Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada My recent trip

I spend the past week in the Canadian Rockies with my wife. We lodged in Canmore and branched out from there. Spent quite a bit of time hiking where we could actually get access (seems like most places in Banff are closed) We hiked about halfway to Mt. Assiniboine one day and I paid dearly for it the next day. Lake Louise was so crowded it was almost impossible to enjoy. I honestly think there are 3 or 4:1 Asians to all other races combined. Those Asians sure like to get the h3ll out of Dodge!

The scenery was better than I could have imagined. The weather was wonderful. We hiked up about Lake Louise and I found a thermometer hanging on an old ski building. It read 38 F. Pretty chilly day for July. We enjoyed the Bow river, saw Grizzlies and a few elk and mule deer. I glassed up a couple of goats one day as well.

Getting out of the airplane in Phoenix was a rude awakening! Wish I could have stayed a month!

Couple of things I didn't like:

I have no idea what the infatuation is with Tim Hortons??? A vegan fast food for the most part!

We did a road trip one day and ended up in Golden BC- we couldn't get out of there fast enough!

Some things were just stupid expensive-head scratching expensive. Sorry about the dollar.

You guys must have some scary high taxes because that Highway 1 was without a doubt the most meticulously maintained road I have ever had the pleasure of driving on anywhere in the world.

Glad you enjoyed it.

- Tim Hortons. Donuts and hot chocolate are awesome. I much prefer it to Krispy Kreme. In the last year or two they’ve introduced their “beyond meat” option. I’m not a fan.

- Golden is a big truck stop on the way to nicer places

- We get hosed compared to prices in the US. The exchange rate doesn’t help.

- We do. Between all the various types of taxes, I would say 50-60% of our income goes to tax.

We bought Tim's bits twice and they were good. I guess I was expecting it to be McDonalds.

Jordan and Dennis;
Good afternoon to you both, I hope that the day is as fine and warm in both your locales as it is here.

Indeed as Jordan mentioned, I too prefer the Tim's donuts to Krispy Kreme - but can take or leave the coffee. Honestly though it may be heresy to admit this, I prefer McDonald's coffee over Tim's.

Golden - well it's Golden alright and has been for as long as I've been traveling through it which is nigh onto 40 years now. It is a sight for sore eyes if one's fuel gauge has been pegged on E for awhile or if you're riding a blizzard and want a place to sit it out instead.

Please don't get me started on prices here in Canada.... I just ordered some replacement hydraulic cylinders for our mid-life crisis - a 40th Anniversary rag top Mustang. They were $85 USD each and by the time they land here I'll be into them for more than $150CDN each.

I'd say your tax calcs are right on the money too Jordan - pardon the use of that term in these circumstances.

Anyway I'm glad Dennis had a good trip and returned home safely.

All the best to you both as we head closer to the fall.

Dwayne

Hey Dennis thanks for coming up. Timmies is quite different than McDonalds. Good coffee and donut my dad loves the iced cappuccino. The president of McDonalds Canada has come out as very pro beef and pro Canadian beef so I’m leaning more to Mcdonalds for coffee now.

Lots of very cool hikes outside of the national parks. If you come up again drop me a PM and I can steer you to some cool hikes with far fewer people.

Dennis, Jordan, Dwayne and George, I'm not a coffee drinker, but I do listen to talk radio.

At one time Tim's allegedly had the best coffee, but they merged with Wendy's. About that time, their coffee contract was up. Some brainiac decided it cost too much or they could do better or McDonald's out bid them. Anyways now most people I know think McDonald's coffee is the best and Tim's is tolerable. Must say I like Tim's donuts and they have some decent soups and sandwiches.

Asians. Whole planeloads fly in. Bus after bus head out on tours of the Rockies. They can be rude. Money seems to be no object, Banff etc can be very expensive.

Until this week, it has been a cooler spring and summer. Always prepare for the weather changes in the mountains. The climate changes as you climb up. Plants above the tree line are similar to the arctic.

When I come up again, I will want to venture out somewhere that doesn't have so many "rules". I mean we weren't even allowed to step off the bloody trails!

I had ONE burger while in Canada and it was not at a fast food place. It was at some gourmet eatery in Banff. I didn't even spring for "grass fed". I was bound and determined to get a burger after the Timmy let-down. It was $21 for a burger but it was good! Never met nicer folks along the way either. Most of the workers everywhere were just seasonal imports but they had a smile and did great-except in Golden! Fuel was quite a bit more expensive in Golden than it was in Banff or Canmore and those two were a lot more than Calgary. I guess the fuel trucks run east to west?

Dennis;
If you ever head up into BC through Highway 97, do feel free to give me a shout and I'll do my best to get some coffee, food or if it's in season some "world famous" ice cream into you.

