Canadian Rockies

I am planning a trip to Canadian Rockies notably Banff and Jasper national parks in the first week of august for five days .

I would appreciate any suggestions , do's and dont's. .How should I best allocate my time Between the two parks and the ice field

parkway ..What are the chances of a serious bear encounter and how would one prepare for that .Although the Rockies are know for

their splendor everywhere , .what locations would yield the best photo opportunities .

<p>Haven't run into any bears. How much hiking are you willing to do?</p>

<p>Seeing as the paper version of Darwin Wiggett's book is out of print :( get the ebook versions here.</p>

<p>http://www.howtophotographthecanadianrockies.com/</p>

<p>Probably all of your questions are answered in them, except I think 5 days is nowhere long enough, except for an overview. :(</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Ok, a few questions first, does your 5 days include arrival and departure days, or are those days 0 and 6? Are driving a car or renting an RV, camping or hotelling it?</p>

<p>You prepare for a serious bear encounter by taking steps to begin with so as to avoid a bear encounter. First of read the pamphlets that are passed out related to bear safety. Secondly find out about the locations of recent bear encounters from park officials. Thirdly when you go off into the woods be part of a group - the larger the group the less probabilty that you will encounter a bear. Make noise when you are hiking along trails to give any bears in the area an opportunity to avoid you. The bears are not interested in you how ever they often do not like surprises. Let the bears know that you are around - minimize the chances that you will surprise them. The probability of a bear encounter is very low and I would not allow the possibility to spoil a great vacation in a wonderful area. If you plan on camping overnight in the back country, there are additional precautions that you need to take and the possibility of an encounter will increase. Once again park authorities will have recommendations and the latest information to reduce the probability of an encounter.</p>

Great day hiking around Lake Louise. Local stores sell bear bells to hang on your camera/pack/whatever to alert bears before you startle them. Don't know if this is a real good idea or just something to sell tourists. Jingle, jingle.

<p>"Do you know the difference between Black Bear scat and Grizzly Bear scat? ... Grizzly Bear scat has bells in it and pieces of pepper spray cans." Not my joke but I heard it during a seminar in Calgary regarding bears.</p>

<p>When I lived in Canada back in the 70s we used to see Black Bear frequently. We never had any issues with them and never saw any Grizzly Bears. I did a quick search. Since 2000 it looks like there have been 19 fatal attacks. For what it is worth there haven't been any fatal attacks in Jasper or Baniff during that time. But the advice above sounds reasonable. Keep your food out of the tent, etc.<br>

http://jasperwildlife.com/Fatal-Bear-Attacks-in-North-America-Jasper-Wildlife.html</p>

Thank you all for your responses .Neal the hikes will revolve around photo locations and should not be more than 3-4

hours .Bob I have heard of Darwin Wiggetts book and will check out the e edition. The trip will extend over 5 days

excluding the traveling days .Thanks Allen and Douglas for useful bear info .I enjoyed the humor ..lol .I would like to

know the ' killer ' photo spots as there are so many to chose from . I don't wanna miss the top spots .I would also

appreciating lodging experiences .

When I was there, Deer Lodge had a hot tub on the roof. Great at sunset with a couple of cold beers after an afternoon of hiking.

<p>It's hard to pick a place where you won't find "killer shots" along this route. A couple of suggestions:<br>

- Lake Louise first thing in the morning, and again right around lunch. The lake changes from a deep blue at sunrise, to that glacial-silt color.<br>

- The hike along Moraine Lake right to the end, across the log bridge and out into the area under the glacier - amazing any time of day<br>

- The road to Maligne lake - stop at Medicine Lake and hike along the south shore. <br>

- The Columbia icefields - take time to do the trip onto the glacier, because it is a unique experience. Lots of hikes around that area, with great views especially early and late in the day<br>

- Almost anywhere on the icefields highway between Columbia Icefields and Jasper. Stop along the road and look for places along the river for shots. </p>

