Lake Louise

So the 3 of us set off early to see Peyto Lake before the bus loads of tourists arrived. The glacial lake is a stunning blue set off perfectly by the clear blue skies today. We drove back to Lake Louise via Bow Lake.

Parking by the Lake with thousands of other tourists we were initially disappointed by the scene, unfortunately a monster of a hotel has been built at one end of the lake. We decided to walk one of the trails to try and escape the hoards, 6 kms later and at an elevation gain of 400m we found a tea house! Supplied by a helicopter once a year and the staff and horses taking other essentials, they served tea, coffee and homemade scones, perfect! Re-energised by our morning tea we continued up to the Plain of six glaciers. The views stunned us into a few moments of silence. We continued on our way and took a second trail over the Beehive to Lake Agnes, a further 7kms and another elevation gain of over 500m. The views from the top made Lake Louise look tiny and certainly took us away from the crowds! A final 7km hike took us back to Lake Louise, we were tired and hungry but very pleased with ourselves. 

The other advantage of staying in the hostel in Lake Louise is that on our return we could make use of the sauna, perfect after our long day hiking. That, a big bowl of chili and a glass of wine made the perfect end to a perfect day.

Icefields Parkway

We drove south, leaving Jasper National Park and entering the Icefields Parkway. After a quick tea stop we found the trail head for the Wilcox Trail. It was a 2 hour steep climb but worth it to have the views of the Athabasca Glacier and also get above the tree line to the ice and snow. We took great delight in building a snowman which we like to think amused other tourists for a few hours! After hiking back down we drove to Rampart Creek hostel, the drive took us through the dramatic scenery that the Icefields offer, we also saw another as well as several mountain sheep blocking the road!

We settled in the hostel, made another great meal of caesar salad and got a much better nights sleep.

The following day, we were booked to hike along the Athabasca Glacier. Some of you might remember that following my experience on the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, I said I would never set foot on another glacier, I was wrong! Hanna really wanted to experience it and it was a much easier hike here than in NZ. So we set off at 1100 in a group of ten. Within 5 minutes of leaving the carpark the snow was falling! Within an hour we could barely see for the blizzard! So much for a nice easy walk! That said, the snow made it a memorable experience and earned us a nice cup of tea and lunch on our return.

We decided we were in need of a hostel that had the luxury of hot running water so drove south into Banff National Park and stayed at the Lake Louise Hostel. We met Mags from Ireland in our room who took us up on the offer of transport around the Lake Louise area tomorrow.

Jasper National Park part 1

So our first task was to locate Avis Car Rental and pick up our Chrysler Sebring, oh and then figure out how to drive an automatic, and remember to drive on the wrong side of the road!

With these tasks complete, give or take a few minor details, we set off to Maligne Canyon. We walked the trail along Maligne River up to the Canyon and back to the trail head, it was a gorgeous day and the scenery definitely gave us a taster of what was to come. Back in the car we drove to Maligne Lake but didn’t hang around too long as it had started to rain, however we did see what we thought was a Moose, but now think was a big male Elk. We were heading to Mount Edith Cavell next but as Hanna hadn’t seen much of Jasper we stopped in town for a couple of hours to pick up supplies and some essentials, come on jewelry is essential!

Mount Edith Cavell is home to glaciers and a glacial lake. We walked the trail down to the lake where we found huge chunks of ice, we heard what sounded like thunder but turned around to see ice falling off the side of the mountain!! It was amazing to see such different landscapes all in one day. After I declared that the lake was ‘pretty cold’ much to Hanna’s amusement, we walked back along the rest of the trail to the car. 

We had decided to stay over night at the wilderness hostel in Athabasca Falls. This meant driving along a windy road only accessible in summer. It was along this road that I drove straight into the path of a bear. There was a moment of hysteria in the car as I tried reversing away from the bear and Hanna frantically took photos! I tried sounding the horn to scare the bear away, he gave us a ‘whatever’ look and continues towards the car. With little room, we decided to stay put and take our chances, thankfully the bear walked past the passenger door without a second look, probably mumbling something about bloody tourists!!! 

We arrived at the hostel to find that ‘wilderness’ means ‘basic’! No running water although this hostel did have electric. We settled in, cooked a fab stir-fry and drunk our weeks supply of red wine, needless to say by the end of the evening our encounter with the bear was somewhat exaggerated! 

