Day 14

Another day with an alarm set for around 6am. Most people probably want to relax a bit but there’s so much to do. We packed up at Patricia Lake and oddly took our first real look at the lake which was very pretty. We drove over to Pyramid lake (also pretty) before heading into town to grab some packed lunch and head out onto the epic Icefields parkway. Until this day I did not know that an icefield is an area that creates glaciers. There are many glaciers along the icefields parkway and many of them can be seen from the road.

We had a lot to do and a nebulous dinner reservation at our stop for the night, so we tried to keep up a decent pace. First up we decided to (abruptly) stop at horseshoe lake, a pretty little spot with nobody around aside from one young guy who looked like he’d spent the night in his hammock. Then we stopped at Athabasca falls which was already quite busy but well worth a look. Not too far away was Sunwapta falls which was not as big but also very pretty. The drive itself through this region is hard to describe and do it justice. There are incredible mountains of different shapes and types all over the place. You pass waterfalls and glaciers. I can’t quite believe that I didn’t know that this was here until I started doing the trip research. As far as landscapes go, this probably just became my favourite amongst those that I’ve visited.

We stopped at Beauty Creek which had been recommended in my guide book for being off the tourist trail but very beautiful. We followed some very specific instructions to an unmarked parking space for a handful of cars just off the parkway, ate some lunch and then went for a “short” hike. My book said it was an easy 1 hour round trip. My mistake was not reading until the end of the description. The creek contains Stanley falls, a series of lovely waterfalls, and no tourists there to get in the way. We met 2 other groups on the trail and that was it. Our easy walk became a longer and steeper hike as we ended up walking right to the top of the falls, easily taking an hour just getting there. The trail isn’t marked but I could always hear more waterfall around the next corner and stuck with it. I don’t think many people will actually keep going to the top (those we saw didn’t), but it was very rewarding and one of the more memorable little bits of the trip. There were a few vertigo inducing moments for me and because it was “easy” we hadn’t taken walking poles or much else with us, but that only served to make it a little more rewarding.

After the creek we headed on down the road to the Columbia Icefield. We had to wait in a short but incredibly slow line but then got tickets to ride out onto the Athabasca glacier in a big truck and walk around on top of the glacier. They only get to run these tours because they were doing it so long ago it was before the laws came in and they put a lot of work into keeping it environmentally friendly. Due to the glacier naturally receding, this will only be possible here for another 50 years or so. Then the glacier will be gone and a lake will form at the base of it. It’s very cool to see the lakes, moraines, waterfalls and glaciers in various stages and see how everything changes very slowly over time. The views around the glacier were spectacular, which was saying something given what we’d been seeing all day.

We then headed on towards Field, only stopping at Peyto lake. This involved a pretty quick hill climb before coming to a really nice viewpoint looking out over the lake. We spent the night at Cathedral Mountain Lodge in the Yoho National Park, staying inside a log cabin. It was a pretty fun experience but for just one night we didn’t get too many benefits of being at such a place. It did give us the opportunity to get into the Yoho park though. We met one couple near Beauty Creek who had done the parkway drive on 2 consecutive days because on the day before it had been so cloudy here that they couldn’t see any of the mountains. We only had the one day to do it but had such a beautiful day that we really did consider ourselves very lucky.

Day 15

The lodge in Yoho provided us with a very memorable dinner and pretty tasty breakfast. The dinner was on the classy and expensive end, but well worth it. Easily top 3 for the trip. We got up super early to check out and then make our way to the main sights in Yoho park. These were Takkakaw falls and Emerald Lake. Very few people were at the falls at 8am which made it pretty fun. They’re the 2nd tallest in Canada and were well worth the trip up the road and some pretty tight roads. Emerald Lake was a lovely little lake further into Yoho and it was very tempting to stay for more than just a brief walk but we had more lakes on the agenda.

