Great Canadian Loop 1 - From LA to Golden, BC

I have a "bucket list;" a list of places on the planet that I want to experience that I have not had the opportunity to visit so far.  I just returned from crossing one of them off the list:  Banff National Park in Canada.  It is west of Calgary, Alberta.  It did not disappoint!

We made a sixteen day trip of it.  To begin, we went north to visit Adam & Emily and their four children (including the triplets) in Northern California (Concord).  Continuing north, we paid a visit to my cousin Scott who lives and works at a hospital in the town at the base of Mt. Shasta. We continued north to the Seattle area and visited our daughter Rebecca and grandson Isaac.  

It was time to start viewing nature and we spent a little over a day at North Cascades National Park near the Canadian border, northeast of Seattle.  We then went into British Columbia, Canada, and driving northeast we journeyed through the Glacier National Park of Canada to the west border of Banff National Park.  Actually, the first park you encounter as you head east from Golden, BC, toward Banff is Yoho National Park.  There are four national parks that abut one another and we saw three of them (we didn't have time for Jasper--next time!)  Leaving Banff to go south to Glacier National Park in Montana, we went through Kootenay National Park.

This first posting of pictures from the trip are those I took on the way to Banff.  For better or worse, it was either overcast or raining for most of these pictures.  Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy the beauty half as much as we did.  As time permits, I will winnow through the rest of the 200+ pictures I took, and post more of the best pictures from this extraordinary experience.  

1- Majestic Mt. Shasta in Northern California on an overcast day

2- Falls near a dam-created lake in North Cascades National Park--probably about 150 feet

3- Woods near the dam-created lake, called Gorge Lake 

4- A random mountain in North Cascades National Park while hiking

5- Diablo Lake while hiking in NCNP--notice the green color of the water--it's caused by glacial runoff

6- Cloud covered mountains in NCNP while hiking

7&8- A beautifully rewarding waterfall at the end of a tiring hike in NCNP

9- A California quail in a Canadian conifer

10- Beauty on the road through Glacier National Park BC to Revelstoke, BC--notice the glaciers and the falls and how green the foilage is

11- Rain covered dogwood blossoms in Kelowna, BC

12- Rushing, voluminous falls on the road through Glacier National Park, BC

13- Rain covered red maple leaves in Kelowna

14&15- Simply beautiful mountain in Glacier National Park, BC--two different views.  The was the beginning of sun drenched blue skies that lasted for pretty much the rest of the trip