JOIN USWelcome aboard, ‘Namaste’ sang the pilot of the boat on Lake Minnewanka in the Banff National Park. He continued, “You can hike, take walking trails, do some fishing, riding, diving, wildlife spotting, river rafting, skiing, mountain and ice climbing, boating, zipping, camping, cycling, canoeing or just sit back and stare at the mountains.”
The previous day, our self-drive team of four women started from Calgary on a seven-day tour of the Canadian Rockies. Of the total 39 landscapes and natural phenomena in Canada, we could cover only two national parks, the Banff and the Jasper.
We arrived at Banff in about two hours from Calgary airport. It started snowing and soon the conifers were covered with a fine layer of white dust sparkling in the rays of a sun which refused to set even after 10 pm. It looked like one big Christmas card.
From our cosy room, at the Banff Lodge, we could see the snow-clad peaks. We took the Gondola ride from Bow Valley to the highest peak, checked out the Sulphur springs and visited a couple of waterfalls, and of course a boat ride on Lake Minnewanka. Our wildlife spotting included the elk, the moose, the black bear and mountain goats and eagles. On the third day, we headed to Lake Louise. The Fairmont Hotel, where we stayed, faces a sparkling lake surrounded by a cluster of mountains with some waterfalls cascading or trickling down into the frozen but now thinning ices. We were told that the houses of the early settlers have been preserved as a Tea House, but we did not dare take the two-hour climb, instead we just sat at the cosy restaurant overlooking the lake sipping tea and spiked hot chocolate and coffee. The ubiquitous butter chicken on a bed of rice, served with hot dinner rolls, and vegetables on the side was available throughout the trip.
The coach drivers, the hotel staff, the boat man, the sales staff at the little shops are great story tellers. It is humbling to hear the stories. For example, the sales girl narrated how her Korean grandmother came down with her daughter and settled in Banff, vowing to never go back again.
Perched between Banff and Jasper National Parks are the Columbian ice fields. A scenic drive after Lake Louise took us to the Snow Coach station of the Athabasca Glacier.
We boarded the snow mobiles with glass roof, for a glacier walk. We also did the sky walk overlooking the gorge where the river Sunwapta originating from the Athabasca Glacier, begins its long journey towards the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Ocean down into the USA. We stopped at Jasper Lodge for two nights. The property boasts of having one of the highest golf-course in the world. We drove around whistler’s pass with its bridal veil waterfall, stopped near the lake Maligne, with the famous rock on which Marilyn Monroe is said to have sat on.
Most national parks in Canada are declared world heritage sites including the train stations. We dropped our car and boarded the Rocky mountaineer at the Jasper station for the last leg of our journey to Vancouver. The train meanders through the forests and mountains, slides past the lakes and we get to see the lovely sunset at 10 pm from the glass roofed watch tower.
I’d like to conclude with a spiritual touch: I saw no church or temple there, but any which way I looked, I wanted to kneel down and worship the creator.
How to get there
I reached Calgary via Frankfurt on Lufthansa. There are shuttles available from the Calgary airport to Banff, the first small town of the Rockies, but we hired the Avis rental car from the
Calgary airport. We stayed at the Delta Banff Royal Canadian Lodge — a heritage hotel in Banff. At Lake Louise, our accommodation was at Fairmont Chasteau Lake Louis and at Jasper, we stayed at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
(The author can be reached at ashaullagaddi@gmail.com)