USVI-On-Line

Many of you sent me planning tips for a trip to Banff National Park. I'm back and the trip was great. Thanks, guys.

This was a hiking trip, so posh chateaus on the lake were not what I was craving. Thanks to lots of good suggestions, I ended up at Paradise Lodge cabins. It was perfect. Rustic cabins that made you feel "close to nature," but still had enough luxury to be comfortable. Fireplaces, thick down comforters, and a huge clawfoot tub were just what I was looking for. Thanks to LMG I picked up a great book that I highly recommend to anyone that plans to hike in that area, "Don't Waste Your Time in the Canadian Rockies," by Kathy and Craig Copeland. It describes and rates all of the hikes in the area. Their descriptions were dead on.

We covered about 49 steep miles in the 4 full days that we were there. This may not sound like many people's idea of a vacation, but I loved it! The weather was less than stellar (mostly cloudy and snowed on us 2 days!), which made for some chilly hiking on the mountain tops and wasn't great for photos, but it did let me have a fire every night, which was cozy!

Things I loved: Wonderful hiking trails, amazing scenery, plenty of wildlife (on day one we had a grizzly bear follow about 100 feet behind us for about 20 minutes....crazy!), great places to eat, great pie no matter where we went, incredibly friendly and warm local people, driving the Icefields Parkway, Paradise Lodge, and my new favorite drink of all time: Grower's pear cider.

Things I didn't love: WAY too many people for my taste (I am more accustomed to the wide open, tourist-less spaces of Montana when I hike....), tourist buses, the Lake Louise Chateau (many love it but I felt like I was at Disney World...there were that many people....), the metric system, and the weather was a little iffy.

My only regret was that I didn't plan enough days. I should have stayed at least 2 more days. That was a long way to go for only 4 full days. Six would have been perfect. I might have gotten to rest in between hikes that way!

The few photos that managed to turn out okay despite the dismal, gray skies:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42427255@N ... 249125168/

Thanks again!

V.

Vicki_H,

You truly are talented - such beautiful photos! Wow! Thank you for sharing and it sounds like it was a great trip.

Vicki, do you hike with all of your lenses?

these photos are fantastic Vicki!

Hi Vicki,

Yet another fantastic set of photos on your adventure!

This one looked like an awesome time to really be one with rugged nature. The scenes were so beautiful and I absolutely LOVE the bear shots!! Bears and berries...awesome

Thanks for sharing and I admire the "adventuress" in you

Take care,
Kathy

So glad to hear you enjoyed coming up to the Great White North. Your photos are fantastic! Bet you didn't know our water had so many different shades of blue too? It's just a bit cooler than the Caribbean waters though.

VickiH wrote:The weather was less than stellar (mostly cloudy and snowed on us 2 days!), which made for some chilly hiking on the mountain tops and wasn't great for photos, but it did let me have a fire every night, which was cozy!

Unfortunately, the weather this time of year is completely unpredictable and it can be anywhere from hot and sunny to overcast and rainy to cold and snowy ... all within a morning or an afternoon!

VickiH wrote:Things I loved: ... incredibly friendly and warm local people ...

Thanks so much for mentioning that; it's something that we take great pride in and try to go out of our way for visitors.

So glad you came up to see our little corner of the world and hope you'll make it up again some time.

C

Teresa_Rae wrote:Vicki, do you hike with all of your lenses?

Guilty as charged.

VickiH wrote:

Teresa_Rae wrote:Vicki, do you hike with all of your lenses?

Guilty as charged.

in a very stylish bag I might add

Thanks for sharing. Love the pictures. I am not a hiker by any means but they inspired me to consider more than the 4.5 mile circuit in our local park

Thanks for posting, Vicki. Beautiful shots and they reminded me of our trip there about 10 years ago (same time in Sept). We did several of the same things - loved the Johnston Canyon hike, the views of the glacial lakes and rivers, and Icefields parkway. I love most wildlife, but I didn't like the grizzlies. Lake Louise was beautiful, but very crowded. The day we were there, we hiked up to the next lake and it was very cold and cloudy. My hands were so cold that I went into the Lake Louise gift shop and bought the only mittens they had. Very expensive hand-knit wool mittens. They are a reminder to me to always bring cold weather clothes to Canada, no matter what time of year it is!

Hey, you gotta be tough to take the cold! That being said, we sometimes wonder why we live here ... but then again, we just look around (see Vicki's pix) and wonder why we'd live anywhere else!!

Besides, it just makes the trips to St John and the Caribbean that much more meaningful.

What a beautiful nature in the park and such fantastic pictures.

Linne

Very Nice.
See what I meant by the snow capped mountain tops getting overexposed compared to the lake/valley? Thats really tough to deal with.

International crowds? Years ago, we had tons of Japanese at the Peyto Lake overlook. That is an awesome spot. Amazing that the silt gives the water that color. I have similar slides. Need to get a scanner to digitize...

Yup thats a long ways to go for 4 nites. Six woulda been better, maybe coulda thrown in some whitewater rafting (with the underwater camera!)

Great pictures Vicki! Beautiful nature!

Aren't the bears dangerous? We have got a few bears here in Sweden and they are not cuddly or to play with. How did you come so close? Are they used to humans?

I would probably run if I saw a bear, which is the worst you could do, I guess.

Absolutely beautiful pictures, Vicki. I would have FREAKED if I saw that grizzly though. You are braver than me!