Our last few days in the Canadian Rockies provided clear skies, more abundant wildflowers, stunning hikes and views, and some incredible places to settle into for the evening.
Camp along the Athabasca River
Wilcox Pass Hike
Another lovely camping spot, this one in the overflow lot, and still these views! 
This page is dedicated to you, Aunt Annette!
K’s become obsessed with wildflowers. The 5 mile hike to Wilcox Pass (next post) turned into a 3.5 hour journey as we captured not only the stunning glacial views, but tried to identify and photograph each type of wildflower!
Western Anemone (maybe Globeflower)
Moss Campion 
Poorly photographed Alpine Buttercups
Alpine Forget-Me-Nots
Columbine
Pink Wintergreen
Arrow-leaved Groundsel
Leafy Asters
(unknown…?)
Orange Agoseris
We’ve seen endless stretches of these Fire Weeds
And of course, in all shades, Indian Paintbrush
And an abundance of these… yellow flowers
Another inspiring day of climbing at Grassi Lakes, just outside of Canmore.
Here’s K on an over-hung, pumpy 10c on super pocketed limestone
Not pictured: Jason’s several bold leads of the day!
The Radical Reel films at the Banff Center only inspired more climbing! For now, we’re off to music festivaling in Calgary…
After leading the day off by making my handsome man some coffee in bed, I (Karina) finally stopped being a wuss bag and did some leading on an INCREDIBLE 9 pitch bolted route on Take it for Granite at Guide’s Rock, just outside of Banff. We’re both beaming, a little ragged, and now re-hydrating at Grizzly Paw Brewing.
Our route up Aftenroe on Take it for Granite wall 
Mentally preparing 
All smiles mid-route
Rappelling our way back to Marge with gorgeous views of Bow River, the Canadian Rockies and freight trains snaking their way in between
I’ve been dreaming about the bugaboos since I (Jason) was a kid reading climbing magazines that show off photos of the most incredible destinations that I could ever dream to go to. Bugaboo spire even made the cover of my favorite mountaineering book, “Freedom of the hills”.
The beauty of a road trip is getting to visit these places that I have been dreaming about for so long. And the bugaboos exceeded expectations! Plus intimidated the hell out of me…..
You know this spot is crazy as soon as you enter the parking lot where every car is rigged up to survive the nightly porcupine attacks. Apparently they love to chew tires, break lines and just about any other piece of the car they can get their mouths on.
The night before the trek into the Conrad Kain hut we finally got some work done from the van. Here’s proof for those who don’t believe us.
Sunset the night before from our campground with the hound’s tooth, a rarely climbed spire, poking up in the distance (note the bear spray in hand; it never leaves your side up here!).
The real fun began the next morning with a brutal climb up to the Conrad Kain hut at the base of the glacier.
Despite the brutal climb, we were rewarded with a rainbow over the Purcell mountains.
The Bugaboos is a truly magical place, but the routes are intimidating! These massive spires rise thousands of feet out of the largest glaciers I’ve been on, in a setting that feels like the top of the world. Not to mention the fickle weather!
Unfortunately the weather held us back from doing any big routes. Instead we had a great day of practicing glacier travel, ice skills and touring around the incredible cirque beneath Bugaboo and Snow Patch spires.
Relaxing after a long day
And heading down to the warmth of the hut
Though we didn’t conquer any of these summits, the trip was still a success. Some of the most awe inspiring terrain we’ve ever seen!
We seem to be keeping apace with the sun the further we head north with steady 10pm sunsets. LOVING the long days!
Unfortunately, we’ve also been chasing smoke since Wyoming, with several Canadian fires and winds blowing smoke south. The hazy views started in the Tetons, and are pretty regular up here in the Canadian Rockies. That said, this is still absolutely stunning country with climbing, hiking, mountaineering playgrounds abound!
And while the hazed pictures don’t do the place justice, here’s a few shots of our climbing walls on the far side of Lake Louise in Banff National Park:
(Karina hiding on the rocks, Where’s Waldo-esque)
Canada’s Glacier National Park in the Selkirk mountain range is just one ridge over from the Rockies, but an entirely new world of lush green
Glacier is a great tribute to America’s national park system. The trails, roads and campsites are beautifully architected to accentuate the beauty of the northern Rockies. 2 Nights in the park gave us time to explore the snow capped Logan Pass and enjoy a hike crossing the Continental Divide and the park from West to East.
Though a late storm had close the trail we planned to hike, it was fun playing in the snow on Logan Pass.
And the mountain goats know that they rule the mountains of Glacier. They have no fear of heights or tourists.
Day two’s hike across Swiftcurrent Pass brought sweeping views of the Western slopes of the park with lush forest’s, jagged peaks and fields of wildflowers reminiscent of the Swiss Alps.
Unabashed Hoary Marmots!
Endless stretches of glowing yellow Glacier Lillies.
Cresting the Continental Divide and looking east into a completely new landscape of rocky peaks and colorful valleys.
The blooming Bear Grass dominated the eastern slopes.
After good luck hitchhiking back across the park a few hours with AAA got us back into our car. It’s still unclear how the keys got locked inside 😉
We were provided with underwhelming reports for climbing in Montana, but we hit our stride on these fun rocks of Gallatin Canyon straddling either side of the main road into Bozeman.
(If you look closely, you’ll see Lloyd’s Lads on this wall)
Bozeman kindles daydreams of living in a relatively small town, with weekly summer festivals sporting signs like these… 
… and local breweries
… where you may find old friends of friends (Hey Scottie!) 
(Not pictured: Us floating down the Blackfeet River with Montana brews at sunset)
The lulls (mechanical problems) and delights of a road trip endeared us with, impatiently at times, some adventures and misadventures as we meandered from Wyoming to Montana.
A key highlight was connecting with our new friends, Sparky and Andy, in Jackson who, after a brief meeting on the climbing walls in Wild Iris, invited us into their home (Thanks, Sparky and Andy!) And one of the nice things about being ‘stuck’ in a place is exploring places you otherwise wouldn’t…
We found ourselves on the bouldering walls in a Jackson park. Not a bad way to kill time.
Obsessing over the endless fields of wildflowers in Granite Canyon that led to hot springs.
Post hot springs in the mountains.
Devouring watermelon, down by a river.
Up close and personal with the elk in the Tetons.
And our goodbye to the Tetons
And goodbye to Wyoming with a sunset in Yellowstone
Left in Wyoming, on the bucket list: Climbing Devils Tower, Ten Sleep, and Grand Teton
