Through the Canadian Rockies

Six Days in Jasper, Banff, and Yoho National Parks | 2023

Some places are beautiful in photographs.

Others make you realize that photographs can only begin to describe them.

In the summer of 2023, Teralyn and I spent six days traveling through the Canadian Rockies, beginning in Jasper National Park and following the mountains south through Banff before crossing into British Columbia and Yoho National Park.

For six days, turquoise glacial lakes, rushing rivers, waterfalls, glaciers and seemingly endless mountain ranges became our surroundings.

For a photographer, it was almost overwhelming.

Everywhere I looked, there was another photograph.

A scenic view of a rugged mountain valley with steep rocky slopes and dense green forest at the bottom, under a partly cloudy blue sky.

Jasper National Park

Our journey began in Jasper, where we spent our first two nights at Pine Bungalows, a collection of rustic cabins tucked among the trees just north of downtown Jasper.

It was exactly the sort of place we had hoped to find in the Canadian Rockies—quiet, wooded and surrounded by mountains.

A forested area with tall pine trees, some logs on the ground, and a grassy clearing. There are cabins with blue roofs partially visible among the trees.

During our two days in Jasper National Park, we explored the surrounding mountains and forests, including a ride aboard the Jasper SkyTram.

The tram carried us high above the valley toward Whistlers Mountain, providing an entirely different perspective on the enormous landscape surrounding Jasper.

Red cabin-style cable car ascending through a lush green forest with rocky cliffs in the background, and a cable car station visible on the mountain top.

But one of the most memorable experiences of our time in Jasper came with our feet firmly on the ground.

We hiked the entire five-mile Valley of the Five Lakes Trail, winding through dense forest and past a series of mountain lakes whose water seemed to change from one remarkable shade of blue and green to another.

At the time, it was simply a beautiful hike through Jasper.

Today, I look back at it differently

A river flowing through a dense forest of evergreen trees with tall mountains in the background under a blue sky with wispy clouds.

In July 2024—only a year after our visit—catastrophic wildfires swept through Jasper National Park and eventually into the town itself.

Areas through which we had hiked were devastated.

Places we had visited disappeared.

Even some of the smaller memories of the trip suddenly became more significant. During our stay, Teralyn and I enjoyed several meals at The Birch Kitchen + Bar in Jasper. It was simply one of those places that became part of our experience there.

It, too, was destroyed by the fire.

When I made these photographs in 2023, I was simply trying to capture a beautiful place.

I couldn't have known that some of them would also become a record of a landscape as we had known it before the fire.

The Icefields Parkway

Eventually it was time to leave Jasper and begin our journey south toward Banff.

But getting from one park to the other wasn't simply transportation.

The drive itself became one of the highlights of the trip.

The Icefields Parkway winds for more than 140 miles through the heart of the Canadian Rockies, passing beneath enormous peaks and alongside glaciers, waterfalls, turquoise rivers and valleys that seem to disappear endlessly into the mountains.

It was one of those rare drives when getting back into the car could almost feel frustrating.

Every few miles, there seemed to be another reason to stop.

One of those stops was Athabasca Falls.

Here, the enormous Athabasca River is suddenly forced through a narrow gorge, creating an extraordinary display of the power of moving water.

A waterfall flowing over rocky ledges in a forested mountain landscape with tall pine trees and mountains in the background.

Farther south, the landscape changed again as we reached the Columbia Icefield.

Standing near a glacier provides an entirely different sense of scale. Mountains that already appear enormous suddenly become part of something even larger—a landscape shaped over thousands of years by moving ice.

Snow-capped mountains under a partly cloudy sky, with a winding river flowing through a green valley in the foreground.

And then came Peyto Lake.

Even after several days surrounded by the extraordinary colors of the Canadian Rockies, the first view from above was astonishing.

The glacial water almost seemed illuminated from within, an intense turquoise ribbon surrounded by mountains and dark evergreen forest.

A scenic view of a turquoise blue lake surrounded by dense green pine forests and towering rocky mountains under a bright blue sky with scattered white clouds.

Farther along the parkway, we stopped again at Mistaya Canyon, where rushing glacial water has carved its way through the rock.

It was another reminder that this seemingly permanent landscape is actually constantly changing—shaped by water, ice, weather and time.

A mountain landscape featuring a snow-capped mountain range under a partly cloudy sky, with dense evergreen trees in the foreground and a flowing river at the bottom.

Banff National Park

If there is one visual signature of Banff, it may be the almost impossible color of its lakes.

Lake Louise certainly didn't disappoint.