We hopped into the car and headed on towards the town of Lake Louise. We were trying to get to Moraine Lake for 11am to beat the crowds and see it in nice light but the road was closed due to too many visitors so we went to see Lake Louise instead. This lake has a grand Fairmont hotel right at one end and is all over the postcards in the region. I remember after I had my gallbladder out that I looked into holidays and Canada before settling on Japan. I saw the photos of Lake Louise and I wanted to stay at that Fairmont. In the end we didn’t, because of the cost and the touristy nature of the lake.. but it was part of the inspiration to come. We got lucky with a parking space here and it really was tourist central. Not all that fun where the path from the coaches met the lake, but not so bad a little further round. We grabbed some early lunch and then rented a canoe to do a trip up and down the lake. The wind made getting all the way to the end of the lake and back in the allotted time a bit of a challenge, but I was determined. I had a great time, Claire just wanted to rest for a few weeks afterwards!

We then headed up to the Lake Louise Gondola which was on the other side of town and which gives a really nice view across the valley and to the lake with hotel. We got to ride up and down on the open air chair lift and enjoy the sunshine. Afterwards we hopped on the road to Banff and found that we’d left the best scenery behind. Banff does have some nice mountains though, the parkway just can’t compete with north of Lake Louise.

Day 16

We’d been told that we’d need to get to Moraine lake very early to park up and avoid any blocked roads, so we got there for not too much after 8am. We had breakfast in the lodge and then walked up and down the lakeside before renting another canoe. This time there wasn’t much wind and we had a more sedate paddle. The weather started out very cloudy but picked up quite nicely by the time we were on the lake. We then walked up the rocks at one end of the lake for a good couple of viewpoints before heading off.

The lakes here are so famous because of their incredible colour. Glaciers grind up rocks into a fine powder and that ends up in the rivers and lakes. Due to the concentration of minerals in the powder it creates the special effect when the light hits the water. It’s hard to say which of the lakes was my favourite but they were all gorgeous. Spending an hour canoeing across one of them is a very nice way to relax.

We stopped off at Johnston Canyon one the way back to Banff and walked to the lower falls. This was again packed out with tourists and whilst it was pretty, it was incomparable to Beauty Creek. Back in Banff things got pretty cold for the evening as the storm was rolling in and even though we brought appropriate clothing, we didn’t wear quite enough even then. After over 2 weeks of sunshine and hot summer it can be easy to forget how quickly the temperature can change in the mountains.

Day 17

After repeatedly expecting bad weather in the mountains we finally had a day with it really pissing it down. On top of this it was well under 10 degrees at best when most other days of the trip had been in the high 20s. This was also the first day where the alarm was turned off and we weren’t getting up around 6am. We got up late for a very tasty brunch in town and then headed up to Banff hot springs in the early afternoon. Apparently everyone else in town had the same idea and we had to queue for a little while before entering a pretty packed pool. Luckily a bunch of people left fairly quickly and then we didn’t feel so much like sheep. The hot water was nice but after Japan it seems like everything else is a warm spring. As insanely stupid and punishing as the ones in Japan were, I feel like they’ve ruined other hot springs for me now. Unless I’m actually cooking myself and regretting any kind of movement which wakes up my nervous system then it’s just not going to be so fun.

Afterwards we grabbed some dinner and did a little walk to the falls just outside of town on the Bow River as the weather had just started to clear up. We were lucky enough to see a deer next the path too. There were some pretty gorgeous views through town on the way back at little bits of mountain revealed through gaps in the cloud.

The only things we didn’t get to do in Banff were the gondola and a look at Lake Minnewanka. We’ve not been short on either lakes or gondolas so it’s no big loss, but neither would have been good at all in the weather today. Maybe we’ll sneak one of them in tomorrow on the way to Calgary for our very late flight home. Maybe I’ll just spend all day in the knife shop ;).

Day 10

We packed up our bags and were up a little later than normal. We’d covered most of the ground in Vancouver that we wanted to but still had Stanley park left to see. We thought about renting some bikes but the weather was looking like it could rain a fair bit. We chose to walk through downtown to the park and then walk some of the sea wall before going into the aquarium. It’s one of the world’s best apparently, but we really weren’t that excited. It was really packed with people and I think we got lucky in Bangkok by going to a very empty one just before closing. The highlight was the 2 Beluga whales and a small dolphin display.

