In mid-June, after having spent a week in Seattle, we crossed the US-Canada border to arrive in Vancouver. We met there with my dad and his fiancee Aga, who rented a campervan for 10 days to go explore the Canadian Rockies with us. We shortly visited the city together, although it did not amaze us (except for the Museum of Anthropology - this was great). The next day, we picked up Dad’s camper from Canadream, the rental company, and hit the road. With two campers, we crossed British Columbia eastward in 2 days, while Dad and Aga learnt the secrets of vanlife. We have to admit that the dry climate and prairie landscape of BC interior surprised me - British Columbia is usually associated with mountains and rainforests, of which there is plenty along the coast.

On the way, we realized that there’s a strange noise coming from our engine, and although we heard it before, it became more and more loud as we drove. We stopped at several garages, but they were all unwilling to work on our car as they were scared of possible issues with getting parts for this European diesel. Finally, a Ford service in Salmon Arm agreed to do the works while we continue to trip with Dad’s camper. We therefore packed our tent and sleeping bags and left El Transito in their parking. For the next 10 days or so we slept in the tent - an experience which made us appreciate the comforts of our campervan even more.

Canadian Rockies are basically completely divided between several national parks, the most known of which are Banff and Jasper NPs. We first stopped in smaller Yoho National Park, but most trails (there and actually everywhere) were inaccessible due to snow - apparently, the winter this year was unusually long.

In Banff NP, we tried several times to get to Lake Louise, which is the most known sight in the park, but the amount of people there prevented us to be able to park. We therefore retreated to less popular but equally beautiful Moraine Lake.

Another hike lead us up through a mountain pass to a hidden valley with heavenly views on surrounding mountains.

A big part of Banff NP stretches along the Icefield Parkway - a 230km long scenic highway that follows valleys and crosses passes to join the towns of Banff and Jasper.

There are many picturesque spots to stop along the way, e.g. Peyto Lake or Mistwaya Canyon. We had a great weather, although it sometimes got cold in the night due to the altitude (on the Icefield Parkway - above 2000 m asl).