Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 10 - Banff National Park

Johnston Canyon

Bow Valley Parkway

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 9 - Spray Lake

Flat tire shortened day.  Still a nice ride through the Spray Lake area.  Oh, and we saw more bears (don't worry Mom, we've only seen them from the comfort and safety of the car).

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 8 - Banff National Park

Lake Louise - Plain of the Six Glaciers and Teahouses Hike

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 7 - Jasper, Yoho, & Banff

Jasper National Park - Valley of the Five Lakes

Yoho National Park - Wampta Falls

Jasper & Banff National Parks - Icefield Parkway 

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 6 - Jasper National Parks Lakes

The weather today was cold and rainy, and we were both feeling pretty tired, so we decided to take it easy today and do a couple side drives to two different lake areas around Jasper.  The weather didn't cooperate for us, but it was still a good day.  At one point we pulled into an overlook above Medicine Lake, and it was so quiet and peaceful, we ended up both falling asleep.  It was a nice, relaxing day.

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 5 - Jasper National Park

We got going early today and made it into the park before it got busy - definitely the best way to see the park.

The primary reason for our early start was to ensure that we would get passes for the trails in the Mount Edith Cavell area of the park.  Unfortunately, as was the case in Glacier, the trail we had hoped to hike was still covered with snow in many places.  This trail was not as steep as the trail in Glacier, so we ventured a bit further through the snow.  But hiking in hip-high snow is only fun for so long (especially when you keep falling through).  We finally decided to turn back when I fell through and both feet went into a little stream that was under the snow.  But it was still an absolutely gorgeous hike with incredible views of Mount Edith Cavell (named after a Canadian nurse who served in WWI) and its three glaciers - Angel Glacier, Ghost Glacier, and Edith Cavell Glacier.  The ice on the lake below the glaciers was starting to melt, so the aqua-blue water was just starting to become visible in places.  We also heard a number of loud cracks during our hike as ice broke off from the sheer face of the mountain across the valley and crashed to the ground below.

After our hike, we drove down a side road that followed the Althabasca River to Moab Lake.  We stopped along the river and it was the most perfect scene you could imagine.  From there we went to check out Althabasca Falls.

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 4 - Canadian National Parks

Today was a long drive from Whitefish, Montana up to Hinton, Alberta.  Even though it was a journey of just under 500 miles, it still took us almost 12 hours.  But it was 12 hours of absolutely stunning scenery as we made our way up the spine of the Canadian Rockies.  Along the way we passed through three of the four national parks in the area: Kootenay (or as Amy called it, "Kootenanny"), Banff, and Jasper (we will get to the fourth, Yoho, in a few days).