Afterwards we cut through to the other side of the park to check out a couple of the beaches. It wasn’t exactly sunbathing weather but a few people were still trying their very hardest. We grabbed some mid afternoon key lime pie and some drinks with a beach view and the pie was superb. We then walked back through downtown before grabbing an early pre-train dinner in a Malaysian place. I don’t remember ever having Malaysian in a restaurant before but my Beef Rendang was one of the best curries I’ve ever eaten, and God knows I’ve eaten a few.

We grabbed out bags from the hotel and went to the train station to board the Via Rail overnight service to Jasper. Our cabin wasn’t luxurious but it was perfectly decent and had more space than our similar journey in Thailand. The next carriage had an upper deck with an observation area (lots of window area in the sides and roof) so we spent a little time in there and eating the complimentary jammy dodgers before trying to get some sleep.

Day 11

I don’t quite know how, but I slept on a moving train. In Thailand I spent the whole time listening to music and failing to sleep but on this one I was out like a light. We got up super early for breakfast around 6.30am so that we could get some decent seats in the observation deck. The food was pretty good considering. Most of our carriage was filled with a Japanese tour group who were spending a week in the area. We got seated with a couple of them at lunch who were perhaps 10 years older than us. It’s a special kind of delight that they show when you surprise them with a bit of their own language and her eyes went so wide when I said the usual Japanese equivalent to bon appetite.

It was a pretty long day watching scenery roll by and occasionally chatting to the other passengers. Some of them were going all the way to Halifax in the East, all by train. We saw a couple of eagles but no particularly exciting mammals. We arrived a little late into Jasper but still picked up our hire car (a fun little Fiat 500) and we gingerly made our way to Patricia Lake to our cabin for the next few days. We came back into town to grab some fantastic pizza for dinner and finally found a restaurant that did good ice cream as well as panna cotta. We did get some first hand experience with mosquitoes back at the lake late at night and decided that for the rest of our stay we’d be in training to open and close the cabin door as quickly as possible to avoid letting them in.

Day 12

We got up early to head out of town towards Lake Malign. Our first stop was pretty close to Jasper and that was Malign Canyon and a series of bridges over the canyon with some really deep views! We were a little clueless as to the length of the trail but did the longer route anyway and were rewarded with some fabulous views, just at the cost of a lot of climbing back up the canyon to get back to the car.

Next up was a stop at Medicine lake. The viewpoint at the end of the lake was gorgeous and had mountains on all sides and a very clear lake. We stopped at a few viewpoints to enjoy the scenery and a few more just to get confused at where the hell we were meant to go to get to the view.

Finally we arrived at Malign Lake. Early tourists arrived here just over 100 years ago and first impressions showed why. It’s very picturesque. Only one road comes to this lake and it’s not just next to Jasper, all of which helps to keep the number of visitors reasonable. We grabbed some lunch and then did one of the fairly easy hikes before hopping on a lake cruise for an hour and a half. I spent most of the time on the back deck just enjoying the view and snapping photos. All around are mountains, some of which have chunks of glacier visible. Around halfway down the lake we all got off and had a little walk around near Spirit Island, a tiny little grove of trees that have significance to the original natives.

After the boat we did another relatively easy hike over to Moose lake. It wasn’t named for the moose but some did settle in nearby. We hoped to see some but it’s not all that common. Thankfully we got lucky and down the end of the lake was a seriously big moose just having a drink and slowly wandering by. I passed around my binoculars to the girls who arrived just behind us who were trying to look at it through zoomed in phone screens.

We headed back up the road into Jasper trying to watch for wildlife as it’s a hotspot for bears but we didn’t get lucky. We tried to book onto a wildlife watching tour for the following day but they were all full. I may have been slightly sad at the thought of missing out on the good wildlife! We grabbed a burger in town before crashing for the night.

Day 13

We had originally planned to go up the local gondola but we were a little gondola’d out at this point so we decided to do one of the hikes instead and go up near Mt Edith Cavell. A long, windy road took us up to the parking area and we could feel the altitude kicking in at around 7000ft. The walk was a little more serious than my guidebook had suggested and I was intent on getting up to the penultimate viewpoint via the easier trail but skipping the very top. Just before we got to the fork between difficult and easy we met a couple descending who told us that there was a bear up ahead near the trail. This definitely picked up my pace. The next couple told us that it was a grizzly and then I felt slightly differently. Still excited but a little more nervous. Reports were that it was seen from the hard trail rather than the easy one, so off we headed to hunt for it. We only saw perhaps 4 people in the next hour on the trail but sadly no bears.

