The Pacific coast North of Vancouver has some magnificent ocean vistas. There are areas like the Cariboo region that are pretty arid and there is even a small desert near Osoyoos. The forests and mountains are absolutely stunning, from the Cascades to the Selkirks. It's immensely attractive to know that you can find any kind of environment you enjoy there, in the Western Provinces.
But there are mountains and then there are Mountains. You know you've reached the Rockies when you start seeing vistas like the one above at practically every turn. From about the time you enter the recreation center of Golden heading East, it just keeps getting better and better...now, you're in the Rockies! Once you reach your destination, your next move may be checking into your hotel (which you WILL want to have lined up ahead of time, especially during peak travel periods) and then proceeding to enjoy your visit.
Chances are some sort of recreation in the parks will be involved, whether it be a light walk, a serious hike or canoeing. Here I'll digress a bit to describe the scope of these Rocky Mountain parks:
The Parks of the Canadian Rockies include the large green diagonal region on the right (with the towns of Jasper and Banff in it) as well as the green block on the border that it points toward. The contiguous area includes the large National parks of Jasper and Banff (in Alberta) and Yoho and Kootenay (in British Columbia), as well as the 3 BC provincial parks of Hamber, Mount Assiniboine and Mount Robson. The park straddling the Canada-US border is the International Peace Park made up of Waterton National Park in Alberta and the US Glacier National Park.
The parks have a great deal of variety between them and some research into your options is well worthwhile. Banff is arguably the most well-known and is justifiably famous for its many attractions. Jasper is also also pretty popular and the Icefields Parkway (blog entry from a prior visit) connecting the two is regarded as one of the most spectacular drives in the world.
While those two parks attract the lion's share of tourists, the adjacent parks of Yoho and Kootenay are also breathtaking in their scenery AND much less crowded. During the course of this trip I got to take a short hike (with stimulating elevation gain) in Banff but also looked around Yoho and Kootenay some more. I love ALL of them and only hope that some day I can finagle a multi-week trip where I can just delve into them without having to always be planning the next day's destinations.
Heading East on the Trans-Canada Highway, the first of the National Parks that you encounter is Yoho. Yoho is named after the Cree expression of awe and all I can think is that understatement must have been a cultural norm among the Cree. A fraction the size of Banff or Jasper, it is chock full of breathtaking sights,
It is a park I have had a deep affinity for since I started looking at BC's wealth of outdoor parks. In 2009, I was heading towards Yoho in a trip that was cut short by an accident. In my 2010 trip, I finally managed to visit Yoho (description here).
At this point in the trip, I was just passing through Yoho, buying park passes (below) and a few souvenirs. On the way home, I passed through Yoho again and took some pictures that will be included in a later post.
Meanwhile, here are a couple more pictures of the Kicking Horse River, taken near the Field Visitors Centre:
From Field, I pressed on to Lake Louise in Banff. A major goal of this trip was to socialize with my friend Rob (@xSiteable on Twitter) and his family. I called him from Lake Louise and he kindly invited me over to have barbecue with his family. But first I had to check into my motel, which I thought was in the nearby town of Canmore but was actually a little past Canmore in the picturesquely named town of Dead Mans Flats. Here is a picture of my motorcycle outside of my motel, there.
After dropping off my gear, I made my way over to Rob's house, where I had the good fortune to meet him and his awesome family, as well as a few friends who dropped by for barbecue.
(That's us below at Rob's place. He's the younger dude on the right.)
Spending the evening with Rob and his crew was a much-anticipated high point of the trip, It was a great evening, which I'd been looking forward to for quite a while. We planned to meet the next day for Happy Hour and Rob also had a great suggestion for a hike to do the next day.
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