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| Dramatic Moraine Lake |
A trip to the Rocky Mountains is
one of the most popular excursions international students can take while
staying in Vancouver. This destination offers an experience of vast, protected
forests and public parks amongst towering mountains and serenely beautiful
lakes. To do the trip from Vancouver, you need four days. Plan to go on a long
weekend and take an additional day off school. Trying to cram the experience
into three days, students always regret not having an additional day. Wonderful
memories will make up for the day’s schoolwork that you will miss.
If you are going primarily to see
the scenery, do the trip sometime from June through September. Labour Day
weekend, the long weekend of early September, is an ideal time. This is before
the mountain lakes begin to freeze over, so you will see the brilliant
turquoise colour of the lakes contrasting against the dark greens and grays of
the mountains and the intense blue of the sky. July and August are busier, as
that is when families of Canadian school children are having their summer
holidays. However, Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks are so large that
“crowded” does not come to mind when exploring national parks any time of the
year. Note, however, that if you plan to make a trip to the Rockies primarily
to go skiing or snowboarding, you should go from November to April during snow
season.
On occasions when a homestay
student, usually Japanese, has told me she is “going to the Rocky Mountain,” I
have asked her where exactly and she has been perplexed. She has simply
repeated, “to the Rocky Mountain.” Apparently she is picturing a stand-alone
peak (perhaps like Mount Fuji). I have had to explain that the Rocky Mountains
are not a single mountain. They are a very long range of peaks stretching more
than 4,800 kilometres from northern British Columbia in Canada to the
southwestern United States.
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| Banff |
Some of the places visited in most
four-day tours of the Canadian Rockies are the resort towns of Jasper or Banff
and Lake Louise, or and some other sights including Moraine Lake, Bow Lake,
Peyto Lake, the Columbia Icefield, Maligne Lake and Maligne Canyon, Athabasca
Falls, and Sulphur Mountain, Mt. Robson, and many other peaks. Tour buses also
pass through Merritt, Kamloops, Clearwater, Valemount, and other small town on
the way to the Rockies or on the return trip.
European students who are
accustomed to the Alps are most surprised by the relatively uninhabited aspect
of the Rockies. Areas of human settlement are uncommon compared with those in
the Alps. So don’t expect scenes of domesticated sheep or cows grazing on
mountainsides! They simply don’t exist here. Instead, you will see vast,
largely untouched forests and mountains.
A South American student that I
hosted in the mid 1990s told me about her experience of being overwhelmed at
the immensity of a glacier when she was standing at the bottom of it looking
up. She said she felt powerless and vulnerable in feeling that it could slide
down the mountainside and crush her with its enormity. But in returning to the
same site nine years later, she was struck by how diminished in size the
glacier had become. She said she wept in seeing this, even though she knew in
theory about climate change.
Still, there remains so much to be
amazed at in the Canadian Rockies—mountain landscapes of lakes, peaks,
glaciers, waterfalls, canyons and, depending on which of the national parks you
visit—Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, or Yoho—you might experience limestone caves or
have the chance to bathe in hot springs. Also you never know what wild animals
you will see. The Canadian Rocky Mountains are habitat for elk, mule
and white-tailed
deer, mountain
goats, bighorn sheep,
black bears,
grizzly bears, coyotes, lynxes, and wolverines as well as
being home to North America's largest herds of moose.
In talking with dozens and dozens
of my homestay students who have gone to the Rockies with various tour
companies, only a few have had any complaints. One recent disappointment was
about substandard accommodation “The motel’s quality was really poor,” commented
by Riccardo (from Italy) after his recent July (2012) trip. To ensure the hotels or motels you will be staying
at are adequate for your needs, ask the tour companies you are considering for
photographs of the interior and exterior of all hotels/motels used. This will
help ensure that you instead feel as Gabriel (from Brazil) did after his
October (2012) trip, that “the three different hotels were very welcoming.”
Also
find out about the arrangements for sharing a room. Are there any options?
Having four people in a room sharing two queen-size beds is not uncommon. Will
you have a choice as to whom you will be sharing a room with, a bed with?
“I didn’t expect to share a hotel room
with other people, and it’s embarrassing to sleep in the same bed with another
guy, however, I did,” Riccardo stated. Find this out before you sign the tour
agreement so there are no surprises during the trip.
