The Rockies! (13-16 October)

After spending the past week hearing all about this trip from the group that went over Thanksgiving, we definitely had high expectations. We weren’t disappointed – Rino and our various drivers were excellent and I still find it hard to believe we managed to fit so much into such a short timeframe. Insane!

Friday
Aside from being Friday 13 and ridiculously early in the morning, the start of the trip bode well. We all arrived downtown on time and quickly settled into being the ‘back seat rebels’. There were 10 UBCers in total: Hanneke, Kerensa, Daniel, Chris, Claire, Amanda, Jack, Lem, Kate and myself. In hindsight I don’t think I could have picked a better group to go travelling with – we all just connected. This turned out to be particularly important given the enormous amount of time we’d be spending on the bus and together, in one form or another.

Today was mostly spent on the aforementioned bus, travelling from Vancouver to Hope. The highlight was possibly the coffee at a small café in Hope (!) and the Spahats Falls, which were very impressive – and they were apparently smaller than usual! The route from Van to Hope traverses the Coquihalla Highway – one of the most famous in Western Canada, and home to the animal crossing program. Basically, in addition to building road overpasses, the government has constructed forest ‘connectors’ from one side of the highway to the other, at traditional animal crossings. These allow the deer, moose etc. to cross safely at any time without fear of cars (and vice-versa). Awesome idea, eh? Gotta love that Canadian ingenuity.

We spent the night in Valemount at a dodgy hotel with one redeeming feature. The water slide! It was amazing how one small thing like that could unite the group, but it did throughout the trip. Last weeks’ group apparently spent a fair amount of time at various bars, and we similarly spent an equal amount of time at the hotel pools. Each to their own, I guess!

Around the pool we met Perla, Rens, Corinne, Danny (our roommate) and Pedro. Most, in fact all others on the trip I think, were language students from South America or Europe. We were pretty much the only native English speakers, which was an interesting position to be in, but one that I love. Good times!

Saturday
After a very early start for sunrise, we progressed to visit Mt Robson, Jasper, Maligne Canyon, Athabasca Falls, the Columbia Icefields and Bow Lake.

The Rockies are quite difficult to explain to those who haven’t been there. They are as beautiful as people make them out to be, and the scenery is epic and jaw-dropping. Seeing all these places that people had long spoken of, both in Vancouver and around the world, was amazing, and I repeatedly had to pinch myself that I was actually there.

Jasper is one of the main towns in the Canadian Rockies, but was clearly closing up shop for the winter when we arrived. Apparently the last main weekend of the year is Thanksgiving – the week before we left – which meant some shops had already closed, and the others were all holding end-of-season sales. Had we had more time and money, this would have been fantastic, but as it stood it just made the time we spent there feel partly wasted. It was almost as if Jasper becomes a ghost town off-season, or at least until the ski season picks up pace in November-December.

The Canyon and Falls were both very impressive, and the photos only partly do them justice. Again, they are places you just have to visit for yourself. The Columbia Icefields were a bit of a let down, especially after all we had heard about them. The actual time spent on the ice is limited and you aren’t permitted to walk all around the glacier, so you are left with walking over slippery, compacted, dirty ice. Definitely a fun experience, and one that produced some of my favourite photos of the entire trip so far, but I have the feeling it could have been so much better.

Once again, our evening was spent by the pool, but this time with a FAR better slide (3 storeys) and a much nicer hotel. This is really not backpacking!

Sunday
Today was the day of the lakes, visiting Minnewanka (that name still makes me smile), Louise and Emerald, as well as Banff. If anything encapsulates the Rockies in one go, it’s Lake Louise. Reportedly one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, it did not disappoint. The lake, owing I believe to the minerals within, is a light blue colour and looks amazing reflecting off the surrounding mountains and snow. Yes – it’s that lake from all the postcards! All other lakes pale in comparison once you’ve seen this one, so I was partly glad we left it till near the end of the trip.

After our visit to Lake Louise, Claire, Amanda and Lem misread the time we were meant to be back and as such had to sing for the entire bus. Luckily many of us have it on video, so it’s recorded for eternity. Suffice to say, Koom Bi Ah will never mean the same again!

Banff was a great town, and one that I would have liked to have spent more time in, exploring the various sidestreets. It’s clearly designed for the influx of tourists visiting the Rockies, and so a lot of shops sell ski-gear, souvenirs and food, but that suited us perfectly, so I was prepared to ignore how annoying it must be for the locals for the sake of convenience! Plus Kate and I were able to have a proper conversation about life, the universe and budgeting which was great. I haven’t spent nearly enough time with some people yet, so it was good to have some time to do that here.

Monday
After a bloody long weekend, it was time to start making our way home. We were SO tired that most of us slept for the majority of the day, waking only to watch part of Legally Blonde II, study for our various midterms or eat. Oh, and to see Revelstoke – the historic town near Vancouver where the two ends of the Great Pacific Railroad met. Bit one-sided if you ask me! Shouldn’t it be near Manitoba or somewhere?? Apparently that has something to do with the mountains out west, but I think it’s just laziness!

So there you have it … after four days of non-stop action, we had reached the end of our Rockies adventure. I’m sorry this blog post might not seem to do it justice – really it’s one of those places where you NEED photos, so please check them out here (Day 1 & 4), here (Day 2 & 3), and here (Day 2)!