<p> We've been there a couple of years ago with a rented camping van, and I would regard the two weeks it took us the bare minimum to have a decent appreciation of the area. But I imagine your five days are the maximum you can squeeze out, so you'll have to do with it.<br>

Just some scattered suggestions:<br>

- By all means make all the reservations for the places you intend to stay on overnight (irrespective as to whether you want to use camping places, hotels, lodges or whatever) RIGHT NOW. Accomodations inside the parks are severely limited, and your chances to simply drive there in August (!!!) and stop at the place you fancy are absolutely zero. Indeed, if you try and book now you might well find out that it is already much too late.<br>

- Lake Moraine and Lake Luise are certainly very high in the list of the world's most photogenic places. As it has already been pointed out, however, the light conditions there change dramatically according to the wheater and the time of the day. With only five days at your disposal, you can only hope to strike luck.<br>

- The drive to the Columbia Icefield is of (moderate) interest only if you have never been on a glacier on high mountains. Basically what happens is, you board a giant 8x8 bus together with some other 25+ people, dismount on the glacier, are given no more than 10 min to take your photos, and then are driven back. I did find it boring, but then I'm an avid mountaineer.<br>

- We saw bears (all Blacks, including a sow with cub) on three occasions. In all three cases, we were moving on foot along well-beaten paths a short distance away from the main road, we were most certainly not aiming at surprising bears nor were we moving silently (our group did include six Italian ladies...), yet we stumbled into them at short distance. Perhaps the bears did ear us or/and picked up your scent but simply didn' care - I don't now. We moved away as fast a we could and the bears showed no interest whatsoever in us. I must admit, though, that the sow with her cub was down a very steep ravine she could not possibly climb to reach us. Had we crossed her on flat ground, things might have taken an unpleasant turn. So, the bottom line is, exercise some caution, and then some more.</p>

<p> </p>

Thanks for some really useful information .I am starting to get a good sense of what to expect .Besides being scarce

the lodging does not appear to be cheap either .How do you suggest I distribute my time between the two parks and

the ice field parkway in the five days that I have .I don't think there will be time for Kootenay and Yoho .

<p>I think that the Jasper/Banff/Icefields Highway is varied (and dramatic) enough that it is difficult to advise a specific agenda. I'm assuming that you would start at one end and drive to the other, so for a first-time visitor I would try to split it up as evenly as possible, giving yourself enough time to see each area for a day, and to not have to rush to the next thing. And as Bonsignore points out, one person's "exciting" event is another person's ho-hum, seen-that-before kind of thing.</p>

<p>Personally I would want to be up early each day (before sunrise, if possible) and to be out in the field somewhere as twilight comes, and to have a plan to stay at Jasper for one night, somewhere near Columbia Icefields one night, Lake Louise area one night and Banff one night. The drives in-between aren't that long; but the last time we did it we took a full day to go a few miles, with at least one hike each day along the way and lots of stops for photos, short walks and generally to sit and take in the views.</p>

<p>Although Kootenay / Yoho etc. are also beautiful I would personally advise against trying to see to much - British Columbia and and Alberta are VERY big places and it's more fun to take it slowly than to rush around, in my opinion.</p>

<p>We don't spend much time in Jasper or Banff when we go - if you've seen one resort town, you've seen them all.</p>

<p>By the way - we spent 8 days in this area in 2009 in early September, and the largest mammal we saw (besides a lot human beings) was a marmot. No kidding - not a single deer, bear, sheep, etc., including four different hikes of at least 3 hours. Fortunately it's so beautiful that we enjoyed it anyway, but the no-animals things was big surprise for us.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Top places for most scenic photos:<br>

Vermillion Lake (Banff) in late afternoon, or for sunrise if that is your thing. <br>

Moraine Lake near Lake Louise.<br>

Bow Lake at sunrise. Try and stay at Num-Ti Jah Lodge the night before.<br>

Mount Edith Cavell lake and glaciers at sunrise to mid morning. One of the most awe inspiring spots on the planet and you can drive to it. See DW book page 117-118.<br>

