It was my first summer living in British Columbia. What are we going to fill up this wonderful season with? Without a doubt, the Canadian Rockies just had to be part of our summer. When Tom’s brother Erik and his girlfriend Aga planned for a visit, it wasn’t long until we decided to make it a trip with the four of us.
The Canadian Rockies span across the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. It’s a majestic mountain range, renowned for its pristine lakes, towering mountain peaks and glaciers, and overall rugged beauty. The area counts multiple national parks – for this trip, we travelled through Banff, Jasper, and Yoho. There’s such an abundance of hiking trails – it took some effort to make a selection of what to do and where to go! In any case, end of August we headed up to Calgary to pick E & A up at the airport. Here’s how we ended up filling our 9-day trip.
wine touring with sip happens
The drive up to Calgary is about 11 hours from Vancouver. I wasn’t too keen on doing that long distance all in one go, so it was the perfect excuse to stop halfway, which is in the Okanagan Valley! Known for its sunny and relatively dry climate, the area is filled with vineyards and gorgeous lakes with lots of activity on the water. I had been on a wine tour before with a visiting friend – now I was eager to repeat and share the experience with Tom.
This time would be a little bit different though, because for quite some time Kelowna was dealing with devastating wild fires. We were hesitant to go; people had lost their homes and/or were on evacuation orders, so they needed Airbnbs and hotels way more than anyone else. We asked our host up in Vernon how things were, and she reassured us that in that area things were okay and we were welcome.
The wine tour would cover another area though, so we weren’t too sure what to do. We figured we’d let it depend on the locals: if the wineries appreciate the business, we’re all for it, but if not, it’s all good. The organizer, Sip Happens, gave us a call to talk about it, checked in with some wineries, and decided to proceed with the tour. It was the first tour in a little while, and not all wineries were reopened yet, so they changed the Lake Country tour into an East Kelowna tour for us and two more people. There were still smoky skies, but at least we could see across the lake, which according to our guide was a huge improvement to just the day before.
reunited
The next morning, we continued our drive up to the province of Alberta. The drive was incredible; we already drove a bit through the rockies, so it was a little taster of what was to come! Once we reached Calgary, we checked into our Airbnb, freshened up, and went out to dinner. Our friends had recommended a Japanese restaurant ran by Darren MacLean, a top-rated Canadian chef that appeared in The Final Table on Netflix. It certainly was an incredible meal at Shokunin!
Meanwhile, E & A were getting closer to Calgary as well, so we made our way to the airport and picked them up. It was so nice seeing them again after 7 months! We were all pretty beat, so not too long after reaching our Airbnb again, we called it a night and rested up for the big trip.
The next morning we explored sunny Calgary and had brunch. Knowing what was in store, we were eager to get out of the city rather quickly, so off we went to our next stop: Cochrane. It was not a long drive yet, just about 30 minutes in the direction of the mountains. This first day was all about catching up, relaxing, and planning out further details for the trip. Our Airbnb had a big grill that we could use, so we collected some groceries and handed Tom the barbecue pincers. He’s the chef, so it was only fair!
into the rockies
The next day, it was time to head to Banff National Park. I had heard about Banff many, many years ago, way before I ever even imagined living in Canada. I’m not sure I even realized it was in Canada or that it was part of the Canadian Rockies when I first saw pictures of it and thought: I must go there once. Actually being headed there now was a weird realization. It was time for our very first hike in the rockies! We located the parking lot for Lake Louise, went up to the shuttle bus, and before we knew it, we laid eyes on that gorgeous lake.
It’s quite a touristy place, which we had been warned about, but the trick was to go on a longer hike. Sure enough, at some point after a couple of kilometers we took a left to follow our 12K trail up Mount Piran, and noticed everyone else was just going straight ahead on a shorter, more popular trail.
It was a warm day, so it was tough starting off with a hike with almost 1000 meters elevation gain. But man it was worth it! Gorgeous views over Lake Louise, and just so wild to think this was just the beginning.
On the way back, we still had some time to take the shuttle bus to Moraine Lake as well. I thought this lake was even more beautiful – it just has an incredible backdrop. Initially, we thought we’d have to choose between Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, so we were all so glad we got to do both on the same day thanks to the shuttle bus (and good timing finishing our hike).
emerald lake at yoho national park
Next up was a drive to Yoho National Park for a big bucket list item: Emerald Lake. Yoho is situated on the western slopes of the rockies. From all these incredible places we’ve see, I do think Emerald Lake was my favourite lake. It was a cloudy day, but that actually just made the views even more interesting. The hike we did was a loop around the lake but also had a out-and-back section to the glacier. Enjoyed this one so much!
traumatized by a wild animal
Apart from amazing photographs and memories, I got another special souvenir from that day. After our hike to the glacier, we decided to go on second hike to a waterfall that was on the way to our Airbnb. I was just minding my own business when I was suddenly attacked by a vile, evil, very dangerous animal.
