It’s officially official. We are homeless and finally in the roam zone. Phew. It feels good. And weird. Our first “international” stop: Canada. Or what I like to think of as my long-lost cousin that sounds a lot like I doooo.

You know how you hear things about certain places, people build them up to you to be SO great that when you actually get there you are left…SO disappointed. Well the exact opposite is true for Jasper & Banff National Parks up in the Canadian Rockies. It is more than just eh-ok. In fact, I wanted to punch myself in the face for constantly saying…

Flying into Calgary and picking up a rental car, we spent one week exploring the two bordering national parks (separate Banff blog post comin’ up) and now I’m convinced I want to move to a mountain town, become a park ranger and just chill. And if Trump becomes president, that place will be up in Canada.

Being from Minnesota, I’m used to freakishly nice people. But Canada takes the cake. Everyone, and I mean everyone (minus the bitchy mama elk), was so nice. Even the custom officers at the airport were nice. I thought it was a job requirement to be surly?

The first night of our trip, we stayed in a hotel (our first and only during our stay) in Banff since it is much closer to Calgary. Getting into Banff around 9 pm, the sun still brightly shining, we were told they lost our reservation. But, good news. They upgraded us to the River Suite, aka a room far bigger than our Bay Area apartment. So. Much. Room. And much appreciated since we were about to do 6 nights of camping in our cozy 2-person REI tent.

We got on the road the next morning after chatting with park rangers at the information center about bear spray, camping, etc. The great thing about Banff and Jasper is that it’s pretty hard to get lost since there’s one road, the Icefields Parkway, that connects them. All the attractions and jaw-dropping viewpoints are off this parkway, so even if you feel super lazy, you still can soak up all the mountain porn with minimal effort. Just pull over and pull out…your camera, for the money shot:

And wouldn’t you know it, right off the parkway we spotted our first bear of the trip. It should be noted if you see any cars pulled over in Jasper or Banff, they are 100% looking at wildlife. Most stay in their car because for fuck’s sake, it’s wildlife. But if they are far enough away, the paparazzi comes out like they just spotted Justin Timberlake.

Like most national parks, it’s very VERY wise to reserve your campsite if you can. We were in the beginning of the tourist season, but still made a point to reserve when we could. Our first night of camping though, we had nothing booked, but knew we wanted to break up the drive from Banff to Jasper. We found a super chill, self-register campground called Icefields and for only $11 a night, scored a prime riverside spot. If you ever venture up there, and I recommend you do, hit up this campground and do the walk-in sites (I promise, it’s not far) and snatch up site #5.

Now about the weather. Being up in the mountains, the weather is quite unpredictable. It can be sunny one minute and snowy the next. No joke. And being so early in the season, it gets quite chilly at night. We’re talking 30 degrees. Lucky for us, our gear stood up to the challenge, yet again. Because when we woke up the next morning, our tent had snow on it. Yep, snow. 

With slightly freezing fingers, we packed up our tent and got in the warm car and on the road to Jasper. But not without stopping along the way numerous times for glaciers, waterfalls, and potty breaks. Not even a five minute drive from Icefield Campground is Athabasca Glacier. And big surprise, it’s shrinking. We walked to the toe of the glacier and found lots of welcoming signs about children falling into crevices and dying. Scared straight. We stayed on the trails. Happy, mom?

The glacier also has a waterfall twin by the same name. Awkward. And in the hopes of making TLC proud, I didn’t go chasing the waterfall because the water was rushing pretty fast, so I just stuck to the rivers and the lakes that I’m used to.

And finally, we arrived to Jasper. We booked three nights at Whistlers Campground right outside of town. It’s a massive campground (700+ sites) but because it was so early in the season, it was pretty quiet in the tent-only areas. Except for the mama elk that love to frequent it, like this one I bumped into on my way to get water. They are massive, horse-sized creatures, don’t let the picture fool you.

Those bitches be aggressive. I should have taken a hint when we checked in and the lady says “be careful, the elk have been chasing after people.”  So apparently it’s calf season and the mamas are super territorial. I get it. I mean, I don’t have a child, but I get the whole protect-your-young ‘tude.

When we first pulled into Whistlers I spotted mama elk and her calf. Quietly lingering in the forest. I thought ‘nbd’ how bad can it really get? Well, the following night we decided to go for a walk around 9:30 since  it stays light until like 10:30. On our way back, we ran into three elk, along with two rangers that told us to stop and slowly walk back to where we came from. Interesting. The elk moved out of the way, so the rangers told us to continue.

We got to the path that leads to our tent and were greeted by a group of guys that said “is that your tent?” Uh, oh. They informed us the elk went to town on our tent. Apparently she was stomping and kicking it, pulled all the stakes out of the ground. Awesome. They told us they tried to straighten it up a bit and re-stake it. So neighborly. Another camper came up to us and said they thought we were inside tent so they were screaming at the elk to drive it away. Well, it’s good to know we have nice campers next to us…and that we have a strong-ass tent. High five, REI.

 

The next day seemed a bit dreary and drizzly. So we decided to hit up one of the three big hot springs in Banff & Jasper. Miette Hot Springs is nestled up in the mountains and is super cheap. If you bring your own towel, which we did, you can enter Miette for like $3…and stay as long as you like.

Post hot spring action, we made our dazed way to the Jasper Tramway. I’m a sucker for trams (and rotating restaurants, but more on that later). This tram means business. It takes you the the top of Whistlers Mountain where there’s still snow on the peak.

It also offers amazing views of Jasper and the surrounding lakes and mountains. You feel on top of the world…and a bit cold and winded due to the altitude.

Our last full day in Jasper and wouldn’t you know, the sun came out. Whee! The big thing I really wanted to do in Jasper was the Maligne Lake cruise to Spirit Island. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of Spirit Island (it’s even a pre-loaded screensaver on some computers), but maybe had zero clue where it was. Well, it’s in Canada, baby. The cruise was 90 minutes and filled with facts about bears and weather that I’ll soon forget just like my days of college. Thanks for nothing, ASU.

 

On the drive down from Maligne Lake, we stopped in at Maligne Canyon. Naming conventions in Jasper seem to be a real challenge. We did the short walk to the four bridges within the canyon. It was sorta like a stairmaster from hell, but definitely worth the panting. Plus, then afterwards, you get to reward yourself with a tasty beer (or wine) and a massive plate of nachos, right?

 

Our last day in Jasper, we decided to take a hike. Literally. We found a trail pretty close to our campground called Valley of Five Lakes. It said it was a little under 6km (ugh, metric), which I think was wrong because it seemed way longer, but regardless a beautiful hike between 5 glacial lakes of insanely blue and green colors that even an iPhone camera can’t capture. Gasp.

And it wouldn’t be Jasper without one more elk encounter. The morning of our departure, our tent started shaking around 6:30. A massive shadow overtook the tent and then…licking and some slight kicking. The elk was licking the moisture off our tent and, in the excitement of it all, was kicking our tent. After yelling at it to get the F off our tent, Craig backhanded it. In the face. That’s right, Craig hit a female. But she totally had it coming.

Next up? Banff. Or that time we almost biked into a black bear AND a grizzly.