the Royal Canadian Artillery to trigger avalanches.

As the temperature continued to rise, spirits on the bus started to dip a little so the wonderful Caleb surprised us with a stop at the Dutchman Dairy in Sicamous. They make their own good old fashioned ice cream in a ton of flavours. I went for Maple Walnut :-p

The ice cream stop was a welcome surprise, but maybe not as much as the next stop at the beautiful Grey Monk Winery in the Okanagan, where Caleb had set us up to do a tasting session. The winery is in a gorgeous setting, overlooking the Okanagan lake and wouldn't look out of place on a hill in Tuscany. Stunning place :-)

We rolled into Kelowna and unloaded at the youth hostel in the early evening and sat down for our last proper meal together. The surprises continued as Caleb produced some glasses and a bottle of Champagne to celebrate a successful trip.

Once the dishes had been done, a few of us headed out to the park to attempt to play some volleyball. Most of us had never played before but after some instructions from the ones who had, we got some reasonably competitive games under way. It was a very fun way to spend our last evening.

Friday 13th September
We got our last morning underway with a hike (or a drag in my case) up Knox Mountain which overlooks Kelowna and provides a great view of the town and surrounding area.

Up next was a stop along the Kettle Valley Rail Trail which used to be part of the Canadian Pacific Railway but has now been developed into a recreational trail for walkers and cyclists. The section we stopped at was very pretty. You can walk through all of the old railway tunnels and over the bridges. Where we were there was also another beautiful river and waterfall to look at.

After that, we loaded up one last time and headed back to Vancouver where it was time to say goodbyes to everyone and go our separate ways.



So that was my trip! There is a lot I've not written about here, the 'you had to be there moments', the interactions with the lovely people I met and the morning stops at Safeway to stock up on lunch supplies and the more important stops at Starbucks to stock up on big cups of strong tea, but this was a really great trip with so much to see and do and I feel very lucky to have to have met and travelled with the people I did and to have had such a great guide for it all. Good times!!

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