Driving the Icefields Parkway.

On Thursday, we left Banff for Jasper, the "other" national park in the Rockies. We took the trip with Moose Travel, a tour service for budget travellers. They're really good because 1)they're cheap and 2)they take you off the tourist route to see nicer, less crowded things. They were thirteen of us on the bus, and we spent the day driving down the Icefields Parkway, usually considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world. We made stops at some cool stuff on the way; lakes, waterfalls, glaciers. We went to the Columbian Icefield, which is overwhelming. They have these massive ice trucks that can actually drive onto the glacier. It's massive, the size of greater Vancouver.

In Jasper, we were staying the night in a wilderness cabin with the rest of the tour group. The manager, Sacha, was wonderful. There was no running water, and just basic lighting - no other electricity. The toilets were just drop toilets outdoors, and Sacha told us a really gross story about the "poo cones" that build up there in winter (from all the poo freezing into a tower). That's my kind of story. Anyway, we made a delicious dinner, then sat round the campfire playing games. It was such a great place to stay.

The next morning, we left our tour group and headed into Jasper town centre to embark on the next adventure....camping in the backcountry. By ourselves...in an area frequented by bears...