Wow we have had quite a week. We left Edmonton last Monday morning and drove to Jasper.We managed to get a campsite but it had no electricity, therefore the lack of blog entries this week. Stayed 3 days in Jasper. The scenery in the Rocky mountains is incredible and awe inspiring. Everywhere you turn you are surrounded by majestic mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers, canyons and waterfalls. Our campsite was rather remote and it was not unusual to see a herd of elk grazing within the campground borders. Elk are like deer but bigger and their Indian name is wapiti which means "white rump" because their rears are very light in colour. That is one way you can distinguish them from deer. We had a few sightings of bears as well as we drove various roads. All around we found "danger/beware: bears" signs. It is recommended that if you come across a bear, make lots of noise to scare him off; also recommended that a person should never hike alone in bear country. Always bring bear spray (which is a kind of really strong pepper spray). We did not buy any because I am not a very brave person and there was no way I was going back country hiking! Jasper and Banff are national parks and they work very hard to keep everything as natural as possible. As one of our tour guides said: "take nothing but pictures and leave nothing behind but footsteps". We drove from Jasper to Banff on Thursday along what has been  described as the most scenic route in the world. Again, most incredible scenery around every bend, up every mountain, down every valley. We went past the Athabaska glacier; so cool since I had always wanted to see a real glacier! We made so many stops for viewing and for pictures that the trip between Jasper and Banff of 288 km took us all day. In Banff we had another non electrical campsite. We stayed for 2 days. Went to visit Lake Louise. World famous for the intense blue/green coulour of the water. Crowds of people: we circled the parking lot for at least 20 minutes before finding a spot to park. Before we left for Calgary this morning there was quite a commotion right near our campsite. A bear had been sighted at a campsite about 200 meters from ours (gone before we had a chance to see it!). A park official was called and he came and made lots of noise and shot some rubber bullets to encourage it to leave the campsites. Sure glad it decided to leave!

Today we are in Calgary and this afternoon we went to the Calgary stampede. It was really interesting to see a real rodeo with lots of bucking horses and calf roping etc. It was really hot though, I am sure there will be lots of sunburned people out there tonight!

We are now truly in the Rockies!

Grover enjoying the view

Grover likes mountains

elk grazing in our campgrounds

bear by the side of the road. It had 2 cubs with her

A most charming town to visit; many Australian young people come here to work in the summer.

all hikers carry bear spray......just in case

Our campsite at Whistler's campground Jasper. Note the tall Douglas fir trees all around; very good for lumber

Sign in campground. We had to make sure there were absolutely no food sources, no scented things left at night. Even had to lock up the barbeque

Athabaska glacier: has retreated quite a bit in the last one hundred years. This frozen river is at least 80 feet deep.

Larger town than Jasper; more crowds, mountains all around the town; must be a beautiful place to live!

lunch time inside the trailer

Peyto Lake. Notice the shape, like a wolf's head. The beautiful blue/green water is a result of rock flour. This is rock which has been ground to a fine powder by the glaciers. Meltwaters wash this powder into the lake, causing the intense colour.

glacier on the way to Banff

Lake Louise near Banff. I did a geography project on this lake when I was in grade 6 and always wanted to see it in real life