Getting to Seattle WA marked the end of our first road trip. After that, we headed up to Vancouver and spent a whole week in and around the city. It was nice not having to pack bags every day for a change and we kind of started to have a normal rythm: Some sightseeing, cooking at home, a run in the park, disc golf (they play a kind of golf with frisbees) and even a cinema night with Jason Bourne.

But surely the road called again. Once more rented a car and went on to discover part of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. As the ride from Vancouver to Golden would have taken us approximately nine hours, we decided to stop in Kamloops for the night. They had a Ribs Festival going on and of course we didn’t resist.

The day after we drove to Golden, a little town about an hour before Banff National Park. This was our base for three days. We found this nice place outside town, up the hill and in the middle of the woods. These Mountain View Cabins came without internet or TV, so it was all about barbecuing marshmallows and talking to fellow travellers. It was great fun and we really enjoyed the place.

Out in the nature I felt like hiking and I wasn’t ready to change this plan just because it was raining. The head of the hiking trail we chose was around 40 minutes off the main road and up the mountain. The road was very rough or completely inexistent and it was a good thing we rented that Jeep. That’s what it looked like later that day:

We had to stop when we came to a wooden bridge crossing a small creek. The large wholes in the floor let us doubt that it would carry the weight of the car. So we continued on foot. As they way up was longer than antecipated we were happy to have a Pickup Truck coming our way. They were going fishing and gave us a lift up to the trailhead.

The day after the weather got better and we went on to see Lake Louise, Lake Minnewanka and Banff; wonderful places at the heart of Banff National Park. In Banff itself we walked down to the Fairmont Springs Hotel to have a drink on the terrace with an incredible view to the surrounding forest and mountains.

Now it’s back to the big city and straight to Vancouver Island. Victoria and Nanaimo are waiting. So long!