Visiting & Living
the Canadian Rockies
MY OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
VISITING & LIVING THE CANADIAN ROCKIES!
Jonas Rockslide on the Icefields Parkway
I first travelled through the Canadian Rockies in the summer of 1979, and my world was never the same. That summer I was working in the city of Prince George, British Columbia, and was to return to the Lower Mainland of British Columbia to study graphic design at Douglas College. I decided to take a different route home, and by doing so, profoundly changed the rest of my life. The route I had chosen to drive home to Vancouver was via the Canadian Rockies from Prince George. I drove down Highway Number 16 eastbound to the town of Jasper, but it wasn't until I drove down Highway 93 South, the Icefields Parkway, towards Lake Louise, that I was truly awestruck. I couldn't believe my eyes; the mountains just towered above me on each side of the highway. It was just amazing and I had never experienced anything like that before.
At that point, I had been taking scenic photographs for only about two years, but it was my passion. Seeing these mountains all around me just made me want to photograph them. Then there was the wildlife along the journey. I felt amazed and inspired. It seemed like at every bend, at every corner, there was another awe-inspiring scene awaiting me. It just seemed endless, and it was on this occasion that I said to myself, "Wouldn't it be nice to live and work here someday?". Not realizing that it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy, eight years later these mountains we call the Canadian Rockies were to become my home. The Icefields Parkway that was such an important part of my first journey through the Canadian Rockies was to become my backyard.
MY LIFE UNFOLDING
Lower Consolation
As a photographer I travelled back and forth between Banff and Jasper any chance or opportunity I had. I camped in along this highway, took photographs, day after day hiking up and down the trails. I still couldn't believe that I had finally made this place my home. Eventually I was to get a job as a travel tour guide for a local tour company out of Banff. I worked as a driver-guide for eight years and truly enjoyed travelling through the Rockies sharing the sights and my knowledge of the mountains I loved.
It was in my third year as a driver guide in April of 1998 that my life was to change - forever. I had a passenger on my all-day tour to the Columbia Icefield which takes you out onto the Athabasca glacier and back down one of the most scenic highways in the world and on to Banff. This was just like the first day that I travelled down Highway 93 and fell in love... only this time it was my future bride. I fell in love with her on the Icefields Parkway and little did I know that she would one day become my wife, and now the mother of my three children.
Cedars in Mt Robson Provincial Park
WHAT KIND OF HOLIDAY DO YOU NEED?
What will a holiday to the Canadian Rockies hold for you? Well, I can't guarantee love but...how about a holiday where you get spoiled and pampered? Book in at one of the many Rocky Mountain spas and get the ultimate spa treatment! Or do you want a rough it and camp in the great outdoors in the backcountry? Have an adventure and whitewater- raft down the Kicking Horse. Too much for you? Canoe the Vermillion Lakes for a peaceful afternoon. Well, the choice is yours; there are so many options and you are the only one who can decide what you truly want.