Journey Through the Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park

In late June and early July, we journeyed on a tour of the Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park in Montana.  The tour was operated by Caravan and was, in our opinion, the best way to see the Rockies with a knowledgeable and friendly tour guide plus a fantastic bus driver (when you take the train, you still end up on a bus to see the sights plus the train tours have essentially stopped operations).

The our began and ended in Calgary which was just recovering for a devastating flood of the Bow River.  The trip began with a tour of Waterton National Park in southern Alberta.  That park was linked to Glacier National Park in Montana (passports were required to reenter the USA and return to Canada.

From here we journeyed to Banff and Lake Louise.  The Banff mountain area was great but Banff, the town, was a tourist trap.  We did, nonetheless, help Canadians celebrate Canada Day (July 1) with a parade in Banff that included bands participating in the Calgary Stampede and members of RCMP in formal uniform (made me think of Bullwinkle cartoons).

After Banff we did Lake Louise, also heavily touristy.  We did go to a lake above Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, which was simply idyllic (see photo below).

In Banff, we also took a rafting tour of the Bow River.

Following Banff, we went to Jasper National Park.  The town of Jasper is much smaller than Banff and far more delightful to be in.  We stayed in 'cabin bungalows' that were very pleasant.

Our final touring distination was the Columbia Icefields.  Here we travelled by a specially-designed six-wheel drive vehicle to the lower glaciers of the icefields.

I think our favorite sites were Waterton National Park in Alberta and Glacier National Park in Montana (here we had the fun of travelling in the 1930's style red coaches - see photo at end of this post - on the "highway to the sun" and Logan Pass).  The photo at the beginning of this post is a picture of Spirit Island in St. Mary's Lake in Glacier.

Our tour ended back in Calgary just as the Stampede was opening.  For more uneditted photos of our trip, click here.