Vancouver to Victoria

In Vancouver we went to Stanley Park. I would say it is their version of central park. It is a huge park on a peninsula. We were going to the aqarium but found a water park with sprinklers and fire hydrens and water pistols that was more appealing. Quinn had a grand old time. After that we headed for the ferry to get to vancouver island. That was interesting you basicly wait in line and then they direct you from that line onto the boat. We were in the front fow so we had a ocean front view. on the upper decks you could sit and watch inside or go up another level and walk the ship. Very nice views, it was about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the island. We found a hotel last night and were planning on leaving today. But today is BC Day, i guess a celebration of British colombia as a state. Anyway there are a bunch of music acts and things about. Im not sitting on the park lawn waiting for quinn and joe. We just saw the Snowbirds (white jets) fly in numerous formations very low and very loud. So anyway we will be exploring the island today and see if we can see some of the acts tonight.

West Glacier to Vancouver

We made it to Vancouver. Some of these pix are from the day before but im so behind on this blog that it all is a blur. It may also have to do with the fact that yesterday was a fun evening we arived about 2:30 am to Vancouver. Aparently tommorrow is a holiday for British Columbia so everyone and i mean everyone leaves the city. So we started out in West Glacier and went into Revelstoke national park.

Along the way we went thru some old growth rainforests. They are huge cedars that create a massive canopy. The ground is very lush and green even without the sunlight. Some of the furn type things have huge spikes on them, luckly they have boardwalks so you can watch at a safe distance. From the rainforest we went to a marsh area that had a number of bird watching areas.
Supposidly there are some birds that come up from south america each year. Our next stop we went thru the wine country of British Columbia. Lots of farm stands, cherrys seem to be the favoite. We had planned to camp or hotel somewhere in this area but everything was booked so we headed toward Vancouver and everything along the way was also booked so most of yesterday after noon was driving and more driving. Today we are lookin at going to Victoria BC.

Lake Louise to West Glacier

Next day we first went into kootenay national park. The only stop we made was marble canyon which was amazing. The river had cut this very narrow deep canyon. It reminded me of the slot canyons at lake powel. Aftr this slight detour we headed back to lake loise to see moraine lake, there are 10 peaks above this lake with the clouds and snow dusting it was a neat sight. From here we started our trek west. First stop yoho natuional park and takakkaw falls. The falls were massive when you were up close the camera could not even fit them all. It was a ridge at the top with tons of water pouring down. About athird of the way down the water seemed to hit a lip in the rock causing to have a huge spray zone. Forgot one thing right befpre these falls is a place they call the spiral tunnels. It is the tunnels for the canadian railway that takes a previus 4+ percent grade and cut it in half by having the train pretty much drive on top of itself. We were luckiy enough to see a train go through it, its a very strange sight. Next we stopped at emerald lake.


Next stop was a natural bridge. Now the main diffrenxebetween a natural bridge and an arch is natura bridges are caused by a river carving it out an arch is caused by erosion. Well i have seen alot of natural bridges but this one was diffrent its like a waterfall but it decided under was a less resitent path. The water is fearce running beneth this bridge.


We went for a real nice easy hike to some falls called w... It wasnt a high fall but real wide. Quinn had his bear walking stick that we picked up in glacier MT, normal stick but with a bell on it so the bears know your commin.

Its amazing how often "eh" is used at the end#of any sentence up here. We ate dinner tonight at an excelent restaurant in golden, BC. So we then stopped in glacier for the night but the first two capsites were full, we then stumbled across the third one and it was completely emty. Now normally im all over isolation but in an area where there are gient signs everywhere about bears we decided to take a sot closest to the road. Little bakward but the place is down right creepy.

Jasper to Lake Louise

Now i wish i had a thermometer cause it was dab cold last night. But when we woke up and stepped out of the tent we had two visitors. One was lying down taking a nap near our table the other was nibbling abush next to our tent. They were huge elk.



From jasper we drove down toward lake louise. The day started out much nicer. We did two falls hikes athabasca and sunwapta both very diffrent but neat falls.



After that we went to the columbian icefields and took a huge four wheel drive custom bus up onto one of the glaciers. To get on the glcier the first piece was to get down a massive hill tha even in a quad would be tough. So we had 20 minutes on the ice which was plent although amazing it was freekin cold. They said that they had had snow the day before.






We made it into lakeloise and stopped for dinner at an old railway station. The appetizers were wonderful but we had bison burgers for the main meal and they must hve been store bought reheated with all kinds of stuff in emm cause they were the worst burgers we have ever had. Yuck. After dinner we went toward banff and caped at a place caled protection mpuntain. Nice campground only noise was the occasional train.

Banff to Jasper

Next day we headed to jasper. It was raining on and off through out the day. We hiked johnson canyon first, it was an easy hike but extreamly busy. It had a cave on one side that let you get super close to the falls, all the way up into the spray zone. From the canyon we headed to lake louise.





The chatou there is impressive. We hiked up the fairview lookout and when i say up i mean 100% up. One at the top there is aprimative trail that goes down to the lake then along the shore. It didnt look to bad so we talked quinn into doing it and off we went. Since it was raining it was bit slippery but a fun hike.



We then went and checked out the hotel, definitly would be a nice place to stay but a bit pricey. Hard to beat the campground price of 27 witch includes flush toilets, bears, showers, and other animals. On our way to jasper we saw some real big glaciers. The main one whic we will hit tommorrow was dang cold. We made it to jasper aound 11 for the night.

Calgary to Banff

The next morning we got up and went to the calgary heritage park. It is and old town recreation with original building that were moved to this site. Everyone was dressed in period costume and had alot of interesting facts. In the wood workers shack quinn helped make a sign. The place had a large train running around the prrk and old amusment park rides.



From calgary we drove into banff. Its a bit dramatic a drive because you go from very flat plains into huge mountans. When I think candada I dont really think flat but Calgary is flat.



We camped in banff for the night. After we found the campground we drove into town. We first stopped at national park headquarters of some type. It has a huge beutiful garden.


From there we walked around downtown. It has alot of neat shops and restaurants. We ate at a greek place and just missing the plate smashing show. The food and service were excelent.