Last day

We took it easy today and went for a ride in Kananastis country. Came upon a couple beautiful, quiet lakes and went for walks. Got home around 5 and packed our bags for tomorrow's trip back to FL. The temp today was in the 60's and wonderful. We are sad to leave this beautiful place.

Heading to Jasper NP

Left our place around 8:00a.m. and headed north to Jasper NP which is about 5 hrs ride without any stops. Of course, we stopped all the way up there so it took about 10 hrs. It was all worth it. Stopped at Lake Louise again since it was close to a blizzard the first time around. There were blue skies and it was beautiful. Stopped at Mistaya Canyon and had a great hike. Lots of waterfalls. Walked at times up to our knees in snow to get up to Peyto Lake only to find it totally frozen. Continued on to what is called the Icefields which is a glacier that is ice as deep as the Eiffel Tower. Its quite a site. The rest of the ride was fantastic. Mountain goats and big horn sheep most of the way. Spent the night in Jasper and got up and headed back to Canmore. Stopped at Athabasca Falls and Sumwapta Falls. They are both great stops and worth the hike to see. The moral of the story is wait till June to come if you plan to see the beautiful lakes!!!!

Headed to Jasper yesterday a.m. and stopped by Lake Louise again since there was a blizzard on our last stop there. The lake is still frozen but we had blue skies and it looked great.

Banff Springs Hotel/Gondola

Started the day at the Banff Springs Hotel. Posh in the extreme! We went out to the deck and enjoyed the view then headed up via gondola to the top of Sulpher Mountain. The view of the Rockies was even better. We had occasion to walk in snow - it was weird, nice but weird. Had lunch at Barpa Bill's Greek Restaurant and highly recommend it - should be followed by a trip across the street to the Cake Company for a latte. Drove back up to the Upper Springs and sat in the 108 degree hot springs pool for an hour. Then on to wonderful massages!! Couldn't resist a ride around Two Jacks Lake again to see what might be in the park. Had the good fortune to run into (figuratively speaking) a herd of Mountain Goats grazing their way down to the lake. They are so used to people, they didn't seem to mind being photographed from five feet away. Where else can you experience snow and a 108 degree spring but Canada.

Sunrise at Two Jack Lake

Got up and left condo at 5:00a.m. to catch a sunrise and see some mountain animals. We were successful at both. It was around 15 degrees. We watched a beautiful sunrise with Mt Rundle in the background over Two Jack Lake. We went for a ride around the lake and ran into a family of big horned sheep. We always enjoy finding them as they have very interesting horns. Later in the day we hiked up Tunnel Mountain which is almost a 1700 ft rise and steep. Again, it was great because it was all downhill on way down. We could see all of Banff from many angles. Well worth the hike up. Tomorrow we are going to get pampered at the Banff Hot Springs.

Johnson Canyon

Got up this morning excited to see Lake Louise for the first time. We were surprised to find it still frozen and with about a foot of snow covering it. It snowed all the way up there from Banff so we shouldn't have been surprised. I guess you really can't come here before June 1st if you want to see the lake. Oh Well. We headed down the Bow Valley Pkwy which is a scenic route and stopped at Johnson Canyon which has awesome waterfalls all throughout. It was close to 3 miles total of mostly uphill climbing. It was tough but absolutely worth it. The picture of the lone mountain is called Castle Mountain for obvious reasons. We are going to try to get a sunset tonight but its not till 9:15p.m. It stays light till then every day.

Banff

Got an early start today so we could try to see some wildlife. Had a great breakfast at Chez Francois and headed into Banff NP. Stops today were Lake Minnewanka, Two Jack Lake, and Mount Norquay which has a great pull off with spectacular views of Mt Rundle and Banff. We saw a moose laying down and a family of mountain goats. Our next stop was Bow Falls which is below the beautiful Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. We took a 1 and 1/2 mile grueling hike that was up and down lots and lots of steps and it lead to downtown Banff. The hike really is beautiful though along the Bow River with two falls. We walked around downtown and had lunch. Luckily, we found a shortcut for the trip back which avoided all the steps. Tomorrow we get up and head to Lake Louise.

Canmore/Banff

Arrived in Calgary last night at 9:30p.m., got the rental car and were at our hotel in 10 minutes. Got up this morning and took a one hour ride to Canmore which is at the entrance to Banff NP. Its a quaint little town and we are staying in a really nice mountain resort. I'll post pics of it later. Once we arrived we couldn't check in till later so we headed out to a hike in Canmore which turned out to be great. It was a steep climb up for about 1 and 1/2 mile then you come to two pristine lakes called Grassi Lakes. The whole way up we kept getting closer to high peaks all around us and they were snow filled. We were all bundled up since it was around 45 degrees but by the time we got to the top we peeled off our jackets for a few minutes. Tomorrow off to Banff NP. Can't wait.

Travel day

Heading out to airport soon. Wanted to send the itinerary. First night at hotel in Calgary then next night hotel in Banff. Rodney has all the details. We check into the Worldmark Canmore-Banff on Saturday and stay thru Saturday. Phone # for emergencies is 403-678-6788. Room is listed under Carolyn Hawkins. AT&T does not have a good international package for cell phone but I can use it for email so in case of emergency during day send an email and I'll get it immediately. We'll start the blog Saturday evening after our first day at Banff NP.

Getting ready for the Canadian Rockies

Hi All, Starting to pack for our trip. The weather has been 40 degrees at night and 55 during the day. Not bad. Actually looking for some cool weather since its been extremely hot in Naples lately. We've been collecting warm clothes and can't wait to head north. We'll fly from Fort Myers to Houston and then on to Calgary. Banff/Lake Louise will be an hour ride from there. Not bad. We'll be back in touch next week.