Exploring Banff and Jasper

After my night uploading blog stuff in the hotel, I got up, checked out, and went to see the sights of Banff and Jasper National Parks. Banff is a small town in Banff National Park, and here is another great Canadian sign I found.

The parks are SPECTACULAR! And very large, it took me just about the entire day to drive through them.

I got to stop very often and check out some of the falls.

    

Banff is one of the few places that builds wildlife crossings.

These overpasses are not for cars, they will be covered with plants and trees, and scientists will document how many animals use them to cross the highway. Seems crazy to me, but apparently it works.

I don’t know what kind of animal this is, but they were everywhere. I was bigger than a horse, but had similar features to a deer, more similar than I thought an elk or caribou would have, but it’s got to be one of those.

Glacier National Park, take note: THIS is a real glacier.

My boots suck. They are letting rain in big time. My toes are swimming. But it’s ok, because they are numb.

I was not able to get to the campsite I wanted to stay in because some jerk had the audacity to cause a 4 car pile-up and close the road down. So I had to stay in Tent City. It wasn’t that bad, the staff even put on a skit at the outdoor theater about the history of Jasper. Here, I’ll paraphrase for you: Fur trappers came here to trap, they married into the native people, some soldiers marched through, and some explorers came and drew pictures of mountains and trees.

Trip Odometer

Odometer reading: 8,965

Elapsed miles: 5,774

Fast Facts

Wal-Mart merchandise is hit or miss.

Many of these pics were created by using the Panoramic tool in Windows Live Photo Gallery, highly recommended.