Canada: July-August 2026

Wednesday August 5:

Part 1 left off last night when we had been dropped at the Crimson Hotel in Jasper for two nights.  We ate at Terra last night – the restaurant in the Crimson. Not a very good experience – the food ranged from not so good to mediocre; there was one server really working; others were hanging out chatting.  After supper, we walked next door to Nester’s Market and bought some breakfast and lunch for the next day.

This morning we had our muffins and yogurt in the room then met Marie, from All Things Wild, just before 10 AM for our forest hike in Jasper National Park.  First off, she texted us last night to confirm our location and time and ask if we needed her to bring some hiking poles!  Organized, considerate and knowledgeable!  We saw loads of wildflowers that she could identify and describe for us!  A few examples below: blanketflower, golden clematis and larkspur (aka delphinium).

The views, as we have come to expect, were awesome.  She introduced us to the Victoria Cross Range at the left (five of the peaks are named for Canadians who won the Victoria Cross in WWI) and Mount Edith Cavell at the right (a nurse who saved many lives in WWI and was executed for her assistance to Allied soldiers).

Marie also pointed out many interesting relationships between the animals and plants in the forest.  For example, on the tree at the left there are numerous small holes pecked into the bottom by a woodpecker; then there is a larger nest hole above that.  The little holes attract insects that then become easy food for the babies being raised in the nest nearby.  At the right, if you know what you are looking for,  you can see bear claw "scars" in the bark that were made by a bear climbing the tree!

She dropped us back off as we came into town near the Community Center and pointed us towards the Wednesday Farmer's Market in Robson Park.  I rested on a bench with backpacks and poles while John browsed a bit and came back with yummy snacks!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Rocky Mountaineer Guest Center to pick up our luggage tags and boarding passes for the next morning.  After lunch in our room and a short rest, we walked around town seeking some of the many murals that had been sponsored by Project Uplift.  We saw the first one at the Community Center and Marie told us a little about the artistic project - then we discovered 10 of them within a few block area! 

The mural on the left above is titled Infinite Patience and created by an Australian artist, Smug One.  The center image is titled Kokum (Grandmother) Tribute and created by a member of one of Canada's First Nations, Kayla Bellarose, who works under the name bb.iskwew.  The last one is Persistence of Vision by a Montreal artist: Five Eight.

At the end of our mural hunt, we had supper at Something Else Steakhouse.  I had another Greek meal (chicken souvlaki) and John enjoyed the lamb version!  The last Jasper pictures tell the story of the town, really!  The one on the left is the mountain view from the main street (Connaught) in Jasper and on the right is the rock formation Roche Bonhomme (the rock gentleman) that overlooks Jasper.  With a little imagination you can see the face of a man lying down and looking upward and towards the right in the darker rock portions.

Thursday August 6

Even though it wasn’t very far down the street, a Rocky Mountaineer motorcoach picked us (and dozens of other passengers) up at 7:30 am, checked our tags, stowed the luggage and took us down to the train station.  We got settled, met our hostess (Dez) and left the station just before 8:30 am.  Part of their ritual is a send off with staff and crew waving us on our way (photo at left)!  We were in a Silver Leaf car which means it was only one level.  We were served (delicious) meals at our seats on a pull-down tray.  We had great views and they kept the windows amazingly clean so I got pretty good pictures.  (Typical scenery for this portion shown at the right.) I was less impressed with the snacks which were little plastic cups of a mix of pretzels, dried fruit, nuts.  But they had a jug of cold water and a big bowl of fruit at the back of the car, available all day.  The Gold Leaf (that is quite a bit more expensive)  has a separate dining room underneath the passenger car.  There were pros and cons – there were two seatings for each meal so half the car was assigned to each seating.  Tables seated 4 so you got to meet and chat with other people (but also might be missing scenery while visiting).  Their outdoor observation platform was somewhat larger than ours and the roof was also glass (pretty hot in the summer).  I was quite happy with the Silver Leaf choice myself – especially since our car was only about half full so we had the opportunity to walk from side to side as the views changed and to have two seats to yourself if you wanted to stretch out!  The only downside from my point of view was that you probably could get some better pictures from up higher – we were on a level with the scenery rather than looking down at it.

