Canadian Rockies & Glacier National Park Photo Blog
Tour Dates: September 3-9, 2025
Tour Director: Skip VanderSchaaf
Tour Director Highlights: After an early morning departure from Philadelphia, we arrived in beautiful Alberta, Canada. We met our Premier World Discovery Guide, Karen Hyde, who would be with us for the duration of our time in the Canadian Rockies. We were blessed to have Karen Hyde since she had grown up in Alberta and could provide many interesting insights.
We began with a visit to an indigenous hunting site called “Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump.” We learned how buffalo were hunted here for nearly 6,000 years. Then, we went on to see the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lake National Park.
We made our way to Glacier National Park and drove on the “Going to the Sun Highway” in the iconic 1930’s Red Jammer Touring Cars and crossed the Continental Divide at Logan Pass at 6,646 feet. There were many beautiful stops along the way. We spent the night at the rustic vintage 1913 Glacier Park Lodge, also known as the “Big Tree Lodge.” The interior, a Swiss inspired architecture, is dominated by towering 800 year old (at time of harvest) Douglas Fir trees.
The trip along the IceFields Parkway was beautiful! We saw Lake Louise and Jasper. We saw mountain peaks, glaciers, and canyons. Our stops at Lake Louise, Peyto Lake and Moraine Lake were like visiting a dream. We had the amazing experience of going up on the 1,000 foot thick Athabasca Glacier where some of us were able to sip ice cold pure glacier water!
We spent several days in the iconic town of Banff, which was our “home base,” as we then traveled to different venues in the area. Once back to the town of Banff, we walked the town or rode the shuttle bus through the town. We experienced the local culture, shops, and even that delicious Canadian ice cream at COWS! Our trip to the top of Sulfur Mountain overlooking Banff in the Banff Gondola provided us a view over the valley and the local wildlife. While on our tours, we saw wildlife—both bears and BigHorn Sheep.
We look forward to going on other tours with new friends and old friends. When people ask which tour we most enjoy, it’s hard to pick just one. We are blessed to visit many wonderful places, but the thing that blesses us the most are the wonderful people we travel with, and who have so richly blessed our lives in immeasurable ways. We call them our “new – old” friends.
—Skip
