29 May 2018 - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada - Part 2

There was so much "awesome" to be found in Banff, that I decided to split this post into a second part. One of my biggest desires for more than a decade was to see the BLUE-GREEN lakes. These glacier-fed beauties lie right along the continental divide and basically feed all the rivers splitting out from the rocky mountains and head towards the pacific ocean and gulf of mexico. The first lake was Lake Louise (lake of the little fishes).

My next destination was Lake Moraine, a location made famous by many sources such as Microsoft Windows 7/10 login screens, the back side of certain Canadian 20$ bills, the Android OS background, and National Geographic to name a few. I was a little worried at first as this lake, located about 14km up a narrow road from Lake Louise, had a limit to the number of cars/RVs allowed. Luckily, the park ranger running the barricade let me pass. This place is now one of my favorite places on the planet! I'll let the photos tell the story...

I spent hours at this location, hiking, meditating, and just generally listening to the rushing water. I wish I could have rented a canoe and explored a little further. With the day fading away I decided to return to the USA as I had a promise to keep to be home by Friday. By the way here is the rental car I drove all this time... (Hyundai Velocitor)

The rocky mountain side of Alberta/British Columbia was a dramatically better drive than the one from Montana to Calgary. There were beautiful mountains and lakes. The drive into Idaho and later Washington was pleasant.

I drove until I ran out of sunlight, stopping for the night in Spokane, WA.

29 May 2018 - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada - Part 1

I awoke very early in Calgary, prepared to do a 90-minute drive west into the Canadian Rocky Mountains. My destination was Banff National Park. Banff has been a dream destination of mine for nearly 10 years. It all started when I attended a local Cleveland, Ohio showing of the Banff film festival. I remember watching an inspiring film about Old Snow Skiiers.

I arrived in the town of Banff around 7am and started to plan my day. This town had a swiss alps kind of atmosphere. I liked that. It also had an Aspen, Colorado Richie-rich kind of touch that I did not like.

One of my first destinations was to take a ride on the Gondola (cost was about 50$) up to the top of 8,000ft Sulfur Mountain. It was rainy and overcast so I was taking a risk of wasting money because I might not get to see anything from the top. On the bright side, however, at least I would avoid the tourist crowds. In the end, the clouds cleared just enough to get a couple of spectacular views.

There was a 1km trail boardwalk to the other peak. None of the other tourists were going that way, so I decided to go explore. It was worth the discovery.

In the visitor center, I was reminded of why I love the mountains and outdoors so much. What I wonderful saying!

To be continued...

28 May 2018 - Glacier National Park, MT

I started my day in the city of Kalispell, MT. I had driven the previous day for about 8 hours to get here so I could have more time in Glacier National Park. While I had grandiose plans to camp this trip, colder temperatures, a lack of planning, and just general laziness had me staying at hotels. I headed for the West Entrance of the park...

I stopped at the visitor center, heard a lecture on bear safety, then headed for a local bike trail. It appeared from a map that a lake was nearby.

I enjoyed my little hike through the woods. Eventually, I found myself on the shores of Lake McDonald. This is one of about 7-10 really scenic places in this park. There is a famous road, called the Going-To-The-Sun-Road, that I was hoping to drive. Sadly, according to the morning paper, snow crews were still clearing so only about 13 miles were ready. I drove about 6 to get a closer look at the mountains.

Next, I left the park and followed state route 2 and 89 around the park. It started getting later in the day so I did not enter the Lake Saint Mary side on the east.

I was starting to get impatient to see Banff in Canada and new the drive to Calgary would take some time. Also, I was not sure what Canadian customs would be like. My last trip to Canada was nearly 20 years ago during a high school trip to Toronto. Needless to say, the border guards had me wait about 10 mins while they reviewed my travels. Eventually, they allowed me to continue. The next 2.5 hours of driving to Calgary were the most boring, flat, farmland of my entire trip.

27 May 2018 - Yellowstone National Park, WY

I started my day visiting Jackson Lake and the Coulter Bay Marina. There was this delightful little trail that walked out to a peninsula and gave another great view of the Grand Teton mountains. This place is pure heaven for me.

Next, I drove into Yellowstone national park. Being one of the first national parks, Yellowstone is one of the biggest. I didn't realize that I would spend over 2 hours just driving across the park. I would actually criss-cross the continental divide about 3 times.

My main goal was to see Old Faithful and the other geysers. Old Faithful erupts about every 90 mins give or take 20mins. While I was waiting, I decided to try out the overlook hike. The view was pretty nice.

Driving out of the park I got to see some Buffalo, made a Dances with the Wolves "Tatanka" joke, and continued to the exit. For many years, I have wanted to visit western Montana. Today, that dream would be realized...

Welcome to Montana!

26 May 2018 - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

I started out early, enjoying the drive from Salt Lake City into the mountains. My goal was to head up to Jackson, Wyoming to find Grand Teton, National Park. My first rest stop, east of SLC, I found people feeding Cheetos to squirrels and groundhogs. Outside of this distraction, I found the surrounding red rocks to be beautiful.

I made my way into Wyoming, then Idaho, then Wyoming...the road (US 89) I was on kind of zigged and zagged across the state line. I knew I was getting back into the Rocky Mountains when I came across Salt River Pass, a historic part of the Oregon Trail.

Eventually, I arrived in the small town of Afton, WY. I like the old western towns near the mountains. This one had an elk antler arch. I did a little shopping and then headed onward.

About 90 miles later I found Jackson, WY. Sometimes people call this place Jackson Hole. The key difference is that Jackson Hole is the name of the entire valley vs just the town. I honestly could care less about this town as I am not into skiing. But recent episodes of my favorite HBO series, Silicon Valley making fun of J-Hole, have piqued my curiosity. Here is one such example:

It started to rain, but I was determined to enjoy some of Grand Teton. I got a photo of the south sign and then headed for the visitor center. Sadly it was closed. Using my park pass I entered the park and headed north. The weather cleared and I randomly selected a parking lot near Taggert Lake. This gave me a lovely 3-mile hike and some nice views.

25 May 2018 - Great Basin National Park

I woke up at 5AM to start my next 200-mile drive to Great Basin NP. It was an easy drive and around 10am I arrived at the visitor center.

I took a tour of Lehman Caves. This place, while not as grand as Mammoth Cave Kentucky, has a really cool geology and some really impressive stalactite and stalagmite growths.

Next, I took a drive up Mt Wheeler’s scenic road. This road is about 10 miles of steep cliff driving. There are a few really nice scenic viewpoints. The altitude goes from 7000 feet to about 10000 feet. I found I was struggling to keep my breath as I am not used to this lower level of oxygen. There are a parking lot and trailhead near the top. If one wanted to hike another 3000ft, they could summit this mountain.

I can see some potential for this park in a future visit. I would probably get to the summit and try some of the interior trails on the other side of the mountain. Having felt like I got to see what I wanted to see I decided to move on with my journey. I would drive the next 4 hours into Utah and stop at Salt Lake City.

24 May 2018 - Western US Road Trip - Nevada

This week I started a road trip I have wanted to do for a few years. My goal is to explore the northwestern USA and a bit of Canada. I've not done a whole bunch of planning so there are going to be some unplanned expenses as well as some opportunity costs. But I would regret putting this off any longer. My first destination is Great Basin National Park in Nevada. After that, I am going to make my way towards Grand Teton. Eventually, I want to get to Glacier and Banff. Before leaving California I needed to have one last bite of sanity...

Today has mostly been about making the drive from LA to Vegas and trying to get as far as I can. I did pretty well too. I managed to find a free camping spot in the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge. I’ll let the photos speak for me.