Glacier II, the sequel

Before anyone worries, we did not make a U-turn and went back to the US to Glacier Park. Our story is much better: we found a park in Canada that so deserves to be called Glacier Park!

So we headed out of Calgary, north west towards Alaska. The weather was pretty bad that day: lots of clouds, rain most of the time and pretty cold. We had to stop multiple times in the rain to put additional layers in order to stay warm. Soon enough, we were close to Banff and entered the National Park there. More rain and cold, the low clouds preventing us from seeing the surrounding mountains that we were told are so beautiful. We will never know for sure.

A break from camping

Our initial intent was to camp in the park that night but with the poor weather and Caroline's inability to get warm, we decided to go to the Rampart Creek Lodge. It ended up being a very good choice: the place was so charming and we were by ourselves in our big 6 bunk-beds room. We even met a French couple and two female painters who gave us valuable tips about where to hike, what to see if the weather finally gets better the next day. We did not ride much that day but were able to rest and enjoy the lodge while playing scrabble (if you're wondering, Caroline won and yes, it was in English).

The many glaciers of Banff and Jasper Parks

After being well rested and eventually warm, we woke up to a sunny day. Finally we will see some of the beauties of the park and take our time to enjoy it. As we rode up Route 93, we had to stop every few kilometers (we are in Canada now so we're back into the metric system:) to admire one of the multiple glaciers close to the road. We thought for sure that this park should have been renamed “Glacier” as it fully deserved this name, much more than the US park we drove through.

We took a hike in the park in order to get a glimpse of the Saskatchewan Glacier that you can only admire after a 1.2 Km hike in the mountains, all uphill. Being so high in altitude, we soon started to breathe heavily and felt very tired. Good, we are neither old nor out of shape: it is just a result of the lack of oxygen here. The view was worth the effort: a pristine glacier in a hidden valley with a lake. We could not have wished for anything better now that we had some nice weather again.

After being able to enjoy Jasper National Park, we headed up towards Hinton to find a campground in the area. It is incredible how linked to the weather and the elements the enjoyment of our trip is. Rain and cold are of course a challenge in general for our riding but also, when the sun shines and we are able to enjoy the beautiful outdoors, we could not be any happier than that.