We did at least get some fantastic views and then get to enjoy a relatively easy descent down the other route and see a marmot. From our best point we could see mountains, a glacier and then a waterfall from the glacier which was feeding into a glacial pond which had large chunks of ice floating on it. We descended and took a closer look at the pond before heading back to Jasper where we settled for some more of the pizza.

On a whim I got Claire to check the local tour company to see if they’d had any cancellations for their wildlife tour whilst I went shopping for more memory cards. It turned out that they’d had a lot of interest and put on another tour and Claire booked us onto it immediately. We had just enough time to get back to our cabin, get ready and then head back to town.

This is where things get a little ironic. On the way to our tour to go try and find a bear.. we saw our first bear. You know you’ve found wildlife when there are cars at the side of the road and havoc is ensuing. A black bear was feasting on some berries just inside the woods so we took a moment to watch and grab some photos before having to dash off to our tour.

The tour was really a 3 hour hunt along the highway and some local areas to find whatever was about. We found a lot of elk on the road to Miett but no bears, coyote or anything else. As we headed back into Jasper near the end of the tour we stopped near a few cars to try and see what they’d seen. We weren’t even sure there was anything as everyone else was leaving but eventually someone from the back of the bus spotted a bear right at the back of some trees and we pulled off the road to go up to the railway line and got a good view of it. He was eating some grain dropped by freight trains and eventually wandered off to the other side of the tracks.

Compared to most of the people on the wildlife tour it seemed that we’d seen a lot of animals so far in Jasper, but I guess we’d just been going to the best spots and doing plenty of walking. We grabbed a bit of light food for dinner and failed to have an early night. Tomorrow we have the scenic drive to Field ahead of us as we head towards the last part of the trip. The weather was a mix of overcast today and sunny (yesterday) in Jasper so we can’t complain. Looks like storms might hit us in Banff but hopefully they aren’t too bad.

Day 5

We had to be up early to hop on the ferry which would take us to Vancouver Island. It was a short taxi ride away from the hotel and then we were some of the first on-board so we got to pick some seats with a good view. The clipper didn’t have a large viewing deck so we relaxed with some snacks and watched the scenery float by. The view was nice but nothing to rival some of the epic scenery we’ve seen on previous trips. On the up-side, the old guy behind us did leave with the number of the woman he sat down next to.

We checked into our hotel and failed to notice that we’d been upgraded to a suite. We’d got cooking facilities and a bedroom and it was nice to have some space. We decided to head out pretty quickly to go grab some food so we walked around the very pretty waterfront area and went to a tapas place. It wasn’t a great sign when they had pizza and pasta on the menu but we hoped that the good reviews we’d seen would make it worth it. We were mostly wrong and it would seem that people in Victoria are clueless about tapas! It was certainly edible, some of it even tasty.. but I wouldn’t go much further than that.

We did a little shopping for chocolates and walking around the downtown area before crashing at the hotel. My lack of sleep had finally hit in full force. After a nap that lasted far too long we headed out to Fisherman’s Wharf to get some freshly caught fish and chips. The cod on offer was some of the best I’ve ever tasted and well worth the trip. We took a long but uneventful stroll out to Chinatown afterwards before crashing for the night.

My main issue with the day was the potatoes at the tapas place. They had “Papas bravas”, more usually called Patatas bravas or “brave potatoes” which is one of the most common tapas dishes around. They had it with a choice of spicy tomato sauce or just a plain garlic aioli though. One of those things is patatas bravas, and one of them is not. It’s like offering a turkey sandwich with the option of turkey or prawn. I did the only thing I could and ordered patatas aioli and confused the hell out of the poor woman.

Day 6

Another early start today ahead of a kayaking trip to discovery island, which lies a little way off the coast of Victoria to the East. We got picked up by a fun woman in an electric car and then taken out by Reuben and Jeanette with the kayaks. We were joined by an older couple and a dad with his 2 teenage kids. These kayaks were the height of luxury compared to the ones we had in Thailand. Rudders, waterproof space for bags and we were fully waterproof in the adjustable seats. Honestly though, it was a bit more of a faff and I kinda prefer the more simple approach. I guess we had a very calm day for this one but with more wind it would be nicer to be waterproof.

