Banff/Jasper: Animals, Mts, and Ice

Our first bear pictures from the front....meaning the rest of them were of his rear! This black bear was enjoying his lunch amidst the flowers, but keeping a wary eye on us(safe in the car) at the same time. We were actually much further away than it looks. I took 23 pics just to get these 3.....just wouldn't cooperate.

Crowfoot Glacier.....over the years it has "lost" it's bottom claw.

This is the claw of the Crowfoot glacier close up.....a good look at the structure of the ice.....years and years of layers upon layers.

The gem of Banff.....Glacier-fed Peyto Lake. That blue color is for real!

Fragile delicate tundra.....near the tree line on the mountain.

The "big one" in Jasper, Athabasca Glacier. This huge glacier is overwhelming. You can climb up to it but it is a hike. It is rapidly receding, as most of them are. Ck out the close up. Ten years ago when we were here the glacier edge was at the parking lot!

Multiple falls.....conveniently right along the road!

Check out these agile baby and Momma goats.....having fun!

(More later......Signing off for today)

Some Photos from the Canadian Rockies

This is beautiful Moraine Lake in Banff...a picture of this lake used to be on the back of the Canadian $20. bill.

Success!! Some photos posted for you....thank you for still hanging around. We are a week behind in news and photos, so will send some along today from the Canadian Rockies...Banff and Jasper NP in Alberta CA. We are actually in Juneau for about 5 days and making good use of the cafe in the Safeway.

We were lucky to see this large group of Bighorn sheep along the road....and they didn't seem to mind our staring at them.

(This will be continued Thursday, 7/30....)

Hang in there with us!!!

Our campsite in Banff...located on a beaver pond with a great background.

Since I last wrote, we continue to have problems putting photos on the blog.... Wifi service is slow in the campgrounds. It is taking too long so will not be able to download pics until we resolve this problem. When we get to a larger town this weekend we hope to resolve this problem. Hang in there with us.... I have a lot of good ones for you!!!

Yesterday, Sunday, we finally reached the beginning of the Alaska Highway in the town of Dawson Creek, BC. It's in the NE corner of British Columbia. The AK Highway is roughly 1500 miles long and was built in 9 months in 1942 to secure our country during WWII. Today we reached the northern most reaches of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. They are just as beautiful as those in Banff and Jasper. We saw lots of animals and took many pictures....moose, mt.goats, and caribou and some we can't even identify!!! We continue to appreciate the beauty this country and are having a wonderful time. Signing off for now.......

Banff and Jasper Nat'l Parks

Hi to all.....it's been a busy few days and no internet service. We continued our trip across the prairie land of central Canada, around the city of Calgary where unknown to us the annual Stampede week was in full progress. NO campgrounds available within 50 miles!! So it was onward to Banff and Jasper National Parks. So much beauty.....it was difficult to stop taking pictures!! These two parks have some of the most beautiful and unique scenery we have ever seen. After such a long drive it was a treat to just enjoy!!

(I have to postpone posting my photos from Banff and Jasper. The internet at this cpgd is too slow and will try again ASAP. Until then......)

"O Canada" !!

We crossed the border Tuesday into CA....customs asked for our ID and that was it. Our first hurdle. The landscape was interesting....fields of yellow flowering plants which we found to be Canola...as in Canola oil! The weather was very hot crossing the US....a cold front moved in as we traveled westward on the TransCan Hwy. The temp dropped 30 degrees.....lots of rain and wind. Jeans and sweatshirt weather. The other photo is a grain elevator...common along the highway.

We've traveled 2500 miles in 4-1/2 days and will go into Banff /Jasper NP tomorrow on our way to the province of British Columbia. Looking forward to some beautiful mountain scenery. All for now.

Alaska, here we come....

Just to let you all know that we are finally ready to head out.....needed another day to get ready. The camper is overflowing with food and drink....as if there aren't any grocery stores out there. The heat and humidity here have been unusually high while the temps in Anchorage and the coastal area of Alaska are hovering around the 50's. Quite a difference. It was difficult to pack sweatshirts and raingear while sweating it out here.

I've incl a map of our trip for you to follow. Hope you can read it. It looks like a VERY long journey doesn't it? Come along.......

PS To enlarge dbl click photos or images.