Alberta RV Adventure

Venturing North, Lake Louise is the next obvious stop, the Lake is perhaps one of the most photographed in Canada, traveling in May, it was easy to park and saunter to the shore, but in Summer you have to arrive very early, or be prepared for a long walk. E bikes are available from Lake Louise Village which can certainly help to make the process easier.

The Icefield parkway is strewn with scenic rest stops and viewpoints along with the occasional bear, which always slows the traffic to a (bear)crawl. Popular spots are Peyto Lake, Big Bend Hill (you completely understand the name after driving around the big bend…) and the Athabasca Falls. The undisputed Jewel in the Crown however is the Columbia Icefield, with multiple glaciers and stunning views. The Icefield adventure to the Athabasca Glacier includes a ride on a $1.2M Ice Explorer to walk on a 10,000-year-old sheet of ice, coupled with the vertigo inducing glass skywalk over the valley, it is a day you won’t forget.

At the end of the Parkway lies the village of Jasper. This pretty mountain town punches well above its weight on delivering a mountain experience. The Tramway provides the obligatory mountain vistas. Whilst its easy to navigate, local tour operators like the excellent Sundog’s provide campsite pick ups for their tours. I’d strongly recommend their Wildlife tour, Daniel our excellent driver/guide said he had never been on a tour before with so many different spotting’s on one night (part of me wondered if he said that to every group, but he seemed too honest and genuine to be a fibber), we had ticked off Marmot, Eagles, Grizzly Bears, Black Bears and the elusive Moose, along with the photogenic backdrops of Pyramid mountain and Medicine Lake. All too soon, it was time to leave Jasper, a couple of Elk joined me for breakfast on the peaceful campsite, my bacon and eggs with steaming tea seemed much more appetising than their grazing, but they appeared happy enough. Dishes done and utilities disconnected, Alberta’s capital city Edmonton lay a few hours East.

Edmonton is an eclectic combination of sleek, glass fronted skyscrapers, open air neon galleries, entertainment districts and wonderful museums. Any history buff will enjoy Fort Edmonton Park, which showcases Edmonton’s history back to the Hudson trading company and along the areas long standing indigenous line, if you are looking for something a little more Avent Gard, try the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton covers most tastes (importantly including excellent local craft beer). The Oilers were at home to local rivals the Vancouver Canucks in a Stanely Cup play off, whilst tickets were like hens’ teeth, fan zones were provided for those without the all important briefs and the city teemed with orange and blue shirted denizens, turning the ice district into one massive street party.

What is the perfect contrast to big city nights? Undiluted wilderness, The Canadian Badlands around the Dinosaur famed town of Drumheller were a welcome sight. The Drumheller Badlands were created a mere 13,000 years ago (a blink of the eye in geological circles) when the Laurentide ice sheet retreated and melted. It has certainly left another worldly landscape. The slightly older residents, by around 66 million years are the Cretaceous period Dinosaur Fossils. The adjacent Dinosaur Provincial Park is teeming with fossils and the Drumheller’s Tyrell Dinosaur Museum is joy for kids of all ages (including this 50-year-old kid).

On returning full circle to Calgary to return my trusty RV, the Rockies again adorn the horizon, like the fable of dropping a coin in the Trevi Fountain in Rome, you just know you must return.