Alaska-Canada Adventure Ride
Day 25 - Jasper, British Columba, through Banff, and then Kootenay National Park, British Columbia
(250
miles)
Today we cruised through the main artery of Jasper and then south through Banff, before eventually exiting to Kootenay National Park to camp. All of these parks are gorgeous, stopping at multiple locations to capture photos alongside the hordes of other tourists. Most of the rivers have a turquoise blue color to them due to the glacial melt. This can yield some pleasing results for photography along the waters edge. But skies were still a bit smoky in Jasper and Banff, while the crowds were at the edge of being unbearable, in comparison to the more open wilderness we had grown accustomed to over the last
three weeks.
I made the stupid mistake on insisting that we should check out Lake Louise, basing my motivations of fond memories of the place when I visited it about 30 years ago. After fighting through about an hour of traffic and parking, reaching the lake was a huge disappointment. I was shocked how things have changed. It seemed that there were people standing at every foot of the shoreline getting selfies and probably another 30 ~ 50 families in rented canoes on the water. It felt more like Disneyland than a national park, and after capturing a few photos, all I could think of was how to escape this madness. Never again!
Riding on further south via Highway 93 through Kootenay National Park, we found a much more subdued campground with beautiful scenery within close riding distance. It was a breath of fresh air, and after setting up camp and making dinner, Tucker and myself explored the area up and down the road about 10 miles for the purpose of some landscape photography. I found some quiet time in this wilderness capturing landscapes to be a therapeutic experience, while still recovering from the shock earlier in the day.
Images (click to select the larger view at bottom)
All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2019 - 2020. Last updated: 1/10/2020