Finally, the Canadian Rockies
Posted by pdittman on September 9th, 2024 in '24 - Canadian Rockies

It’s finally happened – and it was pretty amazing. I say finally because this adventure seemed plagued from the start.

Yes, plagued, as in COVID. We’d originally planning this for Sept, 2020 – and of course, that didn’t happen. Though in Jan/Feb 2021, we had a brief stint of optimism and planned it again for Sept. 2021, but a new round of COVID variants during summer 2021 squashed that plan. Shelving it for our Spain/Andorra adventure in ’23, we put it back on the books for Sept, 2024 and yes, we finally traveled.

And all looked well until the last-minute replan needed due to the Jasper National Park wildfires in August 2024 devastated the town and area (and our AirBnB). Continued best wishes and speedy recovery to those affected.

Yes, it was a long time coming, but worth the wait. We explored Lake Louise, Banff National Park, parts of the Icefields Parkway (the only road northward to Jasper from Banff), and Olympic National Park in Washington. Of course, our trip included time in Victoria, British Columbia – a beautiful city tucked away on Vancouver Island, northwest of Seattle.

Hikedistancetimeelevation
Plain of Six Glaciers10.523:531310Lake Louise
Parker Ridge Trail2.851:25920on Icefields Parkway
Tunnel Mountain4.241:561050
Sulphur Mountain6.963:112200
Lake Minnewanka8.153:18833
Hoodoos and Teddy Bears Picnic4.521:51547
West Wind Creed and 3 Sisters4.712:03971part of Wind Ridge
Stanley Glacier9.174:151920east Kootenay
Maiden Peak, Olympic7.653:271837
Hoh Rainforest2.421:05137
61.19

Maybe not surprising for this trip, we both caught COVID during the trip – causing us to scale back on some of the hikes. Even so, we saw some amazing scenery and were able to experience some of the region’s beauty.

Read and see more about Lake Louise, Banff and Olympic National parks and our visit to Victoria, BC.

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Lake Louise
Our adventure started with a few days in Lake Louise. Situated about a half-hour north of Banff, Lake Louise is world-renowned for its glacially-fed turquoise color – of course, attracting the crowds. It was our first exposure to the area, so all was new. We stayed at a hostel in Lake Louise – the Hostel’s International High Alpine center – an experience similar to some of the mountain houses in Europe and even the front-country Highland Center of the Appalachian
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Banff
Our original plan had been to continue northward from Lake Louise to Jasper, but sadly, the Jasper wildfires had other plans. We were fortunate to find available space, especially after the evacuations forced other travelers to also make adjustments. Banff is definitely a tourist destination – with a significant number of places offering accommodations – as well as stores offering all sorts of local and typical upscale wares. The town has a good infrastructure to handle the volume, parking, etc.,
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Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park had not been part of the earlier versions of our itinerary, it was a last-minute add forced by the Jasper wildfires.   Serendipitous though since it’s unlikely that we ever would have visited the park otherwise – just so many other places to visit, so little time! After the mixed bag of crowds and amazing scenery of Banff, Olympic NP was far more ‘tame’ – fewer people – yet with scenery which rivaled some of Banff’s best.   Unfortunately,
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