It’s not easy to see all of Canada’s Rocky Mountains in just 14 days. There’s so much to do, you might even need a whole year. WideOyster went on a quest to find the most beautiful spots and the most pleasant activities. For two weeks, we drove a camper for 1500 kilometers, from the prairie to the Rockies and back.

After a comfortable Air Transat flight and a hotel stay, John and I arrive at the camper rental in Calgary as early as 9am. We exchange our voucher for a huge camper and receive a swift, yet intense, briefing about the performance of our 8 eight meter long house on wheels. We can always read up at the campfire, in case we forget some of the details. For now it’s time to dive into this adventure! Which soon turns out to start really nearby.

Another one bites the dust at the Calgary Stampede
It’s the first week of July, which signals the kick-off for the Calgary Stampede. Cowboys and cowgirls from miles away are attracted to the world’s biggest rodeo. During this ten day rodeo, everyone from doctors to lawyers and council workers is wearing boots, jeans and a cowboy hat. These tough riders, with their fluttering ‘chaps’ (a.k.a. ‘snake catchers’), are up for a title in various categories. They’re either in the run winning a staying on the horse or bull contest, or for catching a running calf by lasso and tying it up, all from the back of a horse.

The crowd goes wild as the cowboy makes a smashing entrance on a staggering horse. The ‘bronco’, as the unbroke or tamed horse is called, is cutting the weirdest capers to get rid of his passenger. In which it succeeds. With an elegant wide berth the rider is launched through the sky and lands in the dust. He picks himself up, takes his hat and leaves the arena with applause. It all looks very spectacular and aggresive. Luckily the host informs us that it’s all not as bad as it seems. Each of these horses only takes a ride twice a week and spends the rest of its days frolicking in the meadow behind the stage. In the end, every tamed horse has gone through this routine. Rodeo sure is deeply embedded in this culture… Yeehaaaaaww!!

“Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump. Just for the name alone, I want to go there.”, says John whilst pointing on the map. It’s on our way and how can one not visit a place with such an appealing name! It turns out to be a cliff, where Blackfoot first nations put thousands of buffalo to the sword, back in the day. Taken over by the white people, this hunting method became so popular buffalo almost became extinct in the area. Apart from the cliff, there’s not much more to see at this place. It was, however, declared a UNESCO-world heritage site and it’s hosting an impressive museum at the ‘crime scene’.

Lunch break is in the tall grass alongside a creek. Callin is stretched out on the back of his horse. Evidence for his High School Rodeo-Championship title when he was 17 years old. After this lunch break things get serious. Whoever wants to, and is able to, can gallop their way up the mountain. Most of the riders scurry off like Zorro. Dan luckily sticks by the two of us and manages to guide us up the mountain with a sturdy pace. I’m gaining confidence with Coco as we move along, which probably goes for her too. We feel one another. John even finds a way to get into galopping mode, but it does look slightly different than what our tour mates looked like.

“Hey Dan! Show us how you catch a calf!”, I ask, hoping to get a nice shot. Dan sends Callin, who still has to prove himself. With his lasso in his right hand, the young cowboy bolts up the hill. Hanging from the saddle and with his head right next to the horse’s, he swings the lasso around the calf’s head in a single throw. At that point, he’s already jumped halfway his horse, which immediately comes to a full stop as he pulls the rope. Callin grabs the calf, puts it on its back and binds its legs. I didn’t keep track of time, but this demo wouldn’t do too bad at a rodeo. In a golden evening hue we trot down the mountain, back to our camp. A little while later, six men and women walk toward the hot tubs bandy-legged. The warm water works like a miracle for our muscles, resulting in deep dreamy sleep once we are back in our camper.

We follow our track across the waving road the next morning, to Waterton Lakes National Park. A group of buffalo gazes at us quite indifferently as we pass by. Later on we find out that these are the last 30 treasured bison within the park. All those thousands of bison have been exterminated since the European arrival.

The next morning we have to make a decision. Go north towards the greatest attractions of the Rocky Mountains: Banff and onwards via Icefields Parkway past the Rockies’ greatest glaciers to Jasper National Park and out via Edmonton city, but with the tight time frame we’d be mostly driving, rather then enjoying ourselves. We choose to spend our final days in the Kananaskis.

The local community here merely consists of black bears and grizzlies, many moose, wild boars, wapiti and squirrels. Supposedly, there are even some pumas hiding out here. Mount Kidd RV-park is situated near what our map refers to as ‘Kananaskis Village’. Well, ‘village’ is overstating it, as it turns out to be ‘a collection of facilities at the provincial park’. The postman delivers his letters into mail boxes at the local grocery store, there’s a golf course, a RV spot, canoe and bicycle rental and ofcourse there is ‘The Lodge at Kananaskis’, where earlier this millenium world leaders gathered for the G-8 Summit. Whilst the greater share of tourists focuses on Banff and Jasper National Park, Kananaskis remains an oasis of calm.

All good things come to and end, as does this camper trip. In the early dawn, we blow the retreat back to Calgary. Alongside the road, a giant moose is glancing at our camper as we leave and he nods. It’s done and it’s been great.