Vancouver to Banff to Jasper and back to Banff

As promised here is the post about the happenings in the last days. Be prepared, this is going to be a big one!

(A) Whistler, (B) Vancouver, (C) Banff, (D) Jasper

Wow, where do I start? The last few days have been utterly amazing: I jumped off a bridge into 40+ meters of empty space. I saw lots of wildlife (bears, chipmunks, goats etc etc). I met a group of awesome people. I was outed as attention-whore (and lets be frank, I am). Slept at a hostel without running water, electricity or showers. I spend evenings sitting at campfires, chatting, listening to music. I saw amazing landscapes and walked a few great trails. All in all, just a great time! … oh and, we broke a bus and a picnic table... and no, its not my fault.

After my trip to Vancouver island I spent one night in Vancouver. The next morning I got picked up by my next Moose van. With the new group assembled, we headed for a two day one night stay in Whistler. On the drive there we spotted a mama-bear and two cubs right beside the road. Of course we had to stop for pics. Sadly I was always too late for pics whenever we saw a bear over the last week. Hopefully I will get sent a few so I can show you guys.

I already knew there was the possibility to Bungee Jump in Whistler and on the way up I decided to do it. Essentially I spent the next 48h nervous as hell (see post below for pics of the jump). Those of you that know me, know that I get jittery even if I have to cross a bridge like that. I am not comfortable with height.. not at all. So suffice to say, this was a big leap off faith for me (sorry for the pun). It was absolutely AWESOME though. I loved it and will do it again.. maybe.. some day ;). That was defs the highlight of my short trip to Whistler. I didn't do much else there and Whistler didn't appeal that much to me so I'll move on.

After another night in Vancouver my 10 day trip the Rockies started. This was the first time that we had a 23 people Bus. This is still quite a bit smaller than the Stray buses so it was all good. We spent the first 2 days driving from Vancouver to Banff. Sure there were a few nice spots on the way but nothing compared to what I would get to see from Banff to Jasper. Oh can't forget to mention one thing though... hot tuuuub!

After we stayed in Banff for one night, the group split up. From here on Moose offers a few different trips and according to those we split. I would go on the longest one they have to offer with 2 stops between Banff and Jasper. Boy am I glad I choose this one. The people in this group are just wonderful and great fun. If I had a wish open though, then I would want to have a few less Germans. No offense intended here! Fact is though that 8 of 11 people are German. It would be nice to have some more nationalities.

We spent our first night in the Banff National park in a Hostel in the middle of nowhere. As I mentioned, no running water, no shower, no electricity. As you might have guessed, I loved it! The next day we were supposed to stay at another hostel just like it but, well, plans suddenly changed. Why was this? Picture yourself driving through the Jasper National park.. your listing to music, just enjoying the scenery and suddenly there is a big shudder from the right back of the car.. it gets worse within seconds. The car dips a bit at the back, you look out the window and you see your right rear tire taking off into the woods. After the initial shock, everybody was laughing so hard! We were lucky that our driver reacted perfectly though. He got us to a safe stop. Good Job Shags!

Instead going to the wilderness hostel, we stayed two nights in Jasper while we waited for the car to get fixed. That day hadn't ended yet though. We got to the hostel and after all that excitement we were hungry so we got a BBQ going. When it was prepared we sat down to enjoy our meal at a picnic table, you know, the ones with attached benches. We hear a crack, and a bench breaks off. Again, everybody shaking with laughter. What a day! But we are not cursed, since then it's been smooth sailing!

We spent many hours hiking in Jasper and Banff national park and drove the street between those two a few times. The scenery here is just stunning and the bears seem to be everywhere. I think since I have been traveling with moose, I have seen at least 8-10 bears. No Grizzly yet though.

Right now I am sitting on the van on the way to a last lake near Lake Louise before we head back into Banff. I am in Banff for four nights and then head back to Vancouver. I will stay in Van for one more day and then I am flying to Toronto. In Toronto I meet up with Lorne that is a good friend I met in 2004 when I was staying in Montreal for a few months. I will tell you more about that a few days down the road though.

As you can imagine I have taken hunderts of pictures. At the moment I just have too much and can't process them all anymore. I just don't have the time. I will have to do lots of catching up when I get to Switzerland. This post I decided to do something else anyway.. in the last few months I have focused on landscape and I think although the scenery was great, the people I met made this last week so great, so this time there are mainly pics of the group and me. Please enjoy!

Blog you soon!

great place even better people

hummm I wonder where the tire went... oi shags do you know?

Chipmunk up close

unknown lake

lake louise

Mountain goats

having a good time

how a little snow can bring out the kid in people.. fascinating ;)

Wildneress Hostel in Banff national park

yes the lake really had that colour!