Canadian Rockies: Calgary, Lake Louise & Jasper

Although a large number of my trips involve visiting other civilizations to explore their history, culture, art, etcetera, I do take purely scenic trips upon occasion too. In the fall of 2011, I took one of those trips to the Canadian Rockies. This particular tour appealed to me not only because of all of the gorgeous scenery and wildlife, but because I would also be able to experience some river rafting, a helicopter ride over the mountains, riding on an ice explorer over a glacier, and a scenic train trip on the Rocky Mountaineer. Then there were the overnight stays at Chateau Lake Louise, the Jasper Park Lodge and the Banff Springs Hotel. It all seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime experience to me.

My experience started early with my alarm clock going off at 2:30am for me to get up to get to the airport on time for my flight to Toronto. For some reason, from Minneapolis, I had to fly east to Toronto and then catch a flight west to Calgary (in Alberta). I arrived in Calgary by lunchtime and went out to explore the area around the hotel, which was downtown.

That evening, we had a meet-and-greet with wine and cheese. There were 34 people on the trip other than me, mostly from the US (which is not the usual when I’m on a tour). They were all couples except for four women who were traveling together. There was a group of 16 who were traveling together from a retirement community in Florida. They and the four women weren’t too interested in mixing with others, but I had 14 others who were. As usual, I met some very nice people.

We just stayed the one night in Calgary. Before leaving town the next day, we did a short tour of the city, including the Saddle Dome, the Calgary Stampede grounds, and the 1988 Winter Olympic site just out of town. Then we headed off towards Lake Louise, where we had lunch.

One of the cool things that I noticed as soon as we were out in the area of the Rockies was the number of land bridges that existed for the animals to be able to get safely across the highway. They were nice and wide with grass, trees and other vegetation planted on the top and tunnels for the highway traffic underneath. Although I’m sure there are other places in the world that have them, they were the first that I had ever seen.

After lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise, we hopped back onto the tour coach to visit Moraine Lake. There were some large piles of rocks which afforded some lovely views when climbed. There were also signs saying that people needed to be in groups of four or more by law due to grizzly bears. Our Tour Director, Tyler, made a few jokes about people on bicycles being “meals on wheels” and on a motorcycle “fast food” and such. I figured he was just trying to make certain we understood how dangerous it was to go off on one’s own.

At dinner, back at Chateau Lake Louise, instead of having us all in a group together in one room, we were disbursed throughout the seven hotel restaurants with varying dining times. We could sign up for the style of restaurant and the time we wanted to dine, giving 1^st and 2^nd choices. Then Tyler grouped people together accordingly. I was paired with a couple from South Carolina and another from Florida (but not part of the big group from the retirement community). They were all quite nice and dinner was enjoyable.

I had splurged a bit by paying a little extra for a room facing the lake. We were only going to be there one night and I just didn’t want to be facing the road. I was in the oldest wing that was built in 1913. The room was elegant with dark wood, a chandelier and a very fancy bathroom. The bed was comfy, but I woke up early so I could see what the sunrise looked like. This was why I had paid the extra money, so I was not going to miss it. The view was gorgeous! I have included a photo here.

On our way to Peyto Lake, we passed by Bow Lake. Both lakes are glacial fed (as are Moraine Lake and Lake Louise) and line the Icefields Parkway. Peyto Lake is a beautiful turquoise blue and is down in a valley, so we viewed it from above. After passing the North Saskatchewan River, while going through the area known as the Great Bend, we saw Battleship Mountain (which indeed looked like a battleship) and Bridal Veil Falls.

At the Columbia Ice Field, we boarded an Ice Explorer to drive out onto the glacier itself. The vehicle had enormous tires and quite a long ladder to climb to get inside. Once on the glacier, we were taken to an area that was roped off as being safe for us to get out of the vehicle and walk around a bit. That part of the glacier was as thick as the Eiffel Tower is tall. Most of the trip I was in summer clothing, but here I was bundle up for winter. The ice dome was a triple continental divide.

We had lunch in the town of Jasper and did some exploring while the luggage was dropped off at the Jasper Park Lodge. For dinner that night, I opted for something a little less formal, but still a fairly early seating. Apparently the couple from South Carolina felt the same. We ended up dining together again. Lydia had fallen on the way to the dining room. Her husband wanted to walk back, so I rode with her on one of the little carts used to ferry guests around in order to help her to her room.

My room was a short distance from theirs and up one level. I climbed the stairs near Fred and Lydia’s room and walked around to my own on the deck. I heard a rustling below and looked over the railing to see a female elk looking back at me. A young elk was nearby. Then I saw a large male. I backed up quietly and slowly to go into my room to get my cameras (I didn’t have a camera on my phone yet). I was glad I had come up a different staircase as I would have encountered the elks directly to get to the one closest to my room.

I came out with both cameras and took some video first. Some people walked by not quite far enough away and the male elk bucked and bellowed. I was tickled to have it on video. By the time I got around to the other camera, it was starting to get a little dark. The one photo in which I managed to get all three of the elk family, was slightly fuzzy.

The next morning, we passed Medicine Lake on our way to Maligne Lake. There we took a short cruise to Spirit Island. The views from Spirit Island were breathtaking. Medicine Lake is not really a lake, but part of a river that backs up and suddenly goes underground and disappears (coming out in a canyon about nine miles away), depending upon the time of the year. So, sometimes it’s a lake and sometimes it’s a river. It was transitioning from lake to river when we saw it.

We had lunch at the lodge at Maligne Lake before continuing on to the Athabasca River. On the way, we saw a couple of grizzly bears, which I managed to film. At the Athabasca River, we went river rafting. We saw a black bear from the raft shortly after we began the ride when we weren’t going very fast.

I loved the rafting trip. It was wild enough to be fun without being terrifying. I got soaked. Being that it was a hot day, it felt great. We had ropes to hold onto so we wouldn’t be tossed from the raft. We also were wearing life jackets.

On the way back to the Jasper Park Lodge, we encountered the same male elk that had been by my room the night before. I knew it was him because he had some barbed wire caught in his rack. We found out the next morning that the park rangers tranquilized him to free him from the barbed wire.

Next time – Banff and a helicopter ride over the Rockies.