When
I asked Gabriel, who is from Porta
Alegra in southern Brazil, if he would recommend the tour company whose trip he went on, he
answered. “Yes, this agency has professionalism, credibility and has been
successful in organizing the trip.”
His
only disappointment was in two pre-paid meals. Gabriel’s city (Porta Alegra) is known for its fabulous barbecues.
Also his country’s cuisine centers on beef. Apparently their barbecues
routinely feature a piece of steak almost the size of the dinner plate. So when
Gabriel read that his Banff hotel was offering an outdoor barbecue, he was
looking forward to it. He was understandably disappointed to find the beef
portion of this barbecue consisted of one patty of ground beef the size of that
in a regular hamburger. He was doubly disappointed the next night when the
dinner featured one hotdog.
This may be standard fare for some
tour companies because Riccardo had been offered the same two pre-paid meals
(by a different company) a couple of months earlier and was equally let down.
Yet most of my homestay students have agreed that the lunches they purchased
off a regular menu (not pre-paid) were good quality and good value. Also, some
of my previous homestay students have raved about the dinners they ate while in
the Rockies and have shown me photographs of their memorable meals.
I recommend that Rockies-bound
visitors, and not just the hungry, mid-twenties guys, take with them snacks to
eat on the bus and late at night in the hotels. Include some protein (cheese,
nuts, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, peanut butter on crackers), fruit (especially
bananas, apples, mandarin oranges), and sweets (chocolate bars, cookies, energy
bars). This will ensure you have something to munch on if the schedule of your
trip is out of step with your hunger pangs.
So despite these concerns, when asked,
“Why did you find the trip to the Rockies enjoyable?” Riccardo answered, “It’s
impossible not enjoy being there because it is one of the most amazing places
in Canada where you can see Canadian nature and mountains.”
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| Striated Mountains and Valley |
Riccardo also commented, “The trip is
so long so when you pass through the Rocky Mountains on the bus you can enjoy
and admire the infinite green environment. I saw seven bears—six black ones and
one grizzly. The best experience was going on the Banff gondola. The view from
the top of the mountain is awesome. Unforgettable. When I was there I understood
that I don’t spend enough time in nature. Ånd the rest of the tour made me
realize that four days are not enough to see the Rockies. The Rocky Mountain
trip was also a new life experience inasmuch as you share your trip with a lot
of people that you don’t know, so it is a good chance to make new friends from
other countries. You enjoy talking about things that you have never talked
about before.”
In asking Riccardo how he would sum up
his trip in one or two phrases, he responded, “Awesome trip I’ll remember all
my life.”
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| Road to Coumbia Ice Fields Crop |
In asking Gabriel, why he enjoyed the
trip to the Rockies, he answered, “Because I was in a place that for a long
time I have wanted to know. Moreover, it is practically impossible not to be
dazzled by the different landscapes.”
In being asked what places he enjoyed
visiting most, Gabriel responded, “Banff city, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake.”
I also asked Gabriel what optional
activities he did and why he did not do other activities that were offered?
“I went on the Banff Gondola and the
price was reasonable. I did not go on the snow coach on the glacier because I
thought it expensive. Besides, there is only so much time.”
Another question: You said your tour
guide added to the value of the trip. In what way?
“Our guide knew very well about
everywhere and she was always willing to help and answer questions.”
Do you have advice for others
considering making the trip?
“My advice would be to go in the
summer to be able to bathe in the lakes.”
How would you sum up your trip in one
or two phrases?
“A trip to the Rocky Mountains made me
realize how much I like nature. This is a fantastic place where everyone should
have the opportunity to visit. I would like to rent a canoe and explore the
environment more. I wish I had stayed longer in the lakes enjoying the silence
of the place.”
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| Serene Lake Louise |
The photographs accompanying this
article have been supplied to me courtesy of Gabriel Macedo, Brazil (the opening
image and last two photographs), and Riccardo Rosso, Italy (the central two
images).
There are additional photographs of
the Rockies included in my online imaged novel Vancouver Memories: My Year Abroad in the section entitled “Touring
the Rocky Mountains” [September Diary Entry #1]. This novel is available free
of charge for viewing at www.vancouvermemories.ca.
If any readers can identify photographs in either this blog or in
the novel at URL noted above, please contact me at wendy@vancouvermemories.ca.
I would be pleased to receive information about any necessary corrections.
Text by Wendy Bullen Stephenson
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