Dez told us about what we were going by and let us know what was coming up.  She also added in some history and information about the geology in the area.  The first big lake we went by was Moose Lake (left above) which is 5 miles long;  we saw Mt. Robson - the highest point in the Canadian Rockies (center, above) - and many other unidentified peaks.  There were lots of wild flowers along the tracks but even at around 30 mph it was too fast to get very good pictures of them.  We followed the Thompson River (right above) most of the first day.  We passed Pyramid Creek Falls pictured at the left below (they did slow down a little for that so we could take pictures - the falls come down from a lake on Mount Cheadle and fall about 300 feet) and then started seeing more wild fires springing up along the mountainsides.  The crew reports those to the local fire fighters and they try to get to them quickly before they have a chance to spread.  The river valley narrows into a canyon for about 8.5 miles.  That area is known as Little Hell’s Gate (aka Porte d'Enfer) - part of those rapids is shown at the right below.

In the late afternoon  we started to pass numerous small pocket beaches at wider points of the river, and the air became more and more smoky. At the left you can see a portion of one of those beaches and also the effect of the increased smoke!  But enough sun is still getting through to have the reflections in the river.  By the time we got to Kamloops we were wearing masks!  We spend the night at the Sandman Signature Kamloops Hotel – it was very nice and right across the street from Riverside Park (one of its public facilities shown at right).  It would have been a lovely place to take a walk except for the smoke!  Instead, we went to the Scoopz Ice Cream Parlour that was adjacent to the hotel – and had ice cream for supper! 

Friday August 7

We were back on the train by 7:30 the next morning – they served breakfast and lunch on the train so we didn’t have to worry about leaving time for a morning meal.  It was so smoky there that the sun was just a faint, red ball (picture at left was as we were loading - well after sunrise).   This morning we were riding through country that looked much like the US southwest.  We saw a herd of bighorn sheep that had escaped their fence, grazing not far from the tracks - see the picture at the right and the sheep on the left jumping back over its fence into "safety!" They didn't seem to like the train being so close.  This area looked very desert-like and we observed a lot of irrigation this morning.

Many of today's pictures were washed out due to the smoke, but some sections were more clear, particularly when we were close to the river as when we went by the “Jaws of Death” gorge (pictured at the left above - apparently a favorite spot for white water rafters).  In the center is another waterfall we passed by that doesn't even  rate a name! Hell's Gate, at the right, was further on and is the site of a popular tourist attraction.  It's at the narrowest part of the Fraser River where up to 200 million gallons of water surge through every minute.  There is an Airtram (basically a gondola) that takes riders across the gorge, over the tumbling waters.

Did you catch the river change above?  We've been following the Thompson River so far, but at Lytton we come to the confluence of the Thompson and the Fraser - then we'll follow the Fraser River on into Vancouver.  One of the most striking places of the whole trip was this confluence of the blue Thompson River and the muddy brown Fraser River.  Even in the smoky haze they were clearly very different colors!  See the pictures below as we first can see the Fraser river (we are crossing the Thompson but you can see the Fraser beyond the bridge), then looking back at the meeting of the two and finally, on the right, after the two have become one river but before they mixed!

After that point, we started seeing more blue sky and the haze was almost gone by the time we pulled into Vancouver!  At the left you see a few bridges we passed as we approached Vancouver and a nice, blue sky again.  At the right is our "welcome" by the Mountaineer staff.  There is a whole fleet of numbered buses that will be used to transport those people ending their trip here - to the airport or to hotels for the night.  But we are staying on for 3 more nights on our own, so we were picked up at the station by Imperial VIP Services (arranged by Fresh Tracks).  We arrived pretty close to the 6:30 pm expected time but by the time we got there, our driver had already located our luggage (the baggage is trucked, not on the train with us) and loaded it into his trunk!  We stayed the next 3 nights at the Azur Legacy Hotel right downtown.

