For this year’s big road trip, I decided to visit the Canadian Rockies (e.g., Banff and Jasper), since I’ve never been there and people rave about them. Along the way, I visited:
I had originally planned to drive north along I-5, but the very high heat in the Central Valley caused me to change plans and go up the coast instead. Along the way, I stopped at several old favorite spots: Humboldt Redwoods State Park, the town of Trinidad, and the Oregon Caves National Monument.
Back on my original trip plan, I stopped for a couple of days in Mt. Ranier National Park, where I did several nice hikes: Silver Falls, Emmons Moraine, and Glacier Overlook.
On my way up to Banff, I stayed the night in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia. Unfortunately, that evening the house electrical system in my campervan died, and I was left without power. Solving this problem cost me a day and a side trip to Calgary for a part. But fortunately it was solvable and I was able to continue on to Banff.
The main goal for this trip was to see Banff and Jasper National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, which I’d heard praised many times but had never seen. I got to Banff first, and it did not disappoint. It has a wonderfully scenic location on the Bow River. I spent a pleasant morning walking the river trails, and later went for a very relaxing canoe trip on the river looking for wildlife another evening. (We saw several beavers.)
Just outside of town, I went for a short but beautiful hike to and around Sundance Canyon. I also visited the Cave and Basin National Historic Site: the hot springs that caused the initial popularity of the Banff area and led to its establishment as a national park.
The town itself is touristy, as one might expect, but that allowed for several nice restaurant meals as a break from my camper van cooking.
Not far from the town of Banff, and still part of Banff National Park, is the famous Lake Louise. I went there one day, and found the arrival end of the lake utterly thronged with tourists. As usual, however, once I got off the pavement and onto a hiking trail, the crowds were left behind. On this trip, I took the hike around the lake and up to the Plain of Six Glaciers. At the top of the hike, they have a tea house! I had a nice rest and an early lunch there before heading back down.
Before heading back to Banff for the night, I also stopped by Moraine Lake, although I didn’t hike there.
On a different day, I went to the Lake Louise Ski Resort and took a chairlift up to the top for the views of Lake Louise. While on the chairlift, I had my closest bear encounter of the trip, looking down on a grizzly bear grazing on the ski run below. (That was quite close enough.)
On another day, I drove up the Bow Valley Parkway and took a hike from Bow Lake to Bow Glacier Falls — easily my favorite hike of the trip. The hike walks around the north side of the lake and then climbs up the Bow River to the waterfalls that feed the lake. The falls appear all at once as you turn a corner on the trail, and they are beautiful in the distance. And then you can walk straight on to the base of them.
Heading further north, I went up the Icefields Parkway into Jasper National Park. I did a short hike to Stanley Falls, and a brief walk to the foot of the Athabasca Glacier.
Sadly, that is all I got to see of Jasper National Park. I stayed the night of July 22 in a campground just south of the border between Banff and Jasper parks. But when I tried to drive further north into Jasper the next morning, I learned that Jasper — the park and the town — had been evacuated overnight to wildfires. The fires wound up damaging a third of the structures in the town of Jasper. As of this writing (2½ weeks later), the fires are still out of control with nearly 100,000 acres consumed.
All of this came as quite a surprise to me, since the weather was fine with no smoke in the air where I was, and there was no cell service so I had not seen any news. However, while driving north, I was flagged down by a motorist driving south, and later came to a gate closed across the road. I turned around, stopped at an overlook for breakfast, and then evacuated to the west into British Columbia.
The first night that I was supposed to be in Jasper, I found a campsite in Mt. Revelstoke National Park instead. (They reserved all of their open sites for people evacuating from Jasper.) That park is known for its Meadows in the Sky Parkway, which I drove up, and I did a little bit of hiking at the top. Returning to the campground, I spent the rest of the day rearranging travel plans to adapt to the Jasper closure.
The next day, I went to Kamloops. I had lunch in the Riverside Park there, and spent the afternoon visiting the BC Wildlife Park, which is basically a zoo filled with local animal rescues.