We spent several hours paddling about 12km around the island and some of the neighbouring one too. We saw a bald eagle, kingfishers, vultures and a variety of more common birds. We did a short hike to an abandoned lighthouse on the island too where we saw signs of a resident wolf. The weather was fantastic and we had a great time. Reuben was a great guide and he gave me some suggestions on how to spend our time in Vancouver too.

We headed out to beacon hill park in the late afternoon to check out some totem polls and stroll along the ocean front. The park felt a little too much like those at home to get terribly excited about trees and ducks, but it was nice all the same.

We went to a highly recommended Italian restaurant for dinner and found it decent but not amazing. I ended up just wishing I had cooked most of it myself. Today’s issue came with pronunciation. I hoped Canada would be different to the states. Parmesan is probably my most hated word in the states. “Parmajarn” is not a thing. I prayed that the waitress wouldn’t do it to me but she did. Someone needs to come and educate these places. Whilst they’re at it they can sort out the aluminum, yam, cilantro and eggplant but seriously just start with parmajarn.

Day 7

We’d booked onto a whale watching tour with the top rated company on trip advisor. We really wanted to go see a whale in the wild. We got down to the docks for not long after 8am and then had a drink in a local coffee shop whilst everyone arrived. We then got suited up in some massive jackets and waterproof trousers despite the expectation of a very hot day. Travelling on a small, triple-engine speedboat made us very glad for the layers though. We had around 15 of us on the boat and plenty of space and comfy seats.

After around 45 minutes of serious speed and heading west we slowed up and saw our first whale in the distance. Our fab guide told us that there were a bunch all around in various directions and that we’d be seeing quite a few and that prediction came true. We spent several hours checking out multiple whale pods and sailing alongside anything from 1 to 4 whales. The boats can’t get too close to the whales but sometimes we’d get ahead of the whales, turn the engine off and they’d head right past us (or under us) out of curiosity. Seeing all of these whales in their natural environment was one of the highlights of all the trips I’ve ever done. We learned a lot about them during the morning and we were spoiled for whales to look at.

We saw some sea-lions on the way back but didn’t manage to find the local humpbacks. After the whales we grabbed a huge plate of nachos in a decent mexican place near the hotel before getting our bags and heading to the bus terminal and hopping on the coach to Vancouver. Most of the journey was on a car ferry which wound its way through many islands and gave us some pretty decent views. We arrived late, grabbed some disappointing sushi (using brown rice!) in a well rated place near to the hotel and called it a night.

We really liked Victoria. Just one or two streets away from the sea and it was incredibly peaceful. There was grass and trees everywhere, lovely people and the air was super fresh. You could just enjoy being at somewhere like Fisherman’s Wharf with little, multi-coloured floating buildings and then watch the sea-planes take off and land. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see more of Vancouver island but I could see us coming back sometime.

Day 8

The hotel in Vancouver was the first place with a breakfast. They needn’t have bothered. Nobody should ever do that to an egg and call it an omelette. Nice big room though and the first of the trip which had a shower taller than me.

Today we took a free shuttle (an old school Vancouver Trolley) to the north shore and went to Capilano suspension bridge. This was a rather expensive but cool area above a deep gorge which had a cliff walk, suspension bridge and some tree-top walkways in the forest. It was a little busy but we got the impression that we were actually there at a good time of day. The suspension bridge wasn’t at all scary for me which was a surprise. That didn’t stop lots of other people being fairly terrified on it. A fun place to spend the morning but a little more touristy than we usually like.

Late morning we jumped on a bus from Capilano up to the base of Grouse Mountain. We took a gondola up the mountain and then got to ride a chair-lift even further up before finally going up inside a huge wind turbine which had a viewing platform to look out across the surrounding mountains and down over Vancouver. This was all really quite nice. They had a couple of bears there which we got to see and a few other activities that we watched before heading back down. It was really hot again but not quite so punishing up on the mountain.