After an awful nights sleep due to the lack of heat in our cabin, we headed off to see Athabasca Falls and Sunwapta Falls before driving to Beauty Creek. There was an excellent trail along Beauty Creek to Stoney Falls, it took us a total of about 3 hours to hike the trail, there were several waterfalls and stunning views.

 

Jasper, solo.

I stayed in the only hostel in Jasper which sat 8 kms out of town so I had to make use of the daily shuttle bus into town at 0800 and back out at 1800. This gave me ample time to sample the excellent cafes and then head out onto the hiking trails. On my first day I covered 12 kms heading out to Pyramid Lake and then Patricia Lake. I did get slightly concerned about the warnings of bears as I didn’t see a single person on the entire trail! I managed to find out that I had to make lots of noise and look scary, not difficult I hear you cry!!

On my second day I hiked to the top of Old Fort Point for 360o views of Jasper and the surrounding lakes and mountains, on my way back to town I followed the trails around a few of Jasper’s many lakes.

At 1630 I sat at the train station waiting for Hanna to arrive on the train ready to embark on a week of driving around the Rockies from Jasper through to the Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise, Banff and finally Calgary.

The Skeena

I arrived at the train station at 0700 ready to check in for the Skeena train. Boarding commenced at 0800 and as there were very few passengers we departed at 0815. The first day was a long 12 hour stretch from Prince Rupert to Prince George. The scenery along the way was stunning and was a great way to prepare for what I was going to see in the Rockies. We also had a few bear sightings and a couple of stops in tiny villages along the way.

I had to stay in a bed and breakfast in Prince George as there isn’t a hostel. I booked the Olive Tree B&B and was greeted at the train station by Norman, the proprietor who drove me out to their very nice family home. After tea and a chat I had a lovely nights sleep in the big double bed, a rare treat!

The following morning I had to be up at 0600 in time to enjoy Norman’s scrambled eggs before he drove me back to the station ready for the Skeena, part 2.

Today was a slightly shorter day, departing at 0730 and arriving in Jasper at 1630. Along the way, the scenery was constantly changing until we started to travel through the Rockies, an amazing sight.

Arriving in Jasper, I found a really nice town with an incredible backdrop of snow-capped mountains, I had a feeling I would like it here!

Prince Rupert

Due to the fact that the Skeena train only departs on certain days, I had 4 nights in Prince Rupert. Hanna was with me for the first 2 days during which we explored the small town, visited the Cannery and treated ourselves to drinks and dinner in the towns best restaurant. Needless to say that after 3 martinis and a bottle of red wine we slept well!

After Hanna left to go to Alaska I headed off to the outskirts of towns to make use of the trails and see the Butze Rapids and Golden Bay. My final day was spent catching up on the mundane day to day stuff like laundry and re-packing my rucksack yet again ready for my 2 day train journey to Jasper.

Port Hardy and the Inside Passage

I caught up with Hannah again on the bus to Port Hardy, our departure point for the Inside Passage ferry to Prince Rupert. Along the way we met Tasmin, Chris, Fibi and Marcel who were also taking the ferry. After getting an early night we were all up at 4am the next day to get the shuttle bus to the ferry.

The inside passage is a 15 hour ferry journey along a series of passages between the mainland and the coastal islands. It departs Port Hardy and goes all the way through to Skagway in Alaska. However we were going to Prince Rupert, 29kms south of the border with Alaska.

The journey was incredible, it is common for the journey to be wet, grey and foggy but we were lucky, the sun shone all day allowing us to sit out on deck taking in the views. The views varied from open sea to thick forests and waterfalls to snow capped mountains. We saw lots of whales which again was very exciting. Hannah and I enjoyed a few beers, raising a glass to Dad.

We docked in Prince Rupert at 2230 tired but happy. We were picked up and taken to our hostel, I fell into bed and enjoyed a long nights sleep.

Tofino, Vancouver Island

It was great to escape the city and head to the west coast of Vancouver Island, the 5 hour bus journey took me through some stunning scenery and gave me a taste of what was to come in Tofino.

I arrived mid-afternoon and found Whalers Guesthouse, a YHA affiliated hostel with an amazing location over-looking the harbour. I went off to explore the small picturesque town and booked a day trip to the Hot Springs for tomorrow, I had considered another whale watching trip but decided against it!

