On this trip we will be travelling the Icefields Parkway in both northerly and southerly directions. Firstly we will be travelling north from Golden to Jasper. We will be passing through three of Canada’s national parks today; Yoho, Banff and Jasper.
I go down to the lobby this morning to check out and have a conversation with the lady on duty. Now we are sure that Golden is in British Columbia, I feel comfortable enough in asking why the time in Golden is one hour ahead of the rest of BC. She says that commercially, Golden has been more connected to Calgary than Vancouver, so it made sense to keep Calgary time there. She informs me that there are some districts in Canada that effectively maintain their own time zone.
We set off, initially expecting to get supplies for the road, but when we get to the supermarket before nine o’clock. It is shut, so rather than wait we continue on, making a few wrong turns before we reach the highway.
We stop about an hour later at the beautiful Emerald Lake. 
The view is so spectacular that I decide to take some pictures to stitch up into a panorama. 
On we go, on a bit of a detour now. Or next stop is marked on the map, and by a sign at the side of the road as a Spiral Tunnel viewpoint. This is a place where there is a railway tunnel cut into the mountain that turns, corkscrew fashion to come out of the mountain lower than it went in, but around forty-eight feet lower. From where we are we can just make out where the tracks must be by the way the lines of the trees are disrupted. We can hear and see some movement through the trees, but cannot really claim to see a train. I am a little deflated as this is something that I have particularly been looking forward to seeing, my fellow traveller less so.
We carry on our detour to the next waypoint, Takakkaw Falls, which translated from the Cree language is “it is magnificent”, and I can say that it truly is. I take some pictures, and then move toward the damp area of ground where the spray from the falls is landing. There are not many people taking pictures here as the air is full of dense mist from the falls. I close my eyes and experience a Mindful moment taking in the sound and feeling of this natural wonder.
We leave the falls and retrace our route back to the highway. A few minutes later I see a large number of parked up vehicles on the right, and another sign for Spiral Tunnel lookout. This is the place I have seen in guide books. I pull into a parking space and can hear the train tooting in the distance. I urge my fellow traveller to hurry up, but she declines and stays in the car. I make my way to the crowd of people waiting. The front portion of the train has entered the top tunnel and there is an air of expectation. Suddenly someone says “there she is” as the two locomotives at the front of the train emerge from the bottom tunnel. I watch for about ten minutes, and by that time the train can be seen at three different levels, going in to a tunnel, coming out of a tunnel, and going in the opposite direction below the other two parts. If you look closely at this picture you may just notice.
About one hour later we leave British Columbia behind and enter Alberta, and Banff National Park. We both feel a little deflated but have been left with a load of memories. My companion feels a sense of closure, having finally been able to fulfil a childhood dream. We have no time to dwell however, as the turn off from Highway 1 is coming up quickly and we get our passes ready for presentation at the control gate. Within minutes we notice a change in the traffic, campers and trailers with accommodation attached in one form or another now seem to outnumber cars. We note that one company’s rental vehicles have the side door painted, some with two young children looking out of a window, another variant has a dog looking out of the window. Another company proudly displays on the rear of the vehicle, “experience Canada at your own pace”. This is a laudable objective, but it fails to recognise the snaking line of vehicles behind is also forced to experience the their pace, but unfortunately without being able to see the view in front due to it being obscured by a large rented camper.
The road is busy today, and the weather is hot. We decide on the stops we are to make going north, which we will see from our Jasper base, and which we will see on the way down. We pull in to our first stop, Bow Lake.
It is very difficult to express in words how immense the mountains and lakes are. How big the provinces are in this huge country. How to describe how wide the rivers are and how fast they flow, how loud are the waterfalls. As if to illustrate the point we next pull over at Mistaya Canyon. I get as close as I dare to the water rushing between the rocks as the river is pinched between the canyon. I am mesmerised as I take my pictures. A little further down the canyon the river has gone, hidden between the rock walls carved out by water laden with silt and sand which has rushed past and cut away at the rock for millennia.
A little while late we arrive on the outskirts of Jasper, Sally SatNav taking us the shortest route, which just so happens to include a level crossing. We are forced to wait here for over eight minutes as one train goes past. My companion estimated the length to be over one hundred wagons, the majority of them labelled “Canadian Wheat”. Without further delay we arrive at our stop for the next three nights, the Best Western. We get to the room and I regret to say that my fellow traveller is less than impressed. We had been advised that the hotel does not have air conditioning, it is in their words “cooled by the mountain air” but unfortunately, with the temperature outside now in excess of 35° even the mountain air of Canada cannot cope. Not only that, but there is an air of, well, tiredness about the place, and an aroma akin to a tired seaside bed and breakfast. The facilities in the room make up for it however, and we do have our own dedicated ski locker which could be handy. We have dinner in the restaurant on site, very nice Alberta beef for me, Alberta free range chicken for my companion, and after we take a walk to downtown Jasper and supplies for the next couple of days. My fellow traveller walks up to me in the store and holds up a can of Febreeze in an almost pleading manner, as if to ask whether the holiday budget can stand up to the purchase of a can of air freshener. It is placed in the basket. I have a moment with a gentleman behind the cold meat counter who seems a little perplexed, and confirms with me three times, that I only require 100g of pastrami. Their normal minimum is 500g. Back to the hotel now for tea and bed.