Looking back: Jasper & Banff

OK, let’s get this blog rolling!

I finally have my computer hooked up and I’m halfway done with unpacking, so here comes a series of ‘Looking back’ posts, where I share pictures from our recent trip across Canada, and our time on Vancouver Island up till now.

I’m starting with Jasper and Banff, two National Parks in Alberta with impressive scenery all along the way. Our initial route to Nanaimo did not include Jasper, but we ended up driving the entire Icefields Parkway (Jasper to Banff highway) anyway, and we added two little side-trips as well.

Here are the (many) pictures:

We saw a bull Elk almost immediately after driving into Jasper NP:

Our first side-trip was a short hike into Maligne Canyon:

After Maligne Canyon we continued our drive south, when I suddenly spotted a Black bear walking through the forest, this was our first wild bear encounter ever!

Many bear sightings followed that same day, we were so happy!

This next bear was in a tree, with her two cubs.

The Icefields Parkway is so scenic that you don’t even need to leave your car, you get these kinds of views right from the front seat of your car:

From here on out, the pictures show Banff NP:

This Grizzly bear and her two cubs were a big attraction, not far from the main highway. I’m glad I brought a big lens though!

The next day, after a night in the town of Banff, we visited Moraine Lake. We saw many animals there, but we were particularly attracted to this little Pika, which we had only seen in nature documentaries before:

Moraine Lake itself was beautiful, but very busy. See the beauty first, then the crowds below:

In the Moraine Lake back-country, travel in groups of 4 was recommended because of the bears:

One last shot, before we moved on. We still had a long drive ahead of us that day, all the way to Kamloops, more on that later.