I was very relieved that I did, as 10 minutes later I stood on the harbour and watched 2 whales swim through the middle! It was an incredible sight and was completely free!

Back in my room, I met Hannah from Dublin. We were both very excited about the whales and decided a celebratory drink was in order, any excuse!

Hannah also managed to get booked on the trip to Hot Springs Cove so at 9am the next morning we boarded our boat and took the 2 hour boat trip, along the way we saw more eagles, stunning scenery and, you guessed another whale! So we arrived at Hot Springs Cove and walked the 2km trail through the forest and found the hot springs. They were maybe 3m from the freezing cold sea water so we doubted the definition of Hot Springs but were amazed when we were almost scalded by the hot water pools! 2 hours later, hot and wrinkly we headed back to the boat! Once again, on our return journey we saw a whale, it was still very exciting to see and something I could watch for hours.

Back in Tofino Hannah and I walked for an hour out of town to find a roadside shack that apparently sold the towns best fish and chips, we were very impressed!

In order to walk it off we thought we’d take the long route back along the beach. Unfortunately we only made it 100m along the beach before we found Pointe Bar and Restaurant. Situated on the rocks overlooking the beach, it was too perfect to miss so we found ourselves in a very swanky bar drinking fine wine, sat by the fire taking in the views,. It was a lovely evening even if we did then have to walk for an hour in the rain to get back!

Tofino is a lovely town and I wish I had spent more time here and less in the city but it was already time to move on.

Unfortunately you cannot get from Tofino to Port Hardy in one day so I had to stay overnight in Port Alberni, a very small little town with little to see so I won’t bore you with the details!

Victoria, Vancouver Island

I arrived in Victoria and spent my first afternoon exploring the city and a market near Chinatown. I walked around the harbour area and to be honest was fairly unimpressed with the city. On my second day I walked to Craigdarroch Castle with a plan to spend a couple of hours there. How they can call it a castle I’ll never know! It’s basically an old house, a big house to be fair, that was built by Robert Dunsmuir in the 1890s. I decided against paying the entrance fee just for the privilege of seeing a rich guy’s house!! Instead I took a walk around the gardens of Government House. On my way back to town I walked through Cook Street village and St. Ann’s Academy. By now it was pouring with rain so decided to go to the cinema and saw Don’t Mess With Zohan, maybe the most bizarre film I’ve seen in a long time!

My final day in Victoria was spent whale watching, or at least that was my plan. We saw some amazing scenery, eagles, sealions and porpoises, but still no damn whales!! It was also freezing cold so I warmed myself up with a late lunch at Willies Cafe!! Amazing eggs benedict and good hot English tea!!

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island

I started off by getting the bus from Downtown Vancouver to Horseshoe Bay, where I got the ferry to Nanaimo. It was still grey, overcast and wet so again the views weren’t great. I arrived in Nanaimo and found the Painted Turtle Guesthouse which is probably the nicest place I’ve stayed in so far (obviously excluding Hotel SO!). A brief walk around the small town made me wonder what I was going to do for 3 days! However, at least the weather was forecast to improve and there was going to be a Farmers Market the following day and a Boat Show on all weekend.

That said, the Farmer’s Market consisted of about 10 stalls and took about 10 minutes to see, and the Boat Show was the harbour area turning into what I would expect to see in any UK marina.

But, the sun was shining! SO I took full advantage and got the ferry to Newcastle Island, a small island which is now a marine park. It was a nice area to walk around ad finally see some of the stunning scenery that BC has to offer.

I then got the ferry from Newcastle Island to Protection Island, home to about 300 permanent residents but more importantly to the Dinghy Dock Pub! Apparently North America’s only floating pub. A perfect spot to soak up the sun and enjoy a nice pint!! Back at the hostel, I met Tina who was visiting from Oz and working for the British Red Cross, we went out for a couple of drinks at the Oxy Pub which I can only describe as a local place for local people!!!

On my last day in Nanaimo I got the ferry to Gabriola Island, unfortunately it is difficult to get around without a bike or car. I was surprised to find there wasn’t anywhere within walking distance to hire a bike. So I managed to cover one end of the island by foot and seeing a few of the artist studios before returning to Nanaimo. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park, soaking up the sun and reading my book.