The Canadian Rockies are just gorgeous! We traveled down from Alaska through British Columbia into the Rockies with our first stop in Jasper National Park in Alberta.
As has been the case, some days were very smoky and occasionally there was a blue-sky day when the winds were right.
The campground is in a great spot and home to a lot of grazing elk and crazy people wandering among them.
We started out our stay here with a foodie tour in downtown Jasper, it was tasty and lots of fun.
And yup, that’s poutine 🙂
One day we headed up to Maligne Lake.
On the way, by Medicine Lake (where there was an extensive fire in 2015 that burned over 12,000 acres and caused the evacuation of more than 1,00o people in Jasper) a small herd of mountain goats were searching for salt and other minerals in the dirt of the parking lot, a common occurrence because it is lacking in their lichen diet.
Further down the road this guy was lounging by one of the park buildings.
When we got to Maligne Lake, the boat trip up the lake allowed for some fantastic views, if a bit smoky in some directions.
The stone around the lake is primarily limestone which makes it look almost like snow.
On the way back to the dock, a moose was having an afternoon snack of aquatic plants by the shore.
Another day we traveled the Columbia Icefields Parkway which stretches between Jasper National Park and Lake Louise. There are numerous glaciers along the way.
The Athabasca Falls were beautiful.
On the way, this guy crossed in front of the car on the way for a swim. And no, it’s not the same one as in the picture above. Like the title says, a boatload of elk!
We took a trip up onto the Athabasca Glacier on one of only 30 ice buggies like these in the world. You can walk on the glacier and even drink glacier water 🙂 The incredible blue color of a glacier comes from the absorption of all of the light spectrum except for the blues, the same as glacially-fed lakes.
They inspect the glacier multiple times a day to mark off the safe areas to walk, but you can see the crevices outside of the boundaries, some of which are 100+ ft. deep.
At the end of our stay we had a wonderful dinner at Pyramid Lake Lodge located above the town of Jasper. The bison was exceptional, as was the view.
And lastly Beau, relaxing after a busy day of elk-watching 🙂
3 For the Road 