Month: July 2019

Columbia Icefield and very remote campground

Amy Kline

Wednesday morning we packed up and left the campsite to head north. The campgrounds we were hoping for were first-come, first serve so we wanted to get there early to get a site.

We stopped at Lake Louise for gas, but since we had the camper with us, we didn’t try to get to the lake because just the town was swarming with vehicles and people and parking would be impossible. So we added it to the future bucket list and kept going.

We scored a great site at the first campground we looked at, Wilcox Campground and got set up by 1pm. Then we headed a few more kilometers north to the Athabaska Glacier and Glacier Discovery Center. Amazing! We walked very near the toe of the glacier. In the Glacier Discovery Center, we learned that the Columbia Icefield feeds glaciers whose waters eventually run into the Pacific, Arctic and the Hudson Bay. Wow!

While we were there, we had a delicious meal and connected to WiFi for a couple minutes. Carson dropped his retainer, but realized it as we were browsing the gift shop and luckily it was on the floor by the table we had eaten at. Whew! No need to dig through the garbage!

  • Gratuitous train picture. The Railroad basically built up the western half of this continent, so the roads were built right next to the trains. Jeff loves it of course.
  • There were huge mountain ranges, many snow capped peaks on either side of the highway. Mountains as far as the eye can see.
  • The blue tint is the glacial lakes are the light catching on the silt in the water.
  • The trail to the edge of the glacier. All the land we are walking on was dropped by the glacier as it recedes.
  • Hardy little flowers growing up through the rocks.
  • Family photo by Athabasca Glacier
  • The glacier has receded quite a bit since 2006.
  • Cool rock.
  • Another cool rock.
  • The scraping on this rock was done by the water and rocks inside the glacier.
  • Strange flowers.
  • Cairn. Anytime you see rocks in a park, people build cairns.
  • The Colombian Icefield provides water for three watersheds.
  • The campsite was so remote. Not one bit of cell signal in the whole area. Very steep also, as each campground road was basically a switchback on the side of the mountain.

Banff

Amy Kline

Exploration day in Banff. We started off the day going horseback riding. Carson has been wanting to for a couple years and there was a ranch just outside of the campground. What a fun experience! The guides were awesome and the horses were well behaved.

After that we drove into Canmore to pick up some groceries and had McDonalds for the first time on this trip. Then we headed up to Banff Town. Beautiful but oh so many people everywhere! We stopped at Banff Springs Hotel to recreate a photo of Jeff’s grandparents there in 1941. It is an actual castle as you can see. Wow!

Next, we visited the Banff Upper Hot Springs and dipped our feet in the hot water. Fascinating! One last stop to see the train station (Jeff loves trains) and then back to the campsite for “camping mac and cheese” for dinner.

  • Carson was beyond excited to ride a horse!
  • Carson’s horse was named Pinkie. She was a “sneaky snacker” and was really good at nabbing a mouthful of grass before Carson noticed and pulled on her reins.
  • Santana was my horse. Very sweet horse.
  • Spencer’s horse was named Chili. Santana is his mother.
  • Shanelle and Emily were awesome guides. Friendly and knowledgeable and very patient with the boys.
  • Such a fun time!
  • We survived! And now the boys want to go horse back riding again soon.
  • This horse saw us walk up and came right over to get a pat on the nose.
  • The boys were captivated by the horses.
  • The McDonald’s in Canada has Poutine!
  • Coolest crosswalk ever. The stop lights are fixed so all cars stop at the same time and all the walkers can cross, including crosswalks that go across the road diagonally. Much more efficient I think!
  • Nice Shower house
  • The view outside the shower house. The sun had set by us, but had not yet set on the mountain.
  • Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Very castle like. And it has amazing views of the mountains.
  • Jeff’s grandparents were here in 1941. We recreated the photo in the same spot.
  • Jeff’s grandparents stayed here in 1941. We had the photo and found the exact spot we think.
  • The Queen’s portrait was hanging in the stairway.
  • One of the halls we walked by.
  • The view from one of the balconies
  • We dipped our feet in the hot springs on the little path in front of the building, right as it came out of the earth. It was hot tub temperature. Ahhhhhhhh
  • Carson loves this and wanted to stay a long time.
  • This was the hot springs pool. We spontaneously visited the upper hot springs so did not have our swimming gear with us. Definitely next time though! This water is said to have healing properties due to all the minerals in it.

Driving day: West Glacier to Bow Valley Campground just south of Banff.

Amy Kline

Driving day from West Glacier to Bow Valley Campground just south of Banff. We bypassed Calgary during rush hour and made it to the campground about 6pm. A fairly uneventful day of driving on the prairie, seeing cattle, and wheat fields with the mountains rising to the west of us as we drove north.

  • As we were leaving in the morning, we passed the train station at West Glacier so Jeff took some photos.
  • Jeff likes trains (and train tracks)
  • Stopping at Customs to show our passports. It was not busy at all.
  • Carson has been asking about going to Tim Horton’s since last year. We stopped at the first one we saw and he was so excited. Donuts for the boys and a chocolate chip Frappuccino for me.
  • Calgary looks like a fun town. We plan to go back and spend some time here in the future.
  • This campground had a great little gift shop and tasty pastries.
  • Now I want to see Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure again!
  • Our campsite. They gave us lots of instructions to store all food in our vehicles so we don’t attract large animals such as bears or cougars.
  • The cooking set up. Ramen for the kids and chicken noodle pasta for us. Plus, since we have electricity at this site, we are charging all the things.
  • We were given brochures in case we have an encounter with a bear or cougar. We will not be heading off into the wilderness by ourselves at all (we are sticking with the throngs of people at the main tourist sites) but we did study up just in case. Plus Jeff has bear spray.
  • A cool flower next to our campsite.