28th May – 6th June 2017
From Victoria we travelled to Whistler on the Sea to Sky Highway (described in our guidebook as breathtakingly picturesque), and the scenery was pretty impressive for most of our journey, a taster of the amazing sights we would see during our Canadian road trip. The hostel we stayed in, YHA Whistler, was originally built for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games as the athlete’s village. The facilities were great and it turned out to be one of our favourite hostels in Canada. Whistler is more well known for its ski season, but in the summer season, mountain biking takes precedence as they turn the slopes into bike tracks. We only had 2 nights in Whistler so in order to explore our surroundings better on our only full day, we decided to hire bikes, and we opted for the Valley Trail, a supposedly easy 14km track for beginners and families. Within the first 5mins, we faced our first “hill” (I’d call it a small mountain), let’s just say by the end of the day, we could hardly walk!
However it gave us a good excuse to stop for one of Whistlers legendary ice creams, we felt we had earned the calories.
From Whistler we travelled north to Jasper via a night in Kamloops to break up the journey. Jasper is based in one of Canada’s world famous national parks so it has plenty of walking routes to try, so as soon as we arrived we headed straight out to the Old Fort Loop which was a lovely walk overlooking the small town.
The following day, armed with a bear bell and bear spray (bear warnings are everywhere in Canada and being city folk, the thought of coming face to face with a bear terrified us!) we decided to do a longer walk opting for the Mina and Riley Lakes Loop. However, after walking only a short way into the trail, we were getting eaten alive by more mosquitoes than we have ever seen and despite being coated in the strongest insect spray, it became unbearable, so we decided to cut back towards Jasper and try another route. The other route we tried (and successfully completed) was the Lake Annette Loop. An easy walk and we could enjoy the scenery without being bitten.
From Jasper we headed to Banff along the Ice Fields Parkway. This day was one of my most memorable; it is the most scenic route we have ever driven. There are lots of stop offs and viewing points along the way, but our highlights were:
Our time in Banff was mainly spent exploring the very picturesque town and completing some more walking trails. I was also lucky enough to celebrate my birthday in that beautiful part of the world, so we decided to blow the backpacking budget and treated ourselves to a burger and a pint. The ice hockey was on the screen in the bar making us feel like we were truly living the Canadian dream!
On our last day in Banff we decided to brave white water rafting which was great fun despite spending a large amount of time being submerged in freezing cold water.
(Posted by Em)
Emma & Ben... Far From Home 