Alberta, Canada (Summer) — THE CUCKOO PROJECT

A fellow hiker in Glacier recommended we stop by Waterton, which is just north of Glacier NP. Unfortunately, there was recently a fire that wiped out majority of the park, so a lot of the hikes were closed and there weren’t many visitors.

We went to the Prince of Whales Lodge, which was saved from the fires. The town and area looked amazing and we wish we could have explored more, so we’ve put it on our list to come back soon!

Our next stop was Alberta! We spent this past Christmas here and loved it. It may be the most beautiful place we have ever been, so we knew we had to come back when it wasn't -25 Fahrenheit. We continued our drive from Waterton to Canmore, which is only 30 minutes outside Banff. After going into town for a coffee, we stopped by Grassi Lakes for a quick hike.

The lakes in the area are crystal clear, so we posted up and enjoyed the scenery while watching some rock climbers.

Ever since a bison fell asleep next to our tent in Yellowstone NP, we have become quite the expert car campers...in our Jeep Liberty. It takes some maneuvering, but ends up being pretty comfy and convenient (good thing Hailey's small!).

After car camping near Banff, we headed up towards Jasper. Before hitting the Columbia Icefield Parkway, we stopped at Johnston Canyon for a quick hike (and more long exposure shots for Danny).

The rest of our drive was the Columbia Icefields. Sounds icy, but surprisingly this time around the roads were clear and ready for us to explore! We stopped along the way (what seemed to be every 5 minutes), the highlights being Bow Lake, Peyto Lake, and Athabasca Glacier.

I think our favorite part was the hike down to Peyto Lake, which was one of the bluest lakes we’ve ever seen! Danny swears this is where they bottle blue Gatorade (...Hailey still feels forced to laugh at his dad jokes).

Oh and it wouldn't be a complete day without some waterfall shots! Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls are not just easy to get to, but amazing places to shoot, much different in the summer than the frozen water in the winter.

We ended our long day at Jasper Brewery for a well deserved beer and big plate of nachos - highly recommended!

We spent three full days up in Jasper, which could easily take up a week of your time. We drove Maligne Road to Maligne Lake and Medicine Lake. We took a boat to Spirit Island where we learned a lot about the glaciers and lakes on the tour. The island is a very spiritual place for the local Indians and the 300 degrees of views did not disappoint. When we have a bit more time we will canoe back to this point, because a tour boat with a bunch of old people wasn't adventurous enough for Danny, plus it was $75/person!

After, we hiked the Maligne Canyon, which was pretty amazing. We were surprise when three kayakers came down the rapids as we relaxed next to the river.

We stopped by Lake Annette on our way back to camp for some R&R - it was also a popular for all the locals. The following day we visited Emerald Lake. The last time we were here it was frozen and we couldn't last long outdoors due to the weather. This time, we rented canoes and Danny paddled us around the lake!

We spent our last night in Alberta at Moraine Lake for sunset and it definitely didn't disappoint. We're happy to be back in Seattle soon, where we're closer to explore more of Canada!

Now just a 10 hour drive home to get ready for our wedding!