For lens choice, wide angles are needed. For full frame sensors, you will need 20mm. And you will need a set of graduated neutral density filters and know how to use them. And a good tripod.<br>

Darwin Wiggett's book is a must. You will have to prioritize your time. I would skip Banff except for Vermillion Lakes, take old Bow Valley Parkway, route 1A, to Lake Louise, minimize time in lake Louise, and spend most of my time in Jasper. You will need lenses from wide angle thru 300mm and maybe a 500mm if you have a strong interest in wildlife. Read Darwin's articles at his web site.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

Thanks a lot for all the info .BTW do the Canadian national parks have similar weekly passes as US parks .If I keep

Banff as my base , I wonder if gettin to lake Louise for sunrise shots would make for too long of a drive to get there in

time. Any suggestions regarding rental cars , are the roads ok for standard cars or is there a need for high clearence

vehicles .

<p>The roads in Banff and Jasper and all paved and well located to the main spots so a regular rental car is all that you need. I prefer one with a trunk so I can hide my camera gear when my car is parked when I am walking a trail.<br>

When I visited the Canadian rockies, my US credit cards did not work at the gasoline pumps in Canada. I am not sure what caused this problem or if this problem still exists. They were accepted at hotels and other places.<br>

Be prepared for changing weather.<br>

Joe Smith</p>

<p>Note that the Darwin Wiggett book mentioned above is out-of-print, but he's recently published a set of e-books that's very well-done and informative. You can find it at http://howtophotographthecanadianrockies.com/</p>

<p>From the Canada Parks website - about passes - it's either daily, or annual. If you do the math it takes about 6 days to pay for the annual pass:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/tarifs-fees_e.asp?park=1">http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/visit/tarifs-fees_e.asp?park=1</a></p>

 

What would the best option for using a mobile phone while in Canada .I have Verizon and it will cost me 69 c per

minute In Canada .The cost for Internet use is $ 30 for 75 MB.I hope I don't incur roaming charges just for carrying the

phone while in Canada .I am sure I can use WIFI at a hot spot without any problems .

I really appreciate all the useful information provided by all .

<p>I'm not sure if you are going to be travelling in Canada much outside of your time Jasper and Banff. If not, then I would not worry about it too much. There are limited cell towers in the park, and you'll spend most of your time outside of cell coverage. You can find Wifi at the Canada post office in Banff, Jasper and Lake Louise, if you're willing to pay for it. There are a few (very few) coffee shops with WIFI - I couldn't find one that worked in Jasper one evening in 2009. So, perhaps the best plan is not to use the cell phone for a few days. We quickly came to enjoy not having our working - didn't even charge them up for most of our last trip there.</p>

<p>This seems to be an active thread and I will post a related question to Banff/Jasper parks. I will be there the last week of July. Is there any advantage to renting an SUV (even a small one) for those parks? Any safety advantages (wildlife, roads)? We are not planning to go camping, just staying at hotels/motels.<br>

I usually like to rent a small SUV for convenience when I go to national parks, but Calgary rates for rental SUVs are steep.</p>

<p>About the rental SUV - I don't think it's required in these parks, but I usually get one just in case there's a road I stumble on that I desperately feel the need to drive. Most of what you will be driving on is asphalt, unfortunately - all the main routes and attractions are very much paved. I like having a SUV because it is a little easier to grab stuff out of it and it does give you a little more height to shoot from if it comes to that. I think it comes down to what you feel you can afford, and whether the potential to use he additional clearance is worth it. If you just have five days you will be hard-pressed to do all the basic stuff, let along get off the road very much. </p>

Although SUV has it's advantages , I sometimes feel safer leaving expensive camera equipment in the trunk of a car

out of anyone's sight .Besides , renting SUVs is a whole lot more expensive .

In regards to rental rates , renting from off airports locations is a whole lot cheaper , as it does away with exorbitant

airport taxes .One can also opt to pick up a car from a city location and return it at the airport without incurring

additional taxes .

I have never used a tilt shift lens before .I was wondering if carrying one would be a good idea for shooting landscapes

on my trip to the Rockies .