The Rockies are the easternmost of a series of mountain ranges through British Columbia. Although the journey took most of a day to reach them it was interesting scenery almost from the moment we left Vancouver. The real focus of the tour was the "Icefields Parkway", a 180 mile road along the spine of the Rockies linking the towns of Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise, where the pictures below were taken.
Columbia Icefield
 Athabasca Falls |
 Bow River, Banff |
 Lake Louise Chateau Hotel |
 Black Bear |
On the route we saw a black bear, mule and white tailed deer, several elk, long horned sheep with huge curled horns, ground squirrels, red squirrels, osprey and bald-headed eagles. The bears were just coming out of hibernation and we did not see any grizzlies, nor moose which are also found here. | |
 Hot Springs on Sulphur Mountain, Banff. |
 On the Columbia Icefield |
 Maligne Gorge |
Our return route to Vancouver took us through the Kicking Horse and Roger's Passes. One could only marvel at the ingenuity of the engineers who built the Canadian Pacific railroad through this high and tortuous route a hundred years ago. But the train had been frequently disrupted by avalanches which swept everything away, and is now mostly buried in tunnels for safety. Even the more recently built road has protection from avalanches (right). |
 Avalanche Tunnel, Roger's Pass |
At a third of the price of the famous Rocky Mountaineer train and with all the extra things we visited which cannot be reached directly by train, it was good value for money. Three nights in hotels with breakfast were included, along with plenty of information from the driver and guide. | |
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