Chompy the Beaver tours ALBERTA.

This is Chompy. He is a beaver. He is the Canadian symbol on the nickel. He has never been outside of BC so we decided to take him with us on our road trip to Alberta. We could have driven the 8.5 hours from here to Jasper but we didn't want him to get car sick so we started our road trip with a quick stop in the Okanagan. Plus it was Nallie's birthday and Chompy didn't want to be in the car all day on her birthday. If you wondered what 4 bikes,  2 kayaks, 1 SUP, lifejackets, paddles, and luggage for 10 days looks like, here it is...

JASPER NATIONAL PARK

• Hike Mt. Edith Cavell. Choose your own adventure, go down to the glacier, take an easier route or take the steep and challenging climb to the view point at the top. Chompy rode in my backpack and got a free ride to the top. The view is spectacular and totally worth the 4 hour round trip.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Valley of the 5 Lakes. Beauty of a lake - we would have had a better time if we didn't take our bikes. The first part was great on our bikes, nice cross country trail with a fun bridge but after the first few minutes it turned into a black diamond trail and we had to mostly push our bikes up and down all the rocks and roots. Chompy made it to First Lake and he approved of the view.
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• Bike around town. Jasper is super bike friendly - Jasper bike park as a pump track and fun berms. There's lots of routes that take you to beautiful lakes. I'd recommend biking around Lake Beaufort around sunset. Doesn't get any better than that!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hello Wildlife. We were greeted at our hotel with 2 huge elks. Check out the size of them! We failed to spot any moose but later along our travels we did see a black bear and goats. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Maligne Canyon. Choose your own adventure again. There are 5 bridges, you can choose to see one or all of them. The canyon and falls are pretty amazing. Chompy approved.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Tangle Falls. We couldn't help but pull over when we drove past. Totally worth it to hop out of the truck and run up to the top and touch the glacier water. Chompy was getting restless in the car and the waterfall was the perfect break.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Athabasca Glacier/Columbia Ice fields. Chompy hates places with too many tourists,  but it was worth stopping and doing the quick walk to the 'Toe of the Glacier" walk. 
  

  

  

  
  
  
  
• Peyto Lake. Another quick hike to see this stunning blue star-shaped lake. Chompy was asleep so we didn't wake him up for this one.
  
  
  
  
  
• Bow Lake. Gorgeous lake with glacier cold water and the back drop of the jagged rocky mountains. Totally worth the stop. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

BANFF NATIONAL PARK

• Lake Winnewanka. The visitor guide said we might be able to find mountain goats or big horn sheep here. Maybe travelling with a beaver scared off the wildlife. However, we did enjoy these gorgeous views though.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Vermillion Lake. Sight-seeing by bike is so much more fun than walking. Check out the Banff legacy trail and the Fenland loop and pack a lunch to eat by Vermillion lake.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Bike into downtown. So many tourists. Chompy hates the crowds. You'll never find a spot downtown to park your vehicle in the summer so leave your car at the free parking lot just outside of downtown and take your bike (or walk) to all the shops. They even have a free bike valet so you can ditch your bike once you're in the crowds. Have fun picking out your favorite souvenir shirts and trinkets.
  

  

  
  
  
  

CALGARY

• Calgary Zoo. Chompy was feeling nervous around the tigers and bears so he didn't come but the rest of us had fun at the zoo.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Fish Lake Provincial Park. You can get lost with all the winding trails, good thing our friends know the trails well so we didn't end up in Edmonton.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Big Sky BBQ Pit. Texas BBQ right in Alberta. They smoke their meat for 12-20 hours and the result is delicious, amazing brisket and ribs. They say everything is bigger in Texas and for sure the martini's are bigger here!
  

  

  
  

  

DRUMHELLER

• HooDoo Trail. Driving in from Calgary, it's a pretty uneventful 90 minutes of flat farmland but then the landscape changes suddenly and it's like you're on another planet. Chompy thought the hoodoos were spectacular. Watch where you're stepping when you're hiking up, we almost had a regretful encounter with a bull snake
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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• Royal Tyrell Museum. If you don't believe dinosaurs roamed the earth millions of years ago, you will after going through this museum. It's incredible how many fossils and dinosaur bones were found right here in Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial park (which is 2 hours past Drumheller)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

And that's a wrap. It was time to head back to BC making a stop in Revelstoke to try wake-surfing and then visiting friends in Kelowna and back to Chompy's home sweet home.

What an incredible roadtrip.

2,639 km 

 $875 of gas

There's a reason why we were able to spot license plates from 46 places outside of BC while we were in Alberta (both Carolinas, both Dakota's, Iowa, New York, Texas, Nova Scotia and even Mexico)....the national parks in Alberta are spectacular and worth the drive no matter where you're from. Chompy is feeling proud to be Canadian and glad to have seen a little bit more of our beautiful country.