Rocky Mountains Expedition via Yellowstone and Glacier - CanaDream

Twenty nights and 3,063 kilometres in a loop from Calgary in a motorhome, taking in four of the great mountain national parks on both sides of the border.

Waterton Park comes first in southern Alberta, where the mountains rise straight out of the prairie, then Helena in Montana, and Yellowstone, which was the first national park anywhere, sits on a caldera and holds roughly half the world’s geysers, with Old Faithful the reliable one and the Grand Prismatic Spring the one worth the walk.

Missoula follows, then Glacier National Park, where the Going-to-the-Sun Road climbs over Logan Pass between hanging valleys and is one of the most spectacular drives in North America. Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise close the loop on the Canadian side, linked by the Icefields Parkway, which runs 230 kilometres past more than a hundred glaciers with the Columbia Icefield at its midpoint.

The motorhome and the day-by-day plan come from CanaDream, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with insurance options priced at booking. Twenty-one days with multi-night stays at Waterton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff and Jasper is a proper schedule rather than a dash. The Going-to-the-Sun Road has a vehicle length and width limit that rules out most motorhomes on the central section, so that day needs planning around with a shuttle. Logan Pass opens late, often not until late June, and the Yellowstone campsites book out months ahead. Crossing into the United States needs the hire terms checked for cross-border cover, and bear rules apply throughout.