Day 13 – We bid farewell to Mike, Christine and Lyra, who returned to Vancouver. We drove another half hour to Banff National Park and found a campsite at Lake Louise. The whole tenting area of the campsite is surrounded with a 10000 Volt anti-bea…

Day 12 – Mike had arranged a hike up into the Mt. Stephen shale. This is a UNESCO world heritage site and hikers are only allowed into the area in the company of a guide. The richest Cambrian mud deposits are further restricted (you’ll see a chain…

Day 11 – The next day we moved camp to the Chancellor campground in Yoho, and took a short hike to Laughing Falls: 8 km roundtrip and 60 m of elevation. (The hike starts close to the Takakkaw Falls–the first falls pictured).

Days 3 and 4 – We picked Peter up in Eau Claire, and headed west across MN, then North Dakota, camping for the night in Jamestown. The next day we stopped at the Painted Canyon (Badlands) and really enjoyed the short hike from a rest stop down int…