June 6, Friday 

  Got up pretty early as we want to drive slowly to Lake Louise and enjoy the scenery, then spend the day around the lake.  The first stop was on Bow Valley Parkway where there are usually wolves to see, but we saw this beautiful Elk! He was just eating and didn’t mind us taking his pic, even looking start into the camera for us.  Of course, that is zoomed in at least 10x!! 

   We parked at the RV park in Lake Louise, really nice, but nothing here has internet and few even are full hook ups. 

  Then headed out to see the Lake, Fairmont Inn view of the lake and lots of snow on the ground.  We are bundled up in jackets, scarves and mittens today. The views of the mountains are just amazing to say the least.  

  Had a break after lunch for a coffee with our friends at Lake Moraine that was still covered with ice. They are saying it stays with ice til end of July usually.  Then we took the Gondola ride to the top of the Ski lift for more views of the mountains and a great view of the Fairmont Inn with the Lake behind it.  The pic doesn’t do this one justice at all.

  And here’s our friend the Columbia Ground Squirrel.   They said this guy is ferocious, and the guide had the scars to prove it on his leg today.  He said with everyone feeding them, the squirrels are getting quite aggressive and will attack.  Wow, now we have to worry about Bear Spray and Squirrel Spray!  Well, as the guide says in Australian, “No worries, mate”. 

  We did decide to get a few groceries here, as this will be the last stop before we get to almost British Columbia.  In the parking lot we saw this really cute, Trailer!

June 7^th, Saturday

  Still on the road with our friends we met in Great Falls, MT.  We both like about the same things, so this has really been a great time going thru the NP with them.  Don’t think we would have slowed down this much if it was just Lin and I.  We probably would have been more intent on getting to Alaska and less on enjoying Canada on the way there. 

   Started out this am from the RV park in Lake Louise, up the Ice Fields Parkway toward Jasper.  We are just going to see how far we get today, maybe only half way depending on the speed and how many times we stop.

  First turnout is Hector Lake, this lake is mostly still covered with ice.  As you can see by our clothes, it’s pretty cold!!

  

   Next we stopped at Crowfoot Glacier, the lake is mostly frozen over still.  This was an easy one, as it was right by the road.

 

  Got a few pics of the RV we are traveling with, as it’s going around the mountain passes.

  Next turnout is Bow Summit, not only were the mountains so gorgeous, but the snow is still several feet deep.  A path was somewhat stepped thru by those ahead of us and we ventured down a few hundred yards, just to play in the snow.  But too hard for us “oldies” and started back down.  There were several others that were going up to snowboard and then rock climb.

 

  Our next stop was Mistaya Canyon, that says “only” a 10 min walk down to the canyon that the Mistaya river has gorged out of the mountains.  It is beautiful, very steep going down, so we know our walk back up is going to be tortuous!!   And it was!! Add to the climb back up, the altitude was 5400ft and we were all out of breath at the top.  Well, that takes care of my Zumba for today.

 

  The Weeping Wall with its many waterfalls coming off the top of Cirrus Mountain was amazing as was the Bridal Veil Falls that we came to just before Columbia Ice fields, which cover over 241 square miles. We saw quite a few glaciers in the Ice fields, and yes, it was cold!!  Back went on the coats, scarves and mittens just to take a few pics.  We were getting a bit tired by this time, so climbed in the RVs and had lunch before heading further north to the Glacier Overlook.  It’s similar to the one over the Grand Canyon and elected to pass on this as we could see the same thing on the road without the $50 price tag to walk out on it.

   The excitement came when we pulled up on this Black Bear!!  He was just eating by the side of the road, not caring that several cars and RVs are stopped beside him taking his picture.  Apparently he was bored, as he sat down to scratch, yawn and finally ambled off into the woods.  I was surprised that a few people were getting out of their cars to view and take pics.  I wanted to wait around and see if he was going to “eat them”!!  Now that was the pic I wanted!!

   So if you are keeping up with us on the Wildlife,  we are up to Grizzly, Black Bear, Wolf,  Bull and Cow Elks,  Mule Deer, Big Horn Sheep and Prairie Dogs.  And remember we are only over the border in Alberta, Canada so far!!

   Tomorrow we will head out of the National Parks of Jasper and Banff and head toward Grand Prairie then over in to British Columbia. More pics to come.