Banff & Jasper National Parks

Hey everyone! We're writing you from Fairbanks, Alaska. We finally made it today! (after a 4 day drive) So, here's our overdue pictures from the good ole Canadian national parks...

Nell got really good with the camera and got some excellent shots

The views were incredible, but the problem is that we got there on a day it was in the high 30s with a snow/rain mix...

Nell made a friend. He smiles when she asks him to.

This is one of the lakes there in Banff.

A Grey Wolf. Apparently they're a rare sight, but we got to see one (I accidentally went down the wrong road for about 14 miles round trip. No one else was on the road but us.) By the way, these guys howling at night.... eerie and loud.

We took a hike to some falls through Johnston Canyon. The trees were pretty cool.

Nell made another buddy. A Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel.

A tunnel that the waterfall and river had eroded out about 8,000 years earlier.

I'm telling ya, she's getting good.

We noticed the moss on the trees as we hiked. It should tell you how moist and damp it is.

The Castle Bluffs.

Caribou. Apparently, these guys are at risk in Banff. I don't think they know that. They were grazing on the side of the road.

The famous Lake Louise. The water was unbelievably clear and greenish blue.

A glacier you can see from Lake Louise. We learned that a glacier is a huge mass of ice, around 80 ft think (which most people know) and that it moves or has moved (which we didn't know).

From inside the chateau on Lake Louise

Look at that water!


On the way to Lake Louise, we ran into 3 grizzly bears on the side of the road. We were about 50 or 60 yards away. But they were gentle...




...and hungry.


Lake Morraine.
From the tops of some rocks.

On the way to Jasper National Park, we saw a black bear cub on the side of the road. I braved up and got within 15 feet of him in attempt to get some good pictures. I didn't get many, but it was a fun experience. (Note: I didn't realize it was a cub till I got back in the car and Nell told me. I then realized that if there's a cub, then there's a mom nearby. That could be bad.)

Again on the drive to Jasper... the best falls we've seen yet. You can't really tell from the picture but there are many tiers to these falls.

Leaving Jasper, we saw these two guys...

...playing... fighting...
...challenging one another.

We watched them for a while. One would pick a fight, then a few minutes later, one would run up a tree, then come back down and start at it again. This was the most entertaining of all the wildlife we've seen.



The day we left, we saw this... Our first sign to Alaska.

And we were on our way to the Great North.