This is the Canadian World Heritage Site, not the American Rocky Mountain National Park. If you don’t like this picture of Emerald Lake, my homepage background photo was also taken in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The site includes many national and provincial parks including Banff, Jasper, Yoho (above), Kootenay, etc. I visited several of the parks with my son a few years ago, before I converted to electric. Maligne Lake in Jasper is a favorite, along with Radium Hot Springs in Kootenay. I also love the dozens of double arched wildlife bridges that allow animals to cross the highways safely.

Near Banff and Lake Louise it gets crowded. Even though I intended to visit Lake Louise to follow my Uncle’s travel log, I had to skip it. One problem is that the Canadian parks reservation system is not foreigner friendly. If you’re Canadian, you simply sign up for the short shuttle ride on a system you’re likely already using. If you don’t have a Canadian bank account, signing up for the shuttle is an overly complex affair involving copious personal information. Of course, if you spend $900 US for a night at the Chalet, then you can visit at your leisure. The other options are equally troublesome, so I chose Emerald Lake instead, which is very similar and maybe slightly larger.