The US makes
a big deal of its bear population, particularly in campgrounds where signs
inform you of the illegality of storing food in anything other than a bear
locker. Wardens advise you at every checkpoint to be bear aware and you spend
the days rubbernecking as you walk and drive, expecting a monster to get you at
any minute. In Canada things are very different. With just as many bears as
their southern neighbours one would expect the national parks to be hot on bear
safety but other than friendly advice from the odd warden at campsite entrances
to keep your food inside the car there is little to make you afraid of these
animals. I posed this thought to a local in Banff and he simply said that if a
bear comes near you just shoo it away. They have a far more relaxed
relationship with their native species up here.
Banff is the heart of the Canadian Rockies experience. A jumping off point for most of the major sights and within a few hours’ drive from Calgary this town is a hub of activity and excitement and with so much excitement comes the cost. Because the town of Banff resides within the national park borders it is necessary to have a parks pass to stop within the park limits. This wasn’t something we realised as we wound our way through the town towards the cheapest campground named Two Jack. Having paid for our camping spot Emma suggested we go look at the nearby lake whilst I protested that this would probably contravene the rules of requiring a park pass to look around the park and Emma pointed out that we probably needed one to camp as well. We drove down to the lake anyway and Emma made us stop so she could take a picture. As I stropped like a scared little girl a park ranger pulled up next to us to check passes. Emma dived back into the van and we took off down the road like Thelma and Louise. We made a beeline for the visitor centre to purchase a pass, making it just before the office closed for the night.
The next day we visited Lake Louise, a body of water remarkable for its milky blue colour. This is caused by the rock flour or glacial sediment which makes its way into the water. On the shores of the lake sits a ‘chateaux’ which is more like a giant chateaux shaped Best Western and accompanying the edifice are hoards of Asian tourists. A little over 4km from the lake is a tea house perched high in the mountain side. Fortunately the walk prevents 95% of the visitors from visiting the tea house and we trekked up the hill in relative solitude. The walk was very steep and we passed the beautiful Mirror Lake before arriving at Agnes Lake. We had an expensive lunch at the top though the price was justified when we realised that all the supplies had to be hiked up the mountain by foot. A notice on the back of the menu informed us that when the current owner purchase the tea house from a train company her daughter would walk the steep climb to and from the school bus stop every day. After splashing our sweaty faces with ice cold lake water we made the walk back down and back to Banff for the night. We would explore the local museum, visit the sulphuric hot springs, browse the shops and drink in the local brew pub (crap beer compared to their American counterparts . . . just so you know) and thoroughly enjoy what Banff had to offer.
Having decided to visit Calgary we set off on a Saturday morning and drove a slow 45 mile per hour towards the city, stopping off at a Denny’s by the Olympic village. I don’t know what it is about Denny’s but we have developed a soft spot for what is essentially a reasonably priced, large portioned fry up. We tucked into our bacon and eggs and researched where we might be able to spend the night in Calgary. The answer was a resounding nowhere, not unless we were prepared to pay through the nose. The annual Calgary Stampede was soon to start and the prices of campgrounds were through the roof. It was a shame as Emma and I would have loved to visit the stampede, billed as “the greatest outdoor show on earth.” We decided to make our way back to Banff but as we pulled in to the Two Jack campground turning we noticed that everywhere was full. Fortunately they had an overflow campground which was essentially a glorified car park but at $10.70 a night we didn’t mind paying for it and it would give me plenty of space to change the wheels around. I set to work taking the wheels off, using the jack and the spare wheel to prop the van up at various points to allow me to switch them. The park began to fill up with tents and soon the next RV camper arrived and was directed to park next to us. The driver pulled in and I could hear a distinct Aussie-Kiwi twang to his voice so, as he climbed out of his truck I struck up a conversation, using the colloquial ‘mate’ to indicate a common ground. Kiwi Robb and Aussie Dani were on the first night of their Canadian adventure and it didn’t take long before we cracked open the beers (despite the no alcohol weekend restrictions) and began working on our friendship.
I was finishing the tyre changes whilst sipping on terrible Molston lager when I noticed that the right rear tyre was absolutely shredded; I mean beyond bald and with wire poking out. No wonder we had been vibrating so much. I swapped it for the spare and checked the rear left which was bald but not as badly. We would have to try and find some replacements in Calgary and pay the price whatever it was. Having realised how close we were to a highway blow-out we settled down to drinks with Dani and Robb and thanked our lucky stars we hadn’t been hurt. As the beer flowed the mosquitos began to bite relentlessly and Emma and Dani retired to bed leaving Robb and I to finish the entire crate of beer. As a Brit my constitution for beer is quite high and I hadn’t realised quite how drunken Robb was getting. He held it together though before stand up, proclaiming that his head was on backwards and staggering to bed after urinating on the front of his truck. I ducked into our van and spent an hour engaging in futile mosquito genocide. The morning after Robb’s head poked out of his van proclaiming that he felt “fucking sick” which made me laugh though I abruptly stopped when Emma pointed out the 30 plus bites I had across my back.
