October 5, 2017 Laura Dierbeck

August 5-6th Canada Part 1

August 5th – 6th

Canadian Border – Lake Louise, Banff NP

Canada

When Camrin arrived back from Milwaukee we decided in the Airport parking lot to either head West for more Washington, or cram in a short run up to Canada, We chose the later. We spent one more night in Idaho, where Laura had spent the last couple of nights, before making a beeline to the border.

We weren’t sure what to expect when crossing the border. Neither of us had been to Canada. Are they going to be strict? Are they pull everything out of our Jeep and scrutinize every rock we have collected. Well, it was much much easier than we thought. There was a short line of cars going into Canada, compared to what we could see was a very long line trying to get into the U.S. We pulled up to a window and handed over our passports, got asked a few questions about where we were going and why and asked to pull to the side for further review. At this point we got a little nervous. We had to park the Jeep, go into a very official looking building full of border officers, and hand over our keys. From inside looking out a window we could see two border officers walk out to our Jeep, probably saw how messy it was, and turn around and come back inside. One of those officers handed us our keys and said, “Welcome to Canada”. That was that. We were in Canada.

Not much of a marker. We’re crossing over!

They let us in! Look at the line of cars trying to get into the U.S.

Our drive up to Banff was beautiful. Several lakes and resorts along the highway. It wasn’t until we turned onto the famous Canadian Hwy 1 that the Mountains started rising up. And sadly the forest fires. We made it to the entrance of Kootenay NP and got our free parks pass. That’s right! Free park pass! Canada is celebrating its 150 years of being a country and all national parks are free. Even to us foreigners. Unfortunately, as soon as we entered Kootenay the smoke from nearby forest fires clouded out all the views. At one point we even passed by flames on the side of the road. It was pretty freaky to see a forest burning up close. It really makes one respect nature and the men and women who work to control those fires. At one point, Laura got pretty sad that our trip to Canada was going to be all smoke and no mountain views. Luckily we went over a mountain pass and entered Banff National Park where the smoke stopped and the beautiful mountain views came back.

Starting to lose sight of the mountains.

Wildland Firefighters setting up a water tank.

Crappy cell phone video.

Famous Mountain outside of the town Banff.

We made our way to the very touristy and very fancy mountain town also named Banff. Like Jackson Hole, WY this mountain town is so nice that there’s no way people who work here can afford to live here. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful town with a perfectly blue river flowing through it and amazing views of the Canadian Rockies surrounding it. It was jammed packed with tourists, so we only stayed for a few hours, before making our way to our campsite… a casino parking lot thirty minutes down the road.

Their main street end with a mountain view. Lucky!

There’s that famous Mountain who’s name we can’t remember.

Next door to the Japanese grocery store.

Its just a Casino parking lot, but look at that sunset.

The next morning we woke up early and made our way to the famous Lake Louise in Banff NP. We’re glad we got up early because this part of the park was packed by 9 AM. For good reason though, Lake Louise is probably one of the most beautiful hikes we have done yet. It’s a beautiful, oddly blue, lake surrounded by gorgeous peaks and a super fancy Hotel. Plus, the hiking trails around this lake take you to two amazingly cool and cute mountain tea houses where a hiker can kick back, relax, and sip some tea from a table overlooking the mountains. It felt so British, but also like something you would be more likely to see in the Himalayan Mountains. We hiked some 16 miles that day. The tea helped. It was a day that was so perfect. We can’t wait to go back someday.

We didn’t realize until we left that those dogs were probably strays.

Yay Mountains… and a thousand other people :/

Trail options. We’ll end up doing most of them.

Yikes! Never seen an avalanche warning sign before. We don’t have that problem where we’re from.

Beehive Mountain from a higher side view.

First Tea House! This is such a cool thing to have here. The lines were too long at this one, but we’ll hike to another one soon.

We’re getting pretty high. Look at how weirdly blue the lake is from above.

People from all cultures are welcome here.

Ok. We’re really high now… elevation wise.

This is where Camrin freaks out over a plant.

It’s called Butterwort. It’s a carnivorous plant that eats bugs through its leaves!

We made it! A Tea House in the Mountains!

Laura is super excited to be here, but a little caffeine is needed to get back down the Mountain.

Tea Time. Obviously, the British traditions still carry on.

Got to see some rock climbers in action.

Almost Back! What an amazing Hike! We’re exhausted!

Our campsite for the next couple of nights was outside of the Yoho side of the park. About a 45-minute drive from Moraine Lake, but so much better than camping in the casino parking lot again. This boondocking site was right along the Kickinghorse River and there were quite a few other people camped out. Sadly, the forest fire in Kootenay had filled this valley with smoke too. It was odd and otherworldly seeing a deep red sunset behind a thick cloud of smoke.