Whistler to Vancouver 13 May

We travelled from Whistler to Vancouver on the Sea to Sky Highway stopping at the pretty Shannon Falls.

We reached Vancouver in the early afternoon and had a sightseeing tour of Gastown, Chinatown, Granville Island and Stanley Park where we saw the beautiful totem poles to honour the local First Nations Peoples. After settling in at the Sutton Place Hotel, we had dinner at a local pancake restaurant. The weather in Vancouver was again cold and rainy, however, it is an interesting city

Whistler 12 May

Ron and Lyn on Blackcomb Mt

Blackcomb Mt Ski Field

Hummer at Whistler

Snowman at top of chairlift Blackcomb Mt

Chateau Whistler

Hummer in action

Inukshuk at Peak of Whistler Mt

View at base of Blackcomb Mt

Bowles of Whistler Mt

May 12 saw us go bush bashing and looking for black bears in a hummer. We were taken off the beaten track to view a very pretty waterfall and then to a quarry designed to test out the hummers. What an experience. While we did not find any black bears, we did find bear skat and many of the native berry trees and skunk cabbage was blooming to provide a "wake up" diet for the local bears.

In the afternoon we explored Whistler village which is just buzzing at the moment as it is one of the venues for 2010 Winter Olympics. It is a very cosmopolitan ski resort which was still fully operational at this time. We took the gondola up Blackrock Mountain and then the ski chair lift to the summit sharing it with the skiers and snowboarders. What a view from the ski fields; lines of pine trees dripping with snow and a beautiful view down into the village.

Dinner this evening was at the Keg Restaurant and consisted of fresh local fare.

Sun Peaks to Whistler 11 May

Chateau Whistler

On the way to Whistler

Hat Creek Ranch

We travelled from Sun Peaks to Whistler . On route we visited Hat Creek Ranch for a talk on the customs of the First Nations People of the area. An informative native guide gave an interesting talk on many of exhibits on the site. We then took a short stage coach ride around the ranch. This was an interesting but bone shaking experience.

We then continued on through Cache Creek and Lillooet to Whistler staying at Chateau Whistler.

On arrival we were treated to a talk by Michael Allen on black bears seeing slides of some of Whistler's resident bears.

We walked to Whistler township for our evening meal and met Katherine, a fellow belly dancing student who is now living in Vancouver. We had delicious pizza at Currumba, an interesting ski resort bar.

Jasper to Sun Peaks 10 May

After leaving Jasper to travel to Sun Peaks, we stopped at the base of Mt Robson 3,954 metres tall. We then had another brief bear sighting from the bus as we continued past the early trading settlement of Tete Jaune Cache and into the Cariboo Mountains region.

Sun Peaks is a relatively new ski resort with lots of construction still occurring. One of the developments has an Australian connection. The ski season had officially finished here, however, the amount of snow still on the runs would have definitely justified running the lifts in an Australian ski resort.

We stayed at Nancy Green's Cahilty Lodge. Nancy Green is a former Olympic, world and Canadian ski champion who won gold and silver medals in the 1968 Olympics held in Grenoble, France.

Before dinner at the lodge, we were treated to an informative lecture on the fur trading industry and life as a pioneer in this area.

Jasper 9 May

Mt Edith Cavell

Athabasca River

Jasper township

Views from Athabasca River

Jasper Park Lodge

Jasper township

Jasper National Park

Jasper Park Lodge

Rafting on Athabasca River

We had a wonderful day in the pretty alpine town of Jasper. In the morning we went rafting on the Athabasca River. It was an exciting experience to be rafting down a river, and the scenery was some of the most beautiful scenery that we had ever seen.

After our amazing rafting experience, we had lunch in Jasper and then went shopping. We found a shop that stocked many items made by the First Nations Peoples which was very interesting. On our way back to the resort we saw our first black bear. It was a juvenile and was very unsure. It had been foraging on the railway tracks.

We had dinner at Jasper Park Lodge at the Moose Nook Grill. It was an absolutely beautiful meal. Ron had buffalo.

Lake Louise to Jasper via Columbia Icefield 8 May

Athabasca Glacier

Columbia Icefields

Views of Jasper Park Lodge

Views at Lake Louise

We woke up to a perfect picture card scene at Lake Louise. When we opened the curtains we saw two inches of fresh snow had fallen overnight. It really looked like a scene from a Christmas card with the trees dripping with snow. The Lake itself had completely frozen over where there had been just a thin patch of ice where it had been groomed for skating. We took another stroll around the outskirts of the lake before leaving to travel to Jasper.

The scenery through the Jasper National Park was awe inspiring with the fresh snow and we finally arrived at the Columbia Icefields to take a trip in an ice explorer onto the Athabasca Glacier. It was quite an exciting experience travelling in the ice explorer and our driver was happy to show off the vehicle's capabilities. It was very cold and windy on the glacier, but we experienced such an appreciation for the forces of nature. It was time to make snow angels in the newly fallen snow and taste the pure clear water of the glacier.

We continued on through the national park to Jasper staying at the Jasper Park Lodge. We had a casual dinner in the Emerald Lounge and saw wild elk grazing as we walked around the park in the evening on the way back to our cabin.