Canada and Alaska: Air, Land and Sea
Many moons ago, when discussions of the Canadian economy used to form a part of my working life, I had a colleague who would invariably follow any mention of the country with the phase ‘Canada; the gentle giant of the north’. It’s an epithet that’s well-deserved; there are far fewer places north of Canada than south; there is a politeness and consideration in the people that gives it a gentleness; and it’s huge, about 128 times the size of Scotland. It’s also very pretty.
Sunset, Lake Louise
Fujifilm X-H2S | 16mm f/11 1/8s ISO160
Helen and I spent close to three weeks in Canada and Alaska at the end of April and beginning of May. This was a retirement celebration holiday that we’d had to put on hold because of you-know-what. There’s also no suggestion that we can do an area as vast and diverse as this any justice in a little under three weeks; this was more of a tasting experience. Nonetheless, we had a fantastic time and we’d hope to be back in the not too distant future.
Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper - Air and Land
We started the trip by flying into Calgary, where a very pleasant young man picked us up and drove us up to Banff where we were booked in for three nights. The drive from Calgary is about an hour and a half and the latter part of the journey starts to gently climb into the mountains as you enter the Banff National Park. What’s slightly more difficult to appreciate is the altitude. Calgary is already over 3,000ft above sea level; by the time you get into Banff you’re around 4,500ft above sea level and well above the height of Ben Nevis. You’re also still surrounded by mountains!
I should note that this was a holiday rather than a photographic experience. This point was made abundantly clear before we travelled. The consequence was that those golden hours of sunrise and sunset, so beloved of landscape photographers, were generally reserved for eating, drinking and rising at a civilised hour rather than hunched over a tripod or in search of the ideal composition. This meant that I ended up shooting mainly in the middle of the day and while the weather was brilliant (bright sunshine and uncharacteristically warm), it’s not ideal for photography.
In Banff we thought we’d done well climbing Tunnel Mountain, the following day’s gondola rise up Sulfer Mountain put the relative heights into context. The views, however, were magnificent with 360 degree views of mountains surrounding the peak. In between these exertions we ate well and enjoyed some local brews at a selection of the local restaurants, distilleries and breweries. It’s certainly a place we could have spent more time.
Bow River, Banff
Fujifilm X-H2S | 36mm f/11 4s ISO160
From Banff it was a relatively short bus ride to the Fairmont at Lake Louise. The spot is as stunning as its reputation suggests, although even this early in the season it’s very busy during the day. One of the benefits of staying at the Fairmont is that you’re right on the lakeside and, first thing and later on in the day, it’s much quieter. The view of the lake works in most lights and conditions rewards more than one visit.
There are also some good walking trails around the area. We did the shoreline walk on the first afternoon and then took the relentless (and still quite icy) walk up to Mirror Lake the following morning. Despite the ice the path was still quite navigable, although there were some quite deep drifts just off the trail, as Helen discovered!
Lake Louise
Fujifilm X-H2S | 16mm f/11 120s ISO160
In an ideal world we would have taken the Iceway Explorer up to Jasper, but we were slightly too earlier in the season so we ended up on a bus transfer instead, which was still very picturesque.
Jasper was also our first experience of Canadian wildlife; as well as the local big-horned sheep and elk we also spotted bald-headed eagles and Osprey, as well as an unexpected snake! As with Banff, the town was friendly, with plenty of good options for food and drink and we were sorry not to have more time there.
Rocky Mountaineer and Vancouver - Rail
The second leg of the trip saw us take the Rocky Mountaineer train from Jasper to Vancouver, with an overnight stop in Kamloops. The experience was fabulous - great scenery, brilliant service, good food and drink and some excellent chat along the way. It gets nothing but a five star review from us and is something that we’d recommend without hesitation.
Rocky Mountain Rails
Fujifilm X-S10 | 33mm f/8.0 1/250s ISO320
However, it’s not a trip I’d recommend if you’re looking to photograph the Rockies in all their glory. There are a couple of problems. Firstly, you’re on a moving platform, meaning you need to be reactive rather than being able to plan your shots. The train isn’t moving at speed - maybe 20mph to 30mp - but it’s fast enough that the scenes constantly change and disappear.
The second issue is the viewpoint. There’s an open area at the back of the carriage down at track level which is a good platform, but most of the time (and in common with many railways) there’s a fair amount of foliage at trackside. The human eye is brilliant at ignoring these distraction; the camera less so. The higher viewpoint of the main carriage affords a better view, but here you’re shooting through glass with all the attendant colour casts and reflections.
That said, I did manage to grab a couple of shots along the way and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The end destination for the Rocky Mountaineer was Vancouver, from where we were to start and end the Alaska leg of the holiday. We had a full day before and a couple of days after that trip to look around the city. On the whole, our impression was that it’s a great city (although, in common with most large cities, not without its areas of deprivation). We managed to take in the main highlights, including Granville Island Market and Stanley Park, which we circumnavigated with the aid of electric bikes.
We also took in the hop-on / hop-off bus tour. This operates slightly differently in Vancouver in that the eschew luxuries such as modern buses and trained drivers in favour of ancient rolling stock and drivers whose primary aim it to avoid hitting too much on the way around. Our driver didn’t succeed.
Nonetheless, it’s a great place to spend some time and well worth the visit.
Vancouver Waterfront
Fujifilm X-H2S | 40mm f/8.0 1/640s ISO160
Alaska - Sea
The highlight of the trip was probably the seven night cruise from Vancouver up towards Alaska, taking in the inside passage, Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan. While the boat was excellent and the destinations fantastic, the dining experience was not all it could or should have been. That said, with that caveat, we’d highly recommend the trip. The small part of Alaska that we were lucky enough to see was truly beautiful.
Tracy Arm
Fujifilm X-H2S | 26mm f/8.0 1/640s ISO320
We had great weather for the majority of the cruise, with the exception of Ketchikan which was having one of its 300 annual days of rain. It makes Glasgow look dry in comparison! A short walk around the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau was rewarded with some great views, while we also had a couple of lovely sunrises and sunsets. What is striking about the Alaskan towns we visited is their remoteness.
There’s no road route into any of the places we visited, with the only viable options being either sea or air. They are, however, incredibly pretty places and realistically for most people, the only way that they’ll experience these towns is on a cruise tour.
The highlight, however, was the wildlife. There’s some quite intriguing flora on some of the trails, which is quite photogenic. The structures of the Elderberry caught the eye, while the Devil’s Club is just a nasty looking plant! Eagles were plentiful - the nesting pair were snapped from a small boat while the close-up was taken at SItka’s Raptor Centre.
The bears were also taken in Sitka. We’d seen bears from both the train and the boat, although thankfully none at close quarters while out and about. The pair shown here were rescue bears given a home after their respective mothers were killed in motor accidents. Without the intervention of the sanctuary both would have been shot.
The most memorable experience though was the whale watching trips. We were lucky enough to see whales in both Sitka and Juneau, with the added bonus of seeing a colony of sea otters in Sitka. They’re both incredibly cute and quite loud. The pinnacle was the whale watching trip in Juneau where we were lucky enough to watch a young humpback breaching and playing in the waters off the town.
I’m not sure the photographs do the subject justice, but it was a privilege to spend time observing these incredible animals.
In conclusion then, it was a magnificent trip and one that we enjoyed immensely. It’s not the type of trip that we’d done in the past, but it’s definitely given us an appetite to explore more widely. Now we’re back and recovered we need to start planning…
