Midnight Sun Adventure Travel

2010 Canada Adventure Tours: Rocky Mountain Vacations

The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Tour: The focus of this wildlife tour is hiking, wildlife viewing and camping in Canada's Rockies.  

Designed for those who want get off the beaten path and get into the park, the Rockies Wildlife Tour enables travellers to hike and walk some of the most scenic trails in the Canadian Rockies. We explore seven provincial and national parks and a wide variety of terrain including spectacular alpine meadows, sweeping glaciers, hanging valleys and mountain forests and streams. This varied terrain provides great opportunity for wildlife spotting opportunities including black and grizzly bears, moose, elk, deer, Bighorn Sheep and wolves. We spend our last night in the luxury of a lakeside resort.  

Join us on our Rocky Mountain tour as we camp in the shadow of snow capped peaks, soak in hot springs and canoe on a crystal clear mountain lake.

Midnight Sun Travel supports the wildlife conservation efforts of the Valhalla Wilderness Society and donates $50 for every seat sold.

Day 2. & 3 Wells Gray Provincial Park.

In the morning we have the option to hike to Mehatl Falls, near Nahatlatch Provincial Park. Mehatl Falls is nestled in a subalpine bowl – a great setting for wildlife spotting. Later we can hike the winding trail along the creek, which leads to breathtaking photographic opportunities at the Mehatl Cascades. After our hike we'll head out and make our way north following the Thompson River. As we follow the river we enter Caribou Country, a region of rolling hills and prairies, thick forests, granite-walled canyons and impressive river valleys. Here, ranching, logging and mining are the mainstays of the local economy. We settle in at our campgroud and prepare for our adventure into Wells Gray Provincial Park.

On Day 3 we drive along the scenic Wells Gray corridor of rushing rivers and million year old geological rock and volcanic landforms. In the morning we'll see Helmcken Falls, Canada's fourth highest waterfall, and one of it's best-kept secrets. Plunging 141 meters in a straight drop, this waterfall is about three times higher than Niagara Falls. Later we'll visit Ray Springs Mineral Farm - an old abandoned homestead that has become a haven for wildlife viewing. At Clearwater Lake we'll have the option of a guided overnight canoe trip.

Accommodation: camping in Wells Gray Provincial Park. Showers available on both days.

Optional Activities: overnight canoe trip

Day 4 & 5. Jasper National Park, AB.
After breakfast we'll pack camp and head further north. Our first stop will be to board our boat that will take us on a one hour tour into Grizzly Bear Valley deep in the Monahsee Mountains. Here black and grizzly bears are often seen foraging for food along the river beds. We continue our drive, rejoining the North Thompson River to meet up again with the mighty Fraser River near Mt. Robson Provincial Park. The 3,954 meter high mountain for which the park is named guards the park's western entrance. After crossing the BC/Alberta border we stop at Jasper to replenish our supplies before heading out to our campground.

Spanning 1,078 square kilometers of broad valleys and craggy mountains, Jasper is the largest of Canada's Rocky Mountain National Parks. On Day 5, we drive out to Maligne Canyon and Lake where many a grizzly has been seen wandering its isolated hillsides and lakeshores. There is also potential for black bear, elk, moose, mule and white-tail deer, bighorn sheep, and mountain goat. Passengers will have the option to hike the Bald Hills or enjoy a scenic boat tour on Maligne Lake. Later in the evening we’ll have the option to take the aerial Tram to the top of Whistler Mountain.

Accommodation: Camping in Jasper National Park. Showers available on both days.
Optional Activities: icewalking, Snow-coach ride, Jasper Tram


Day 6 & 7. Banff National Park & Lake Louise, AB.
On Day 6 we get an early start and make our way to Banff National Park for a full day of sightseeing along the Rocky Mountains. Our first early morning stop will be at Mount Kerkeslin viewpoint, a known salt lick for mountain goats. We also stop at Athabasca Falls, one of the most powerful falls to be found in the mountain national parks. Travelling through Sunwapta Pass we’ll look for the elusive moose. Other wildlife often seen on the Icefield parkway include, elk, deer, and grizzly bears.

