On our journey we decided to stop off in Banff for a stretch of our legs before continuing to Jasper.
As always there are many Ground Squirrels running around the area.
We continued our drive to Jasper, up the stunning Icefields Parkway.
We drove through a few snow-storms, but once we reached Jasper, it was quite a pleasant day. This was the view from our accommodation.
Our accommodation was just outside Hinton (about 40 mins outside of Jasper). On our regular drive into the town, we passed this mountain goat high up on the side of the mountain.
We also saw plenty of Elk on our trip.
On our first day we decided to have a walk around Pyramid Lake - a wonderful setting.
Unfortunately we took a wrong turn and ended up way off the beaten track. It began to get quite scary, especially when we could see all the bear scratches on the trees!
Thankfully though, the biggest thing we saw was this Loon!!
Later on that evening, we went to the beautiful Beauvert Lake, definitely one of the most peaceful and picturesque places we have ever seen.
It was starting to go dark and on our drive back, we saw this deer in the water. It looked so light and agile as it ran back to the shore.
On our second day we started with a little bit of shopping in Jasper High Street. After a bit of retail therapy, we decided to take a trip to Athabasca Falls. On the way, we passed a herd of Big Horn Sheep.
The Athabasca Falls were still frozen in places, and the water level was very low, but it was still very impressive. It was also a great time of year to visit as we almost had the place to ourselves.
We then made our way down to Sunwapta Falls, which was just as amazing.
We think the highlight of our holiday was having an early dinner and heading back towards Hinton to the recently developed "Beaver Boardwalk". We aren't entirely convinced that a boardwalk made of wood is sensible when there are many active Beavers in the area, but for the moment it seemed sturdy enough! We were so lucky to see our national animal of Canada in the wild. It truly was fantastic to see.
On the drive back from Beaver Boardwalk, we spotted something on the side of the road. We were lucky enough to see our first Moose. It was very dark so the photos are terrible, but we were still incredibly pleased to have seen it.
It was another lovely visit to the Rockies, and again we pinch ourselves to have such an amazing place within driving distance.
J&E