While we both enjoyed the train portion of our trip, in spite of the smoke, we also agreed that two days is about right.  I would have a hard time sitting and just “watching” for longer than that.  While our bodies were happy for that break after our days of hiking in the mountains, we were also ready to get moving again after two days on the train. 

The Azur Legacy is quite an upscale hotel – some of it was a little TOO much (like having to find and use a remote to open and close the curtains) but their focus on our comfort was appreciated!  We told them we weren’t going to use the drinks they had stocked in the refrigerator so they emptied it out, making room for our own breakfast and snack supplies.  The bathroom is huge and includes a soaking tub and heated floors!  After we got checked in, we walked down to the Urban Fare on Bute St. in the harbor area that we had discovered when we were here last year - part grocery store, part restaurant.  We picked up fruit and food for breakfasts, and had a light supper there before returning to the hotel for a good night's sleep!

Saturday, August  8

Today we were heading to the Queen Elizabeth Park where we had visited last year but felt like there was more to see and do.  There was!  Our concierge told us the “easy” way to get the Skytram/subway that took us within a couple blocks of the park - there's a station just a block from the hotel so we didn't have to go all the way down to the Waterfront Station.  We walked through the rose garden (it's the end of the season so not a lot there - sample at left) and enjoyed the many combination plantings all over the gardens (sample at right).

This year we were able to spend time in the Bloedel Conservatory which was well worth it! They have not only tropical plants but also lots of birds that were quite entertaining.  I had trouble limiting my illustrations here!  The conservatory is on the left below, Art, a blue and gold macaw in the center, and Gidget, a citron-crested cockatoo on the right.  There are many other parrots, cockatoos and macaws as well.

There were many, many smaller colorful birds - some familiar and some not.  I selected three here that were new to us!  At left below is a red-cheeked cordonbleu, in the center a slender-billed weaver and at the right an African superb starling.  These are all African natives.

Here are just a couple pictures of the flora in the conservatory - some orchids and anthurium.  The right hand picture is at the Seasons in the Park restaurant where we had lunch and enjoyed the lovely city overlook views. 

   

This morning we had breakfast fixings in our room and then caught a bus (Route 19) right in front of the hotel to get us down to Stanley Park.  (We're getting worn out from so much walking!)  We stopped near the entrance since our plan was to walk the Seawall around the Brockton Point and back.  I wasn’t adventurous enough to insist on the whole 5 miles of the Seawall path, but wanted to get a feel of it!  The trail has separate lanes for cyclists and walkers which was good!  We saw herons, glaucous-winged gulls and cormorants as well as a few harbor seals.  We walked past the Brockton Point Lighthouse and stopped to see the First Nations Totem Pole display before circling back.  We saw some cyclists with kids pulled over to the side to snack on berries along the trail – that made me think of the bears in the Rockies!  Coal Harbour skyline is at the left and the first Great Blue Heron we saw under a pier on the right.

We walked back along the harbor and stopped for lunch at a Thai restaurant where we had pizza for lunch.  I know that sounds strange but it was really very good pizza!  We made one more stop at Murchies Tea (their main store is over in Victoria, but they have branches all over the area, including one conveniently a block from our hotel) then had rest time while we started sorting and packing.  For dinner we ate there at the hotel in their restaurant Dahlia’s – it was surprisingly inexpensive and good food!  The last two Vancouver pictures are views we pass walking to and from the hotel - on the left is a fountain created by George Tsutakawa the right is just an illustration of some of the many high rise buildings in the area - they are all reflecting each other!

Monday August 10 –

The Imperial VIP service picked us up at 9:30 am and got us to the airport efficiently.   I love that we can go through US immigration and customs right there – it let us make our tight connection in Salt Lake City!  Because it was broken into two flights (that’s not how I booked it, but they cancelled my nice, direct flight) we didn’t get a meal on the plane, but we bought sandwiches at the airport so we were good!