Banff & Jasper National Parks, AB & BC Canada

We drove 80 miles west from Calgary to Banff National Park.  We stayed at Tunnel Mountain Campground just outside of Banff.  Pull thru sites, full hookups, a couple of Calgary TV channels, no wifi, little pricey but the views from the campground were spectacular!

Downtown Banff was just a few miles away where the views were great even with overcast weather:

Once we got some pointers from the rangers, we headed down the Bow Valley scenic parkway (1A) toward Lake Louise.  The forrest along here is very thick so spotting wildlife is more difficult.  We only saw a deer and an elk along the way.  No pics as we already have hundreds of them - we're getting spoiled!  Lake Louise was somewhat dissapointing as it was still frozen and looked nothing like the beautiful pictures we'd seen.  We're here a little early for that!  On the way back we stopped at Johnston Canyon to hike up to the falls.  No wildlife here except for these very friendly little guys:

and this very loud for its size feathered friend who's chirp you could here echoing down the canyon:

There were many falls all along the hike but the lower falls was the most spectacular

We also drove to Lake Vermillion where we saw a couple Elk, a few birds, ducks and geese.   The scenery here was nice too.  Across the highway was another beautiful loop which goes by Two Jack & Minnewanka Lakes:

If you look very closely in this one you can see the dive flag in the water - not sure what they are diving for but this water is as cold as ice (which just melted):

Along the loop we spotted a very colorful bird which we've yet to identify:

Another day we drove to the Banff Springs Hotel.  The hotel looked beautiful but part of the reason you'd pay $400/night to stay is for the views (here from the terrace):

We passed this fuzzy racked guy hanging in someones front yard:

Later we hiked from camp where we immediately ran into this guy who looked like he was on the hunt:

There were so many places along the trails where you had to stop and just take in your surroundings

Everywhere you look is a great backdrop for a group photo!

The Elk aren't bothered as we hike by while they have lunch with a view:

Before you leave you have to check out the HooDoos (the sand sculpture like structures half way down the near mountain side):

After a few days in Banff, we headed for Jasper National Park northwest through the icefields.  Beautiful day to drive and more beautiful scenery along the way:

 We stopped to check out several glaciers along the icefields drive:

And we stopped at the access to the icefields for lunch but decided not to take the ride up on the icefield (there's a spec in the center of the glacier which is one of the buses - this is a huge chunk of ice!):

We continued on our trip to Whistlers Campground in Jasper NP.  Along the way Suze spotted another black bear on the road side.  The campground was very nice and sites were wooded and roomy:

The views from Whistlers campground weren't too shabby either:

One day we drove about 40 miles out to Miligne Lake.  Along the way we spotted this black bear off in the distance:

Once you get to the head of the lake the road ends but the view is incredible:

Hard to tell here but the ice on the lake has still not completely melted.  Once it does you can get around the lake by boat.  Our only option this day was to hike the shoreline trail which led to more spectacular views:

On our way back we stopped at Miligne Canyon to hike/bike.  We didn't have to hike very far to realize this was not for biking.  We hiked all the way down to 5th bridge and then back up.  Good strenuous hike with great views of waterfalls and the canyon all along the way:

Another day we took a nice drive east on 93A which wasn't traveled much so you could take your time, enjoy the views and look for wildlife.

Athabassca Falls is also on this drive:

You can hike up along the river above the falls:

The mist from the falls is a good place to catch a rainbow on a sunny day:

Close by is the trailhead for the Five Lakes.  We gave it our best on the bikes but had to call it quits after a few miles where too many downed trees crossed the trail - these are serious mountain biking trails!  We hiked the rest of the way to lake #5 . . . worth the hike!

There are several smaller lakes around the Jasper downtown area which are all worth checking out (Particia, Pyramid, Annette and Edith seen here) - incredible blue tones coming from the crystal clear water:

This guy was hanging out by the lakes:

We spotted our 1st big horned sheep while sightseeeing around town:

and this big fuzzy horned elk too:

but the coolest thing we spotted here in Jasper were these coyote cubs (there were 6 in all but they wouldn't all pose together):

Mom & Dad coyote tried to take our attention away from the pups but watched us closely from a distance while the pups settled in under these trees to wait for instructions:

Back at camp we were sitting out on our picnic table enjoying the weather when this raven and squirrel started squaking away as if something was bothering them:

and this ground squirrel near our campsite picnic table seemed to be watching something very intensely:

when all of the sudden a big ole grizzly came walking through camp:

The Rangers encouraged him off the campground and back into the hills behind.  Banff & Jasper are both great places to visit!  Both campgrounds were very nice too.  We're off to Alaska via the Cassiar highway.  More to come . . .