Like my friend GRF mentioned too, I can likely point you to some of the "less traveled" places to hike down here.

We've traveled a fair bit in the southern half of the province too, so could give some ideas where you might want to go or see either in the Kootenays, Okanagan or Vancouver Island.

The gas prices in BC are always about as silly as one can get - so since Golden is in BC, you pay more because we've got much higher provincial taxes on just about everything.

Anyway sir, thanks for coming up and all the best to you as we head into the fall.

Dwayne

Neither am I, which is why I mentioned that the hot chocolate is awesome...

All those issues are "Banff" issues, aka tourist attraction issues. Canmore is only slightly better than Banff. Once you get off the beaten trail things improve vastly.

Sometimes a goid hot chocolate is a good thing. Not fond of the salted caramel fad. Caramel ain't bad, but the salt ruins it for me.

Dwayne, I'll keep that in mind. I drove from Arizona to Shuswap (spelling) lake one time- that is about as far north in BC as I have been.

Dennis

Dennis,

Glad you enjoyed that part of Canada. Have been visiting around there (and other parts of Alberta and BC) for quite a while now. In fact we keep a stash of Canadian money on hand in case we decide to go again!

Far northern BC is worth the trip as well: While the "tourist" facilities aren't as abundant, it's a lot less crowded!

Glad you had a good time, if you want to see a small piece of Canada keep away from the tourist dumps and go somewhere you can hike off the trails. Maybe it would be a good idea to contact a member of the fire who lives in the area that could point you in the direction of a good time at a reasonable price.
The reason why you see the #1 maintained meticulously is because for many years it was a 2 lane hwy whereby people went hurtling off the road into the abyss below.

sse;
Good evening to you sir, I hope the last day of July 2019 treated you well.

I'm going to have to admit that I'm confused as to why you're confused.

Is it that I prefer the taste of most batches of McDonald's coffee to the coffee most often found here in BC Tim Horton's?

Or is it that I admit to flagrant anti-Canadian activity in doing so?

Of it it another option I've not yet conceived in my current state of confusion?

Thanks in advance and all the best to you regardless of your coffee preferences.

Dwayne

LOL...all of the above...i can't help but judge

sse;
Good morning to you sir, thanks for the reply and here's hoping this first day of August is a good one.

I was going to enter some sort of witty retort that if you continue to be judgmental about such things you're in jeopardy of becoming an honorary Canadian....

Then of course, being a Canuck, I felt that in all probability I'd regret doing so and have to apologize for it after the fact.

All the best to you this August sir - again regardless of your coffee preferences!

Dwayne

PS;
My eldest daughter is a coffee snob, so I do understand that such folks exist.

She however, doesn't understand how her sophisticated taste buds could have come from my much less picky palate.

i was landed for a few years so i have some street cred, while millions have abandoned Timmie's i still have not

You really should, their coffee is crap !

BS

Tim Hortons did make the effort to set up shop in Afghanistan so Canadian troops could have a taste of home while serving. My daughter, who was serving in the US Army as a blackhawk pilot, was deployed out of Ft. Drum in New York. It was common for them to travel up to Kingston just to go to Tim Hortons and have coffee. In Afghanistan, she was in Bagram while the Tim Hortons was in Khandahar so she didn't get to visit much. Ted, from Whitehorse, and his congregation sent them a Tim Hortons coffee maker and some coffee to help make up for it and she said the company loved it.
Personally, I don't like TH coffee all that much but I do like their chili. GD

When I got a Tim Card for the first time, remember there was a statement on the website, good for any TH locations, excluding Khandahar...LOL Didn't cramp my style too much. That was before all of the heavy corporate maneuvering, use of the card has been tampered quite a bit.

Now, while the card is still in use, a smart phone app let's you pay with a QR code, among many other things, including pre-ordering, paying for take-outs, etc.

Had TH coffee a couple years ago on a visit to Newfoundland. It was okay.

Local people told me it used to be better but when I asked them when that was it seems like they were remembering a time when TH was all there was.

Try Jasper area. We were there a few years ago. As for the trails, once you're off the "paved" easy sections and on something a little more physical, the arsehole, ignorant and sometimes rude tourists disappear. Mount Edith Cavell trail was awesome! Wilcox Pass trail looks good too.

If I had looked at TH as a place to get coffee I might not have complained. I was looking for lunch- I guess I had no idea what it was all about. As a lunch place, it blows. I didn't get coffee so can't comment there.

I enjoyed the whole Banff thing but I would prefer the next trip to be in an area less quarantined.

Made the trip to Yoho, jasper, banf last august. Really beautiful country! Wish we had had more time. We hiked burgess pass and paget peak. Woukd love to spend the summer their peakbagging.