Canadian Rockies

We're at a campsite tonight with no electricity and no internet service--Wabasso Campground in Jasper National Park--but I have my laptop connected to my cell phone (sporadic cell phone service) and running off the battery, so a quick update...not enough power or time for pictures, but a brief summary of the last couple days:

We thought Glacier and the Rockies in Montana were gorgeous, but . . . WOW!!! The Canadian Rockies are simply too spectacular for words. At one point yesterday, Ernie asked me how I'd describe them to someone, and I said words failed me . . . they just need to experience them for themselves. We drove from Pincher Creek up Hwy. 22 to Hwy. 40, the highest paved road in Canada, which we had been told was a scenic drive. Ernie deemed it the most beautiful drive he'd ever made in his entire life--and that's saying quite a lot, since he's driven thousands of miles over many years! I'll post pictures later when we have better internet service, but pictures just can't capture the beauty and magnificence of being surrounded by those awesome mountains. We pulled off for photo ops many times, including some wildlife along (and on) the road--Rocky Mountain sheep and elk--and hiked to Grizzly Creek, which a Canadian told us about at a pull-off. It was worth the trek! Highwood Pass, at about 7200 feet, was the highest point of the drive and worth every mile we drove to see it! We drove through Banff late yesterday afternoon/early evening, but it was getting late, cold, windy, and rainy, so we didn't stop to do any sightseeing. We spent the night last night in the Lake Louise Campground in Banff National Park.

This morning we drove to Lake Louise, but it was raining, sleeting, hailing, windy, and very cold--but even that didn't diminish the beauty! Then we continued driving up the Columbia Ice Fields Parkway toward Jasper, again stopping several times at various points. One of those was the Columbia Ice Fields, where we spent a little time in the visitor centre. We also had to stop several times for pictures of Bighorn sheep along the road. Much of the drive today was in snow, as well as wind and cold (42 was the coldest).

Our campsite tonight in Jasper National Park is a few feet from the Athabasca River, which we walked along after dinner tonight. Again, beautiful!! Speaking of dinner, tonight was our first attempt at cooking dinner over an open fire (of course, Ernie built another fire--where there's firewood, Ernie builds a fire). We had chicken and rice in mushroom soup sauce, baked beans, and toast all cooked on the fire--delicious! This morning we made toast on the fire.

I'm sure I've forgotten many details that impressed us immensely the last two days, but I'll add those with the pictures. Tomorrow we head northwest out of the national parks toward Prince George, British Columbia.