We continued on to Jasper. On the way, we took several short tours, which always offered beautiful scenery. If you want to photograph animals in southern Canada, you don't need to search for long - you simply join the regular queue of car parks at the side of the road, get out, briefly assess whether you have already photographed the animal in question (whether bear, wapiti, caribou or other) and drive on after a successful photo hunt.
We were shocked to discover that, unlike further north, people here have no respect for the animals and no sense of their habits. The bear is almost fed from the hand or photographed with an ultra-wide-angle lens. When you see something like this, you are no longer surprised by reports of bear attacks.
Most tourists in the south also don't think much of protective measures such as bear spray: "Do you spray yourself with it so that the bear doesn't come?" FYI: The effect of the bear spray is equivalent to 100 times pepper spray and many visitors leave their leftovers out in the open as the few meters to the nearest bear-proof garbage can are apparently too much trouble (the tent neighbor is certainly happy about a bear visit...).
Mount Robson and Mount Lake Trail
From Jasper, our route took us to the highest peak in the Canadian Rocky Mountains - the 3954-metre-high Mount Robson. We decided to hike up the mountain Lake Trail. You have to register for the trail. The Berg Lake Trail leads 21 km up to Berg Lake right at the foot of Mount Robson. The summit of the gigantic mountain is almost always shrouded in cloud, but we were lucky enough to see it for three full days. On the way, you pass three mighty waterfalls. The Emperor Falls in particular are an impressive natural spectacle. The gigantic masses of water plunge into the depths with a deafening roar.
There are a number of nice camping options at the lake and there are beautiful trails on Mount Robson that offer wonderful views of the entire massif or lead directly to the glacier tongues. Not many people take the long way to Berg Lake - but for the well-heeled there is also the option of being dropped off by helicopter at the top of the lake. The gentleman we watched for an hour with a satellite phone in his hand was probably also in this category.
On our way back to Banff from Mount Robson, we made a detour to Angel Glacier. The glacier formed by many avalanches and the small lake, in which countless small icebergs float, is more than worth a visit.
Only at the end of our tour through the Rocky Mountains did we venture into the skiing and mountaineering Eldorado of Banff. Many refer to Banff as the Chamonix of the Canadian Rockies. But you have to decide for yourself whether you accept this comparison. Banff is a place littered with souvenir stores, which was obviously created by tourism and lives entirely from tourism, which is why the place looks rather "artificial".
At the end of our trip, we had planned two extra days to visit the capital of Alberta, Calgary. However, as there is nothing to see there, there is nothing to tell...
More photos in the gallery
Text and photos: Christian Skala and Regina Hörhammer