The Columbia Icefield is the largest of the chain of ice fields along the Great Divide separating Alberta and British Columbia. This 325 square km. accumulation of ice feeds six large glaciers. You can see three of them - the Athabasca , the Dome, and Stutfield - from the Icefield Parkway. In the late morning we arrive at the Athabasca Glacier. In the company of certified mountain guides, clients will have the option to strap on crampons and join a naturalist for a two hour guided walk on the surface of the Athabasca Glacier, a massive river of ice riddled with an estimated 30,000 crevasses. Afterward, we’ll have free time to visit the Icefield Interpretive Centre. In the late afternoon we arrive in Banff National Park. This park encompasses 6,641 square kilometers of mountains, glaciers, forests and alpine meadows.

We start the morning of Day 7 with a one-hour hike of Johnston Canyon. After a brief stop at camp we'll head out to world famous Lake Louise. Following a buffet lunch at Ten Peaks Lodge we'll board the Gondola and ascend to an elevation of 2088 meters. After our visit to the Lake Louise area we'll stop at the townsite of Banff, where travellers will be given free time in the late afternoon to explore Banff on their own, enjoy the optional Sulphur Mountain Hot Springs (included in tour package) and take dinner at their own expense. Enroute back to camp we’ll stop at the Vermillion Lakes to look for wildlife including moose, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, bears, coyotes, and wolves, Other highlights of the day include Bow Falls and views of Castle Mountain. Optional activities include Sulphur Mountain Tram, a tour of Banff Springs Hotel and horseback riding.

Accommodation: Camping in Banff National Park. Showers available on both nights.
Optional Activities: Trail riding, helicopter scenic flights with and without glacier landings and entrance to Sulphur Mountain Hot Springs.

Day 8 & 9 Yoho National Park, B.C.
On Day 8 travellers can pursue a number nature-based optional activities including: white water rafting on the Kicking Horse River and a visit to the Grizzly Bear Sanctuary at Kicking Horse Resort. The Kicking Horse Grizzly Bear Refuge operates a wilderness centre for research, education, and conservation. The 22-acre sanctuary is the largest protected enclosed grizzly bear refuge in the world and provides a home and a second chance at life for orphaned grizzly bear cubs. Passengers not wishing to take part in the optional activities can take either the Leanchoil Hoodoo or Wapta Falls Trail, a 2-3 hour walk.

On Day 9 passengers have the option to go looking for water fowl along the Columbia River on a river safari or hiking the Yoho Valley. Later we’ll visit Emerald Lake for a 2 hour hike around the lake and along the foot of Yoho Valley. Our day concludes as we make our way to Takakkaw Falls, the highest in the Canadian Rockies and look for mountain sheep high up on the sheer mountain cliffs.

Accommodation: Camping in Yoho National Park. Riverside bathing.
Optional Activities: Kicking Horse Gondola, Columbia River Safaris, whitewater rafting on the Kicking Horse River.

Day 10. Chase, B.C. (via Glacier National Park)
We leave the Rockies - but not the Mountains and head west to Glacier National Park. Here we’ll stop at the visitor centre and enjoy a hike in an old growth forest. Crossing both the Columbia and Monahsee Mountain Ranges, we drop down to the Shuswap Lake area and spend our last night in a First Nation’s Resort nestled on the shores of this great lake. We’ll arrive in plenty of time to enjoy the facilities and a have a fun, last meal out together.

Accommodation: Lodge, a unique 72-room lakefront resort hotel on the shores of Little Shuswap Lake, owned and operated by the Little Shuswap First Nation. Facilities include licensed dining, indoor pool, steam room, whirlpool and an exercise room.

Day 11. Vancouver, BC.
Our last leg of the journey takes us along the Trans Canada Highway from Salmon Arm to Kamloops and over the scenic Coquihalla Highway to Hope. We arrive in Vancouver, bordered by the majestic Coastal Mountains and Pacific Ocean.

We return to Vancouver by approximately 5:00 pm.

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