A mosquito.
No no, don’t laugh now. It was a monstrous mosquito with serious super venom. It bit into me in two delicate places – my left hamstring and my right butt cheek. I distinctly remember feeling getting stung, slapping the back of my leg, and having blood on my finger. It kept feeling sensitive for a bit, and then I didn’t think about it again.
Until the next morning, when it itched so badly and I noticed the two spots had gotten terribly swollen. Especially the one on the butt cheek. Seriously, it was like my butt grew a butt. It was like it would only be a matter of time before it would start speaking and ask for food. So I called it my tamagotchi for the rest of the trip. (A good excuse to get extra snacks.)
I carried these huge marks not just for the rest of the trip. The swelling went away terribly slowly, and after that it was still dark for weeks.
Anyways, enough about my butt.
so many sights
The next day was more of a Banff drive day with several stops on the way to see some highlights of the area. It’s too much to mention it all, but a favourite was definitely the Peyto Lake Lookout. The weather again not super clear – a combination of cloudy and smoky from wild fires in the area, but still the colour of the water was gorgeous!
We did another hike that day and it ended with a sighting of a mother bear and two cubs. We first saw them from a distance as we were descending from the mountain and were on our way back to the car. Exhausted when we reached the car, I didn’t think the odds were great of still seeing those bears. The others went looking though, and yep, they saw them up close!
jasper national park
After seeing Banff and Yoho, it was time to go further north toward Jasper National Park. On the way, we stopped for a hike in the Valley of the Five Lakes, where the boys jumped into the emerald blue water and were dried up soon enough by the sun. Our two days in the Jasper area were filled with yet more such hikes, paddle boarding, and driving around in that mind blowing landscape.
sulphur skyline
For our last day in Jasper and the Canadian Rockies, of course we had to do one last epic hike! Recommended by our Dutch friends here in Vancouver, we went for the Sulphur Skyline Trail. It was a rough ascent to the top – once we got closer to the top it was so, so windy! There were a few people with small dogs and I just couldn’t help but visualize all those dogs flying up like kites.
The views up here, man… Mind blowing. Just peak after peak, endless mountain views. Similar to our experience in the Okanagan Valley, it was rather smoky, which gave the view such an interesting quality. I was just glad we could still see something – incredible to think that on a clearer day, you can see even farther in the distance.
Leaving the Rockies via Pemberton
After Jasper, we had two options: drive down back via the Okanagan and spend our last overnight stay there, or take the coastal route back to Vancouver with an Airbnb somewhere along that route. The wild fire smoke wasn’t looking too good in the Okanagan area, so we decided to head the other direction.
From Jasper, we went down to Valemount, Kamloops, and stopped in Pemberton. We knew an amazing farm in Pemberton that we wanted to show E & A. After a pit stop there with some ice cream, we continued down to Whistler (Creekside) for our last stay. We booked something last minute and it was just the perfect place! It had a pool, hot tubs, pool table, and – yes – a barbecue. So we collected some groceries again and Tom cooked us an incredible meal once again.
running into friends
The next morning marked our last day of our trip. We spent that day in Whistler: E & A went on a list hike while Tom and I took it easy and strolled through the village and picked a lake to go and see. Since we couldn’t see Lost Lake the last time we were here due to all the snow, we tried again now and succeeded. Oh, and fun bonus, when we were having a coffee in town, we ran into my work friend! Such a funny moment that also made me feel at home. You know, we were getting closer to Vancouver, and we ran into someone we know. It gave a sense of belonging to this place which I just really appreciated.
We waited for E & A to finish their hike. From there, it was time to get ready for the last stretch of our drive. It would just be another 2 hours south.
Back to Vancouver
The way back from Whistler was much more familiar territory for us, so it was nice showing our special guests what our own area looked like. We stopped at Porteau Cove just to look out over the ocean for a bit. Seeing Vancouver appear in the distance soon after was such a nice moment – as much as I loved the trip, going back home is always such a pleasure. Though it’s different from the rockies, we’re still surrounded by so many gorgeous mountains here, too. And this is where we live. WE LIVE HERE! WHOO!
The next part of their visit would start here – exploring Vancouver and getting a sense of what our life is like here – and why we love it so much. But I guess the first part, having all that majestic nature relatively close by… Probably already explained everything to them.
1 Comment
This was a good read, loved the pictures so much specially the Peyto and Lost lake ones. Although my favourites are when you talked about the GIANT Mosquito 🦟 😂 and the part where you run into your friends 😜❤️
Thanks for sharing your experience in the Rockies Indira, happy to know that Vancouver feels like home already.