September 2011
Best of Canadian Rockies
We had a trip to Ireland planned at the end of the summer of 2011. But on the weekend we were supposed to fly to Dublin, Hurricane Irene completely shut down the east coast. Of course, we were flying through Newark on our way to Dublin, and our flight was cancelled. The volume of calls to Continental was so high that for three days I couldn't even get through - all I could get was a recorded message that said: "Due to the high volume of calls at this time, we can not take your call". When I finally did get through, the Continental operator said that earliest flight I could get to Dublin would be another 3 days of delay. Who wants to miss a whole week of vacation? Since Continental offered a full refund, we accepted that and will try to get to Ireland next year. Meanwhile, we looked around for a vacation that we could do close to home (Seattle).First I tried Glacier National Park, but it was impossible to get reservations just before Labor Day weekend. Same thing with Vancouver Island - there was no place to stay. I investigated flights to Alaska, but on such short notice the flights were quite expensive. I looked into the Canadian Rockies, and fortunately I was able to find a few places to stay. We had visited to the Canadian Rockies in 2006, but there is so much to see in those parks that this trip had little overlap with the hikes we did 5 years ago - only Johnston Canyon and Maligne Canyon were hikes we did twice. The weather was fantastic every day. Sunny and warm but not hot. We heard that the previous week and been much cooler, and indeed, their entire summer had been disappointingly overcast and wet. So we were fortunate to have perfect conditions. It was a great trip!
Here is a map of the Canadian Rockies National Parks. The combined area of these parks is equal to half the size of Switzerland, so it is a large area of
spectacular wilderness.
I kept track of our expenses on this trip. The Canadian dollar is almost equal in dollar value to the American dollar at this time.
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Single click on any thumbnail to open photo in new window. (You don't need to close the previous photo to click a new thumbnail.) Place your cursor over any thumbnail to see the picture title. Kootenay National Park![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Banff: Sunshine Meadows & Healy Pass![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Banff: Sulphur Mountain![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Banff: Johnston Canyon![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Banff: Lake Louise![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Banff: Mount Fairview![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Yoho: O'Hara Lakes![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jasper: Mount Edith Cavell![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jasper: Mountain Biking![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jasper: Five Lakes![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jasper: The Whistler's![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Jasper: Maligne Canyon![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Mount Robson![]() ![]() ![]() |