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).

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 3 - Glacier

One of the hikes we didn't get to on our last trip to Glacier was the hike up to Grinell Glacier.   So that was the plan for our one-day stopover here.  Unfortunately, when we got to the trailhead, we learned that the last 1.7 miles of the trail were still closed due to dangerous conditions caused by the lingering snow.  But we went up and did as much of the hike as we could, and it was totally worth it.  It was cloudy with a few sprinkles of rain, but the views were still incredible.  The green from the trees, the black from the rocks, the white from the snow, and the aqua-blue from the water stood out in such stark contrast to each other, that the colors seemed even more vivid than if they were viewed on their own.

With our hike being cut a bit short, we had some extra time so we hiked around Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine, eventually ending up and Hidden Falls and Lower Grinell Lake.  Although this hike couldn't possibly compare to the partial hike up towards the glacier, it was still a ice walk.

Once we finished our walking, we hopped back in the car and drove a bit on the park's iconic Going-To-The-Sun Road (there were only 15 miles open on each end of the park - the middle 25 miles are still being cleared of snow).  We ended the day watching a beautiful sunset on the banks of Lake McDonald,

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 2 - Montana

Today was another long driving day.  Another 12 hours and almost 700 miles traveling from the southeast corner of Montana to almost the northeast corner. Even though it was a long drive, it went fast because it was so beautiful.  Montana is an incredible place.

Summer Road Trip 2017, Day 1 - The Badlands

Today was a long travel day.  We traveled 750ish miles over 12 hours on our way from Milwaukee to Rapid City, South Dakota.  Once we crossed into Minnesota, the directions from the GPS for the remainder of the journey were "travel 600 miles on I-90; your destination is on the left."  So pretty straight and flat - not the most exciting drive.  But we made good enough time that we were able to take a short detour to Badlands National Park for a few hours of sightseeing and hiking.  It was very beautiful and a nice break from the car. But the highlight was the baby rattlesnake that took two stabs at attacking Amy and I.  He was so itty-bitty; he couldn't even rattle yet.  But twice he coiled himself up and twice he struck out at us.  They were pretty sad attempts, but you gotta give the little guy an A for effort.