We arranged to meet up with Robb and Dani again later that week as Robb had kindly offered us a place to park in Calgary. His Aunty and Uncle lived just outside the city on a sizable plot of land which meant we could park up for free and get the chance to visit the Stampede. I located some incredibly expensive tires in Calgary and arranged to pick them up later that week after we had limped up to Jasper and back. We said goodbye to Robb and Dani and I felt a jolt of pleasure at meeting such nice people and greatly looked forward to seeing them again. For now it was north bound though, limping on a spare tyre and a bald tyre, through the ice-fields and up to Jasper, a wilder little sister to Banff.
Banff is the heart of the Canadian Rockies experience. A jumping off point for most of the major sights and within a few hours’ drive from Calgary this town is a hub of activity and excitement and with so much excitement comes the cost. Because the town of Banff resides within the national park borders it is necessary to have a parks pass to stop within the park limits. This wasn’t something we realised as we wound our way through the town towards the cheapest campground named Two Jack. Having paid for our camping spot Emma suggested we go look at the nearby lake whilst I protested that this would probably contravene the rules of requiring a park pass to look around the park and Emma pointed out that we probably needed one to camp as well. We drove down to the lake anyway and Emma made us stop so she could take a picture. As I stropped like a scared little girl a park ranger pulled up next to us to check passes. Emma dived back into the van and we took off down the road like Thelma and Louise. We made a beeline for the visitor centre to purchase a pass, making it just before the office closed for the night.
The next day we visited Lake Louise, a body of water remarkable for its milky blue colour. This is caused by the rock flour or glacial sediment which makes its way into the water. On the shores of the lake sits a ‘chateaux’ which is more like a giant chateaux shaped Best Western and accompanying the edifice are hoards of Asian tourists. A little over 4km from the lake is a tea house perched high in the mountain side. Fortunately the walk prevents 95% of the visitors from visiting the tea house and we trekked up the hill in relative solitude. The walk was very steep and we passed the beautiful Mirror Lake before arriving at Agnes Lake. We had an expensive lunch at the top though the price was justified when we realised that all the supplies had to be hiked up the mountain by foot. A notice on the back of the menu informed us that when the current owner purchase the tea house from a train company her daughter would walk the steep climb to and from the school bus stop every day. After splashing our sweaty faces with ice cold lake water we made the walk back down and back to Banff for the night. We would explore the local museum, visit the sulphuric hot springs, browse the shops and drink in the local brew pub (crap beer compared to their American counterparts . . . just so you know) and thoroughly enjoy what Banff had to offer.
Having decided to visit Calgary we set off on a Saturday morning and drove a slow 45 mile per hour towards the city, stopping off at a Denny’s by the Olympic village. I don’t know what it is about Denny’s but we have developed a soft spot for what is essentially a reasonably priced, large portioned fry up. We tucked into our bacon and eggs and researched where we might be able to spend the night in Calgary. The answer was a resounding nowhere, not unless we were prepared to pay through the nose. The annual Calgary Stampede was soon to start and the prices of campgrounds were through the roof. It was a shame as Emma and I would have loved to visit the stampede, billed as “the greatest outdoor show on earth.” We decided to make our way back to Banff but as we pulled in to the Two Jack campground turning we noticed that everywhere was full. Fortunately they had an overflow campground which was essentially a glorified car park but at $10.70 a night we didn’t mind paying for it and it would give me plenty of space to change the wheels around. I set to work taking the wheels off, using the jack and the spare wheel to prop the van up at various points to allow me to switch them. The park began to fill up with tents and soon the next RV camper arrived and was directed to park next to us. The driver pulled in and I could hear a distinct Aussie-Kiwi twang to his voice so, as he climbed out of his truck I struck up a conversation, using the colloquial ‘mate’ to indicate a common ground. Kiwi Robb and Aussie Dani were on the first night of their Canadian adventure and it didn’t take long before we cracked open the beers (despite the no alcohol weekend restrictions) and began working on our friendship.
I was finishing the tyre changes whilst sipping on terrible Molston lager when I noticed that the right rear tyre was absolutely shredded; I mean beyond bald and with wire poking out. No wonder we had been vibrating so much. I swapped it for the spare and checked the rear left which was bald but not as badly. We would have to try and find some replacements in Calgary and pay the price whatever it was. Having realised how close we were to a highway blow-out we settled down to drinks with Dani and Robb and thanked our lucky stars we hadn’t been hurt. As the beer flowed the mosquitos began to bite relentlessly and Emma and Dani retired to bed leaving Robb and I to finish the entire crate of beer. As a Brit my constitution for beer is quite high and I hadn’t realised quite how drunken Robb was getting. He held it together though before stand up, proclaiming that his head was on backwards and staggering to bed after urinating on the front of his truck. I ducked into our van and spent an hour engaging in futile mosquito genocide. The morning after Robb’s head poked out of his van proclaiming that he felt “fucking sick” which made me laugh though I abruptly stopped when Emma pointed out the 30 plus bites I had across my back.
We arranged to meet up with Robb and Dani again later that week as Robb had kindly offered us a place to park in Calgary. His Aunty and Uncle lived just outside the city on a sizable plot of land which meant we could park up for free and get the chance to visit the Stampede. I located some incredibly expensive tires in Calgary and arranged to pick them up later that week after we had limped up to Jasper and back. We said goodbye to Robb and Dani and I felt a jolt of pleasure at meeting such nice people and greatly looked forward to seeing them again. For now it was north bound though, limping on a spare tyre and a bald tyre, through the ice-fields and up to Jasper, a wilder little sister to Banff.
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