Lake Louise, Icefields Parkway and Jasper National Park (3,301 miles)

I’ve wanted to go to Jasper, Alberta since I was a young girl listening to John Denver sing about it. I could almost see a meadow with two men and four ponies on a long, lonesome ride. ~Rocky Mountain Suite

At the time, I hadn’t traveled far from NC and could only imagine how amazing the Canadian Rocky Mountains must be and knew one day I wanted to see it in person.

Today that dream came true and it was even more beautiful than I imagined.

From Banff, we drove north to the Ski Louise Resort at Lake Louise to ride the summer gondola to the top of the mountain. I was glad we’d purchased tickets in advance when I saw hundreds of vehicles already there when we arrived around 9:30 am. Inside the lodge there were lots of people getting coffee and milling around. We followed the signs downstairs and outside to the gondola and were surprised to see on one in line or in the gondolas and chair lifts slowing climbing up the mountain. At first we thought we must not be in the right place, but we walked down and the attendant greeted us and ushered us to an open car.

The ride up was great! The views of Lake Louise surrounded by mountains was spectacular. The one thing we didn’t see were many other riders.

At the top, Riley asked the attendant where all the people are. She laughed and said, all the other cars are for the Park and Ride into town. Oh, now it makes sense.

There was only one short trail at the top so we walked around and marveled at the view for a while before heading back down, this time in an open chairlift. It was a little chilly, but that’s what jackets are for.

Icefields Parkway is one of the most scenic drives in the world. The 140 mile road winds through the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains from Lake Louise to Jasper. We were amazed by stunning views of glaciers, lakes, waterfalls and wildlife during the entire 3’ish hour drive.

Athabasca Falls was one of the most beautiful places we stopped to hike. The 23 m falls are fed by the Columbia Icefield and wind down though a gorgeous canyon carved by the Athabasca River.

We gotten a good start on wildlife sightings. The tally so far includes four more black bears, numerous Columbia Ground Squirrels, a handful of goats shedding their winter coats and several elk, one crossing the highway in front of us as we drove into Jasper.

It’s elk calving season so rangers at both Banff and Jasper National National Parks warned to be especially wary of elk wandering around the campground. In Jasper, elk have caused more serious harm and injuries to people than any other wildlife.

Bridal Veil Falls was just one of many waterfalls visible from the road. There aren’t enough hours in the day to see everything.

Jasper Brewing Co sounded like a great place for a late lunch, early dinner before setting up camp in the Wapiti campground in Jasper National Park. The food and the beer were good!

I was happy to see that the campground is in the woods like you’d expect. It would’ve been disappointing to have another spot like we had in Banff.

The other unexpected perk is free firewood! Many campgrounds charge ridiculous prices for bundles of firewood that more often than not are too green or wet to actually burn. Not the case here ! Wood is dry and plentiful.

Riley toted several armloads of wood to our site and split it so we can have a nice fire for relaxing in the evening .

We’ll be here for two nights so our plan for tomorrow is to explore the town and find a good day hike.