Day 11 – Banff to Jasper

Well last night we didn’t end up going on our canoe trip… Kerrina was feeling a little under the weather.

But this morning Banff was under the weather… in fact we woke up to SNOW

We walked down the block under the falling snow flakes to a diner for breakfast… then we hoped on the bus for our journey to Jasper.

Along the way we stopped off at two of the main tourist attractions in between the two towns – Lake Louise, and the Columbia Ice Field.

Lake Louise looked beautiful, but not like in the postcards.  Fog and falling snow gave her a whole new look which was unexpected but great none the less.

After braving the cold, both of us headed inside the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise for what has to be the best hot chocolate on the planet!

Next we were on the bus again, heading towards the Columbia Ice Field – and in particular the Athabasca Glacier.  On the highway the bus slowed down due to some traffic up ahead – turned out there was a Black Bear on the side of the road.

Once at the Ice Field we hopped on board one of the custom built Ice Explorers which took us up onto the glacier.  We had seen glaciers before in New Zealand, but this was the first time we got to stand on one which was pretty cool (get it… cool!)

We then crept closer to Jasper… with one more stop along the way – a rafting trip down the Athabasca River.  Even though the brochure said we wouldn’t get wet, somehow everyone on the boat did… and the water was freezing cold – straight off the glacier.  But the landscapes were amazing.

About 2 hours later we were off the rafts and back on the bus for the final few minutes into Jasper.  To cap off a beautiful day before we arrived at the hotel we saw a group of Elk crossing the road.