The Rocky Mountains

After driving west for 63 hours, we reached the Rocky Mountains! It was a very welcome sight to see the mountains rising before us. After spending a few days camping next to a beautiful river, we continued exploring the famous national parks of the Rocky Mountains. Read all about our experiences of the past two weeks in this update!

What's in this update

• Banff, Jasper & Yoho; what's it like?
• One of our best camp spots
• An ancient forest with 1000 year old trees
• What's next?

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Banff, Jasper & Yoho; what's it like?

As the most visited parks in Canada, we knew that visiting Banff and Jasper would be a touristy experience. However, we were surprised by how restricted we felt. Although there are many hiking trails, the 'famous spots' of the park were virtually impossible to reach due to the crowds.

Don't get us wrong, the parks themselves are incredibly beautiful with great hiking and breathtaking views. But when it comes to wildlife, it's a challenge. We saw a grizzly with 2 cubs and a black bear on the side of the road in Jasper. However, our sighting was very short lived as we were told by one of the many rangers that we had to leave due to the 'traffic jam' that resulted from it. No one was allowed to stay.

Our first grizzly

We're sure they had good reasons for it, but it made us feel quite limited in our movements and opportunities to photograph animals. Especially considering the road in Banff is actually the Trans-Canada highway where you share the road with many large trucks with almost no possibility to stop. There is a side road, but surprisingly it was closed due to the presence of bears.

So we didn't photograph any wildlife in the Rocky Mountains? Of course we did! But apart from the mountain goats, we mainly photographed outside the boundaries of the national park. We quickly realized that in these places nature is still breathtaking and you can completely relax in the mostly untouched nature. Just the way we like it!

 

Mountain goats!

Searching for wildlife along the hiking trails

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One of our best camp spots so far

We've camped in many unique locations with incredible views, but we both agree that this place deserves a place in the top 3 most beautiful of them all.

The road there was a rather bumpy 4x4 track with deep ruts, which at times meant that our car only had three wheels on the ground and one in the air. But 15 minutes and 1 km later we were greeted by one of the most incredible views we've had in a long time (see the photo below to judge for yourself; can you spot our car?).

We were surrounded by bald eagles, howling coyotes at night, lots of deer and elk crossing the river at times and complete solitude. We are so glad these places still exist.

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An ancient forest with 1000 year old trees

This one was a surprise to us. As we left the Rocky Mountains behind us and drove north, we saw a sign next to the road that read: Ancient Forest provincial park. We decided to explore the park and walk the 2km loop.

The ancient forest

The moment we turned the corner, we were greeted by giant red cedars estimated to be between 1000 and 1500 years old. For some unknown reason, this forest had not been cut down in the early 20th century, preserving these beautiful trees and their ecology. We ventured through the forest and wondered if this is what Canada should have looked like without forestry. While the woods surrounding the park had been silent and rather monotonous, the ancient forest felt alive. We saw several species of woodpeckers, many smaller birds and warning signs of cougars and black and grizzly bears that were often found in the area roosting in the trees.

Several species of lichen grow on the ancient tree bark

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What's next?

After visiting the busy national parks we feel the urge to go deep into the Canadian forests and look for wildlife. We found an old forest road, which takes us 50 km from the nearest paved road to a large river. The area is surrounded by national reserves, so hopefully this means an area with a large wildlife presence!

Until next time!