Canada was always going to be a big part of my trip to Alaska. In fact, it would consist of over the half the driving distance because of my starting point in Colorado. Most of the driving was on the historic Alaska Highway. But, before we could get to Dawson Creek (the official Canadian beginning of the highway), we had to make our way north. We decided to take the scenic path through Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Canadian Border Crossing
Leaving Missoula, we headed almost straight north, paralleling Glacier National Park. I had seriously considered entering the park, but much of it was still closed due to snow so we ended up passing by. We started the Canadian journey with a very uneventful border crossing at the small town of Roosville. It was early evening when we crossed, and there was no line at all. Thankfully, the entire process took less than five minutes, and we were on our way!
We had reservations for the night at an RV park in the town of Fort Steele. It was a fairly short drive, and we were soon enjoying beautiful sunset and mountain views from the comfort of my home on wheels. I would have enjoyed spending a little more time here exploring the town – it looked very cute from the brochure the RV park gave us. But, we were headed on to Banff National Park the next morning!
Banff National Park
We entered Banff National Park in the afternoon and drove straight through to Lake Louise, enjoying the gorgeous scenery the entire way. We got a spot at Lake Louise campground, which has electric at each site and water/dump stations in communal areas. It was a great place to stay for the night and explore the surrounding area.
We visited the lake itself in the morning, which was excellent. It wasn’t too crowded yet and the weather was nice. The water was absolutely gorgeous! One of my favorite parts of traveling through this part of Canada was the beautiful color of the water. It is almost a Caribbean turquoise color, even on cloudy days. After taking a lot of the classic pictures, I did a short hike around the lake to see it from different perspectives. It was a well-developed trail and the beauty never ended.
Lake Louise! Can’t get over those gorgeous turquoise waters
More views of Lake Louise
Jasper National Park
Although we didn’t spend a lot of time in Jasper National Park, we did drive the Icefields Parkway. It was a beautifully scenic drive, with mountains, turquoise lakes, and glaciers lining the road throughout. Even though we didn’t spend the night inside the park, we were thankful to get to experience more Canadian beauty during the drive.
Route 40 to Grande Prairie
Our last leg of the non-Alaska Highway journey involved driving Route 40 from right outside Jasper National Park to Grande Prairie and then Route 43 from Grande Prairie to Dawson Creek. I got pretty excited right before we turned onto Route 40 because there was a sign that said “Scenic Route to Alaska”. It was a scenic drive, although the construction and high winds between Hinton and Grande Cache made for a bit of a difficult drive. We stopped for the night at Grand Cache Municipal Campground. It had nice wooded sites for a good price and was convenient to the local town.
The next day, we headed towards Dawson Creek. We had thoroughly enjoyed our time in Canada thus far and couldn’t wait for the next segment of the journey. To read more about the overall plan for the journey, check out my first North to Alaska post. Or, if you missed the US part of the journey, click over to Montana Meanderings and Wyoming Wanderings. Have you ever been to Banff National Park or Jasper National Park? If so, what were your experiences? Let me know in the comments below!
