The Canadian Rockies part II

This is the second part of my first trip to The Canadian Rockies. If you haven’t yet, you can find the first part here.

After 2 bus rides, I finally met Patricija and Žiga in Calgary. We rented the car and headed to the mountains. We camped at Two Jack Lake for the first night. The next morning the first thing to see was Two Jack Lake itself. The surrounding was almost empty and perfect for a morning stroll.

While walking, I was thinking how this lake got its name. Did two men named Jack bump into each other at this lake and decided to name it Two Jack Lake? Did both of them come for the first time and that’s why they didn’t have a fight to name it Jack Lake? If their names were Jack and Tom, would they call it Jack&Tom Lake? And so many other questions.

Two Jack Lake pours into the much bigger Lake Minnewanka. It appeared that there was no end to alpine lakes in the Rockies!

**Lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park**

We continued our road trip towards Lake Louise, excited that I would hike the Big Beehive trail again but this time with my travel companions that I could already call friends. Do you remember Mirror Lake from the previous post? This time I brought my bathing suit for a proper dip all the way in. The reflection of light on the log in the water looked like the colours of the rainbow!

When I got into the water, I heard people clapping and right after, 2 other women stepped in. It was as if they just needed an affirmation of how good it felt.

We continued our hike to Lake Agnes. I asked myself, do these places become ordinary for the locals here or do they feel as excited as a tourist like me? Now that I live in Squamish, surrounded by the Coast Mountains and beautiful hikes around, I can say that it is upon us, and the way we see. When I just look, repetition makes a landscape ordinary but when I see, I sometimes even see things I couldn’t find the first time. Sometimes even more beautiful.

We headed back to our camp and the next day we went to Johnston Canyon. We took the trail to the Upper Falls, which is 5.1 km out and back. If the sun is shining and it’s humid enough, there is a high chance you will see a rainbow over the fall!

After Johnston Canyon, we headed to Emerald Lake and hiked around the lake for a couple hours. At this point you might think that you have had enough of alpine lakes but each of these lakes has its own beauty and unique colour.

Canoeing on Emerald Lake — **Emerald Lake**

After couple hours of hiking under the sun, I wanted to dip into the lake but I guess I didn’t imagine how cold it was. Nevertheless, I don’t recall a single time that I went into the cold water and regretting it after.

After staying the night at Lake Louise Alpine Centre , we started our journey on the Icefields Parkway, if not the most scenic parkways in Canada, for sure one of the most beautiful ones. Icefields Parkway starts at Lake Louise and ends in Jasper and is 232km long. The parkway goes through Banff and Jasper National Parks with breathtaking scenery of the mountains and lakes along the way. You will see wildlife from up-close on the road. We saw black bears, grizzlies, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elks, and deer. It can be an emotional moment to see them with one’s eyes.

We stopped at Bow Lake, Waterfowl Lakes, and Peyto Lake.

Our last stop before going to our destination was Athabasca Glacier.

Patricija had booked the a night for us at Beauty Creek Wilderness Hostel. It was the first time for all of us to experience a wilderness hostel and we were curious. We were shown around the room which was pretty clean. Wilderness meant that we were off-grid so we had to heat the water if we wanted to take a shower. The fridge ran on propane and water was stored in containers. We spent the evening around the fire with the sound of the river flowing behind us. The next morning we found ourselves in front of a scenic landscape of blue, green and yellow. To this day, I get mesmerized when I close my eyes and remember that morning.

Beauty Creek had stolen our hearts and we wished we could stay longer. But we had to hit the road again and continue on the Icefields Parkway. We drove to Athabasca Falls where we took a short hike to see the falls, and the river.

We headed to Jasper to camp. The next morning we went to Patricia Lake, headed to Jasper for lunch and said goodbye. I drove back to Calgary thinking of the beautiful places we saw, the laughters we shared, and the memories we created. I thought how lucky we were to have found each other by chance on Couchsurfing. I wish I had discovered this part of Canada earlier but hey, I finally did and there is no room for regret!