The return shuttle dropped us off quite far from our hotel so we slowly walked back and did some sightseeing in Gas Town along the way. This is the “historic” old town of Vancouver but nothing here is old to us, just not quite as new. Quite pretty, but it mostly just felt like a collection of shops and bars. We booked into a Thai place for dinner that was a decent taxi ride from our hotel. It had great reviews and pretty much lived up to them. A very good yellow curry and we mostly went for the mango sticky rice. It didn’t live up to Thailand but it was nice, so I wasn’t too sad. It does make me appreciate the food back home though. Vancouver is known for being a foodie place here and it has a lot of Asian cuisine, but you really have to hunt to get anything as good as we’d expect in any decent restaurant in Bath. Maybe I eat at too many nice places thesedays.

We took a really nice walk back to our hotel via Granville Island and a water taxi and some nice Sunset views of Downtown.

Day 9

Another day, another gondola. On the advice of our kayak guide Reuben, we decided to go along the Sea to Sky highway up to Squamish and ride the new gondola up the mountain. We didn’t want to book a car for the day so we did a guided tour instead. For once the in-hotel tv channel showing tours came in handy! We got a few scenic stops at Horseshoe bay and then Shannon falls (3rd tallest waterfall in British Columbia) before getting to the gondola. This one was really steep and it had amazing views of the Howe Sound below, probably the first fjord that we’ve seen. Another suspension bridge at the top, though much smaller and then a panoramic trail and it was time for a quick burger before heading back down. The scenery here was fab and the mountain air was wonderful. This place reminded us quite a bit of Yosemite in terms of the vegetation and air.

We stopped off at the shut down Britannia copper mine on the way back to Vancouver. We wouldn’t really have gone there if it wasn’t part of the guided tour but we loved it. We got to go inside the mine shafts and learn about the conditions and equipment. The historic photos just had an incredibly British quality to them too.

We had a pretty light dinner of some very, very tasty baguettes from a small place not too far from the hotel (and some cake) before having a pretty lazy evening. One more day in Vancouver ahead and the weather is probably about the turn slightly sour on us.

I’ve often thought that Vancouver might be one of the best cities to live in and I wondered if I might like it more than others from previous trips. It’s pretty good, but it’s no Kyoto! It has pretty decent food, lots of trees, amazing mountain views and great air. Everywhere you look there is someone doing exercise. The only problem with all this is that it’s also full of homeless people. I knew that they get sent here from other cities because it’s the only major city in Canada where they won’t die during the winter, but I wasn’t quite prepared for just how many of them we’d see whilst walking around the city. It just feels like more could be done to help them and it’s kind of surprising that in such a successful city that they aren’t doing something to solve the situation. This is still one of my favourite cities though and I expect to end up back here sometime, maybe on the way back to Vancouver Island.

I decided before this trip that I would try and be pretty healthy so that I didn’t do too much damage that I’d have to sort out afterwards. Eating more of the famous coconut pie at 5am probably wasn’t the way to go. I did sleep though, at least some of the night.

We grabbed more breakfast muffins and headed over to the venue early to grab some good seats for the final day. Today we’d got a match to decide who would make it into the final to face CDEC and then the actual final itself. It ended up being a classic China (CDEC) vs USA (EG) final with a very high standard of Dota that lasted for several hours. The atmosphere in the venue was just incredible. Even though these weren’t the teams I support, I still loved the experience. EG won in the final and after it was over there was a short set by Deadmau5.  We then headed back to the hotel to grab burgers in the bar before sorting out our packing. We have to leave pretty early in the morning to get on the boat to Vancouver Island.

I grabbed a couple of photos during the day. The first with Ri and then one with Jorien (Sheever). I ended up stood with Sheever, chatting for a little while and taking photos for her fans with her. Once she was done I decided I’d get one of my own whilst she was looking a bit more casual, and where I could try and actually look into the camera. She was going to take the selfie but then over pops Erik Johnson of Valve who offers to the picture. Erik Johnson does multiple jobs at Valve, but one of them is being project manager for Dota 2. As such, he’s pretty important and it was nice to have him taking my photo for me :).

I’ve watched this tournament online for the last 4 years and the quality of the production this year blows all the others away. I’m delighted that this was the year we came and I don’t see how they’ll improve on it so much next year.