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise sits at the edge of the water beneath towering mountains, creating one of the most recognizable scenes in the Canadian Rockies.

A large white hotel building with green roofs situated near a calm blue lake, surrounded by tall pine trees and mountains in the background under a partly cloudy sky.

But step away from the hotel and the landscape quickly takes over.

A scenic mountain landscape with a lake in the foreground, several kayakers on the water, surrounded by forested slopes and snow-capped peaks under a blue sky with clouds.

We also explored Johnston Canyon, where the experience became much more intimate.

Instead of enormous vistas stretching toward the horizon, the landscape closed around us—steep canyon walls, rushing water and waterfalls echoing through the narrow gorge.

A waterfall flowing into a river surrounded by lush green trees and rocky cliffs.
A river flowing over a small waterfall surrounded by lush green trees and rocky terrain.

And then there was Moraine Lake.

For our two nights in Banff, we stayed at Moraine Lake Lodge.

That meant Moraine Lake wasn't simply somewhere we visited during the day.

For a brief time, it was home.

A house with a gray shingled roof amidst tall green trees, with rocky mountains in the background.

Being able to stay beside the lake gave us the opportunity to experience it as the light changed and the crowds diminished.

And Moraine Lake changes constantly with the light.

Scenic mountain landscape with rocky peaks, green forested lower slopes, and a turquoise lake with boats, under a blue sky.

The enormous peaks of the Valley of the Ten Peaks rise directly behind the lake, while dense evergreens frame water so intensely colored that it almost doesn't seem real.

Occasionally, something as small as a canoe was enough to reveal just how enormous the surrounding landscape really was.

A scenic mountain lake with turquoise water, surrounded by tall pine trees and rugged, rocky mountains in the background. Several colorful canoes are lined up on the rocky shore, ready for use.
Scenic view of a turquoise lake surrounded by evergreen trees, with rugged mountain peaks in the background under a partly cloudy blue sky.

But my favorite moment at Moraine Lake came when the light transformed the mountains themselves.

As the low sun reached the upper peaks, the gray rock suddenly turned brilliant gold while the lake below remained a deep blue.

For a few minutes, everything came together—the mountains, the reflection, the trees, the color of the water and even a tiny red canoe almost disappearing within the enormous landscape.

It was one of those rare photographic moments when the scene in front of the camera already seemed complete.

A scenic photo of a mountain lake with clear reflections of rocky, forested mountains and tall pine trees, under a bright blue sky.

It remains one of my favorite photographs from the entire trip.

Yoho National Park

For the final two days of our journey, we crossed the Continental Divide from Alberta into British Columbia and Yoho National Park.

Our home for this part of the trip was Cathedral Mountain Lodge, another beautiful mountain retreat tucked among the evergreens.

A log cabin with a green metal roof is nestled among tall evergreen trees in a forested area.

From there, we explored some of Yoho's most remarkable landscapes.

At Takakkaw Falls, meltwater plunges dramatically from high above the valley floor.

A tall waterfall cascading down a rocky mountain surrounded by evergreen trees.

From the falls the meltwater rushes through the valley and into the Yoho River.

Mountain landscape with dark clouds, tall pine trees, a river flowing through the valley, and a large flat-topped mountain in the background.

And then there was Emerald Lake.

After nearly a week of extraordinary scenery, it would have been reasonable to think we'd become accustomed to turquoise water surrounded by mountains.

We hadn't.

A scenic view of a mountain with a forested base, a lake with turquoise water, and a small village with houses near the shoreline. The sky is mostly blue with some clouds.

Six days after arriving in Jasper, our journey through the Canadian Rockies was coming to an end.

And despite hundreds of photographs, I'm still not sure any camera can adequately communicate what it feels like to stand in a place like this.

A wide-angle lens can capture a mountain.

It can't capture the feeling of being surrounded by them.

A photograph can record the extraordinary blue of a glacial lake.

It can't quite reproduce the experience of seeing that color appear through the trees for the first time.

And a photograph can preserve a landscape.

Sometimes, as we learned after the Jasper fire, that becomes more important than we ever expected when the shutter was pressed.

Looking back at these photographs now, I remember the mountains, lakes, glaciers and waterfalls.

But I also remember the cabins in the woods, meals after long days of exploring, stopping the car yet again because we had discovered another impossible view, and waking each morning knowing that Teralyn and I had another extraordinary place waiting outside our door.

Three national parks.

Six days.

Hundreds of photographs.

And one journey through the Canadian Rockies that neither of us will ever forget.