After that, I drove to and around the Okanagan Valley, known for its agriculture and wine. Roadside fruit stands are plentiful there, but I was particularly taken by one that sits on a high bluff overlooking the lake between Peachland and Summerland. I had a nice lunch there, and a fresh peach milkshake (where “fresh” means “took several peaches from the stand and chopped them into the blender”). Delightful!
On the way out west to Vancouver, I stopped at the Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort. I took the Blackcomb gondola up the mountain, had lunch, and did some hiking there. Then I took the Peak-2-Peak gondola that runs between the peaks of Blackcomb and Whistler mountains. This is an extremely impressive engineering achievement. The gondola runs for 2¾ miles and has only four towers: two at each end. The 1.9 miles in the middle are completely unsupported — a world record. And of course the views are amazing.
Once on Whistler mountain, I took the Peak Express chairlift up to where they have a pedestrian suspension bridge called the “Cloudraker Skybridge” leading to an observation platform called the “Raven’s Eye.” Needless to say, the views from these were superb as well. It was amusing watching most of the tourists freeze their bits off, having not realized that it was only 40°F and very windy at the top.
My first morning in Vancouver, I took a bus into town to a place where I could rent a bicycle, and rode it all around Stanley Park. Later, I took another bus to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, which I had visited when I was last here a dozen years ago. It it just as special and memorable now as it was then.
The next day, I went to Queen Elizabeth Park, another place I remembered enjoying. However, the best part of it for my taste was an attraction I didn’t visit last time: the Bloedel Conservatory. It is small, but it has an amazing variety of tropical plants and birds.
My last day in Vancouver was rainy — really, the only inclement weather of the whole trip that got in my way — so I spent the morning in the Science World museum, and the afternoon on the ferry to Naniamo.
On Vancouver Island, I took a scenic drive along the southwest coast to Port Renfrew. It wasn’t quite as spectacular as I’d hoped — too much of the drive was inland rather than on the coast — but it still had its high points. Later that day, I went to the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, which had several interesting exhibits, and then explored the downtown area.
The next day — my last full day in Canada — was devoted to the Butchart Gardens, Victoria’s showpiece. These are 100+ year old gardens built by a cement magnate’s wife. There are several co-located gardens: a “Sunken Garden” built in the former limestone quarry; a Rose Garden with hundreds of rose species from all over; a Japanese Garden; a formal Italian Garden; and the family’s own Private Garden. All of them are glorious and immaculately tended.
The next morning, I caught the ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, Washington, and so ended the Canadian part of this trip.
The remaining few days of my trip were mostly making my way back home, straight down I-5. However, I was fortunate enough to be able to visit with several good friends along the way.
My first stop was in Battle Ground, WA, where I stayed with friends Rob and Toni for a couple of nights. They took me as their guest to the opening day of their county fair, which is a Very Big Deal™ that Toni blogs enthusiastically about every year. It was a new experience for me, and a fun one — especially with knowledgeable guides to smooth the way.
Also while in Battle Ground, I had the good fortune to catch up with another college friend Dave, who had recently moved there. We had dinner together while Rob and Toni were doing volunteer work at the fair, and talked for hours. It was great to reconnect.
The next morning, I met up with family friends Jim and Danette for brunch in Salem, OR. They were just starting their vacation trip as mine was ending, and that was where our routes happened to cross. A very pleasant visit.
I found a wonderful campground for my last night away from home: the Trees of Heaven campground, right on the Klamath River a few miles north of Yreka. It was secluded and nearly empty. And best of all, there were no lights, so I sat out after dark and enjoyed the night sky for a long time before going to bed.
The boring slog of a drive home from there the next day was broken up by one highlight: a visit to the Lake Shasta Caverns. I love caves, and these are some of the best to visit and certainly the closest to home.
| Duration | 26 days |
| Miles driven | 5,010 miles |
| Pictures taken | 1,201 pictures (of which 136 shown here) |
| Trip cost | $1595 travel (gas, ferries, etc.)
$823 campground fees $383 tours and entrance fees $2801 total
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