Canadian Rockies Highlights (Roaming the Rockies)

Thirteen nights in a motorhome through the Canadian Rockies, flights included, starting and finishing at Calgary. The Icefields Parkway is the reason to book it.

Kananaskis opens the driving, a valley holding more than ten provincial parks with horse riding and a barbecue lunch at Boundary Ranch. Banff follows for two full days, Canada’s oldest national park, with the gondola up Sulphur Mountain for a view across six ranges, a cruise on Lake Minnewanka, the walk to Bow Falls and the Upper Hot Springs, which have been open to bathers since 1886.

The Bow Valley Parkway then leads to Yoho by way of Johnston Canyon, Castle Mountain and Morant’s Curve, with Takakkaw Falls, the Natural Bridge and the walk around Emerald Lake on the far side.

The Icefields Parkway carries the route north to Jasper, and it is among the most spectacular roads in the world: Peyto and Bow Lakes early on, then the Columbia Icefield, one of the largest accumulations of ice south of the Arctic Circle, where an Ice Explorer drives out onto the Athabasca Glacier and the Glacier Skywalk hangs over the Sunwapta valley. Athabasca Falls follows, then two free days in Jasper National Park. Canadian Affair include the flights, the motorhome, the first night’s airport hotel and the listed attractions, with campground fees, fuel, insurance and meals separate. The price is per person. Elk, bighorn sheep and bears are all common along these roads, and the park rules on keeping a distance exist for good reason.