Dorie and I expected a nice fall vacation in Alberta, Canada. An early Canadian Rockies snowstorm changed it into more of a winter vacation.
Landing in Calgary, we took the 1 ½ hour drive to Banff without any winter driving problems. Our bed and breakfast there, Les Beaujolais, turned out to be terrific. The hosts, Albert and Esther Moser, were from Switzerland and they have hiked around the world (Nepal, Europe, Patagonia) and we hit it off with them nicely. They ran a 5-star restaurant in Banff for 35 years and retired to run Les Beaujolais. Needless to say, the Breakfast part of the B&B was terrific.
We drove north and hiked Johnson Canyon and Sulphur Mountain the second day. The trails were icy, but with micro-spikes, we had an easy job with no slipping. There were a lot of snowy butts for people without spikes. The following day we headed to Jasper along the Icefields Parkway. The Canadian Rockies are spectacular. The lakes were so blue. We downloaded a driving app, which at first, I was skeptical about. It turned out to be a good $6.00 Can app. As we drove the parkway it automatically told us all the places to see and the history of that part of the Rockies. Bow Lake, Mistaya Falls and the Athabasca Glacier were favorites. We did get to see mountain sheep and elk, but no bear or moose. The only one day that was a weather bomb was in Jasper. It was a Sunday, so after aborting a snowy drive for a lake hike, we went to a sports bar to watch Dallas and the Chargers lose.
Next stop was Lake Louise. Talk about picturesque! We went for a canoe ride which turned out to be very cool (no pun intended). While there, we also hiked Little Beehive Mountain. We decided to stay the last night at Les Beaujolais again. We went to a very special dinner with Albert and Esther and one of their hiking friends, Carlo. He wants to hike Cactus to Clouds next fall, so I hope he calls us. Jasper and Banff are true alpine towns and Albert invited us all back for some serious hiking next summer. (click on any image to watch slide show)
Great winter feeling in those pics.
Woah, that looks amazing! Those mountains are pretty serious. Mount Rundle looks like a sweet climb