PICTURE GALLERY - CANADA
Here you can see Canada,
the second biggest nation of the world after Russia.
These pages talk about Western Canada, an area particularly interesting
bacause of their astonishing landscapes, the Canadian Rockies,
whose silhouette is clearly visible on the horizon when coming from the
flat plains of central Canada (the Plains) - see pic #3.
A suggested itinerary is from Calgary toVancouver through the Rockies: it's the route I followed, but beware: I wasn't the only one! It is much easier to rent a car for the same route but in the opposite direction...
The 4 natural
parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho are very interesting.
They are side by side, so they form a unique area of 20238
sq.km of protected wilderness !
All images
© 2000 Manuel Hood
Date: September
1998
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Downtown Calgary, modern city which gained its prosperity thanks to the rich Alberta soil (oil). |
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Calgary by night as seen from a nearby hill. |
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After a long trip in the plains here are the Rockies ! |
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The Banff Springs Hotel, a luxury resort. |
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Elks roaming freely in the town of Banff... who is brave enough to tell them something ? |
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Dawn in Canmore, small town near the park entrance. |
| Curiosity:among
the 4 parks cited above, Banff is the most touristically developed
one. If you like the wild backcountry you would prefer Jasper, while
Yoho e Kootenay, though magnificent, are much smaller. It is interesting to note that the first parks (Banff was the first one) were not created with nature conservation in mind. Their aim was recreation: in fact in 1883 the omnipresent wilderness didn't need to be preserved! Detailed information online at http://parkscanada.pch.gc.ca |
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Mountains in the Banff National Park. |
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A peak getting out of the clouds in Yoho Nat'l Park. |
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On the left you can see the "table"-shaped Mount Rundle. Autumnal colors mix with snow after a short September snowfall. |
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In the Rockies every park has plenty of waterfalls, like this one in Johnston Canyon. |
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Ther beauty of Nature pushes towards mediation (possibly accompanied by a big pot of spaghetti) |
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Banff Valley, with the hoodoos in foreground. They consist of erosion formation similar to the "omèni" di Segonzano found in Italy's Trentino. |