I’ve just returned from three weeks in south-western Canada with one of my best mates and partly with his fiancée as well joining us in what I call the BC Speed Run. There’s far too much to see and do in British Columbia and the Rocky Mountains in Alberta for three weeks to allow for, but we made the most of it.

Some new travel habits I established on this trip were to take cold plunges in rivers or lakes whenever they presented an opportunity, something I have tended to chicken out of in the past, as well as enjoying local unplanned runs of 5-6km in the cities or towns we stayed in, including Vancouver, Revelstoke, Whistler and Squamish. An awesome way to stay in shape and take in the every day things.

Some highlights include a 5-hour stand-up paddleboard float down Bow River outside of Banff including a cold plunge (no camera here), 4 black bear sightings (one was a cub), taking the ZipTrek Sasquatch zip line from Blackcomb to Whistler in under 1:45 min at over 100km/h, and swimming Cobalt Lake near the summit of the spectacularly pristine 5040 Peak on Vancouver Island.

Here’s a bunch of photos I took on the Sony A7CR. Being a mostly non-photography trip, the quality of the images is all over the place and mostly opportunistic, but here they are nonetheless.

Taking the BC Ferry over to Vancouver Island after a few days running around Vancouver city.

Living the dream apparently, at great cost! It’s roomy though…

Watching sunset with Tom on French Beach. Photo by Fran (Tom’s fiancée).

You’ll find countless pieces of drift wood along these beaches.

Even black and white drift wood.

Fran and I on French Beach. Photo by Tom.

Me again.

35mm spontaneous portrait of Tom.

35mm spontaneous portrait of Fran.

Flora and drift flora.

First inklings of Bob Ross style landscapes…

The forests in Vancouver Island are breathtaking.

A little morning fog and rays of light appear…

Douglas fir trees through the fog.

Breathtaking forests right next to the beach.

Finding compositions through the fog, take one.

Finding compositions through the fog, take two.

Driftwood landscape photography.

Can driftwood spontaneously assemble itself into human shelters? Probably not I think.

Some of these look awfully good for skipping…

Thank you, first morning on Vancouver Island, for the fog!

Elements of a Bob Ross painting for sure.

Natural pebble art.

Fog, once more, delivering the goods.

We don’t have this back at home.

Second afternoon at Sombrio Beach.

This whole afternoon, the setting sun danced through the changing mists while humpback whales played in the sea only a few hundred meters away.

Little vignettes of flora in unexpected places.

Sunset on Sproat Lake.

Tom on chair.

Next morning, we high-tailed it to the 5040 trail head up a dirt road not really meant for giant RVs…

Fran on the trail.

Making our way up the steep mixed track.

Made it to the paradise-like Cobalt Lake, not too far from the summit (on the left).

Picture time above Cobalt Lake.

Hishimyawit Hut (Hišimy̓awiƛ) ahead of us.

Incredible views from the slopes of the summit.

Almost a bit like Switzerland here.

Triple Peak from near the summit of 5040.

Bees!

There’s tiny little landscapes to be found if you look close enough.

Pre-sunset light of Triple Peak from back down on the ground.

Last rays of light before the sun set.

Amphitrite Point Lighthouse in Ucluelet.

The photography camera skipped a few moments and finds itself heading back on the main land heading towards Revelstoke.

Begbie Falls near Revelstoke.

The mosquitos here were absolutely horrific, so we had to bail.

Dusk on Mt Begbie.

Making our way along the highway to wild camp north of Revelstoke.

Will the RV even fit here? Yes, barely.

Old bear scratches…

Me on a swing.

Tom on Lake Revelstoke.

Me on the lake.

Portrait of me by Tom.

Me on the lake again, by Tom.

Beautiful quiet place to camp.

Panorama of Lake Revelstoke.

Now we’re off to Banff, with Richie, one of Tom’s mates leading the way.

Western end of Lake Minnewanka.

After a 5 hour standup paddleboard float down Bow River the day before, Tom and I are now on our way west and north to Jasper and beyond, along the famous Icefields Parkway.

Now the mountains really start to open up and become impressive.

Peyto Lake and Mt Weed/Silverhorn Mountain on the right.

Epaulette Mountain and Mt Sarbach at sunrise the next morning from Waterfowl Lakes Campground.

View south from Waterfowl Lakes Campground the next morning.

A little long exposure experiment.

Aries Peak.

Mt Patterson.

White Pyramid, Epaulette Mountain and Mt Sarbach after sunrise.

Tom at Abathasca Glacier.

Me at Abathasca Glacier.

Stones and pebbles on the glacier ground boulder surfaces.

Flora around the glacier.

Experiment.

The wild fires a few years ago around Jasper have decimated the forests and local ecology. Unlike the eucalypt forests of Australia, these Canadian forests take many decades, sometimes up to a century to completely return to their original state.