Fram Strait – this and that Nov 1 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-10: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

Just some random images. Some of my own that I haven’t use yet, one not taken by me and some more from the last days.

15 October – the moonpool

If you have ice around the ship, it is good to have a moon pool, a vertical shaft inside a ship to give access to the sea. Here you can deploy CTDs without them being crushed by ice floes on the way up. Today temperatures got into double digits – in the negative range – and the surface of the moon pool has been freezing. The CTD itself is somewhere in the water below the ship, but no CTDs were harmed.

Every day – the food

If you are on a cruise with the icebreaker Kronprins Haakon there is a good chance that you gain weight. The meals are outstanding and sometimes the lunch provides more variety than a normal restaurant has on the menu. And then there are the Saturday dinners with steak and vegetables and potatoes and gravy. Now I’m flying back to Tromsø and that’s good, because one another week on the ship and I would just burst while eating.

25 October – clearing the ice

Sometimes the sea ice is welcome, for example for an ice station. Sometimes it is very unwelcome, for example for the recovery or deployment of a mooring, a “Christmas tree” of instruments on a long cable anchored in the ground and usually staying untouched for a year. Several times we had to change plans, because the ice was too compact and thick. However, sometimes we used the icebreaker to push away the ice, building an ice-free pool round the mooring’s location. That can look pretty funny on the navigation screen, where the ship’s track is displayed.

26 October – ice station

One day later there is an opportunity for another ice station; the tenth and last on this year’s Fram Strait cruise. I fly the drone again. Lia Lechler (UiT) from the sea ice team makes this nice photo where I am just about to start sending the drone up to an altitude of about 80 metres.

Me starting the drone (Photo: Lia Lechler, UiT)

27 October – it clears up

It was not easy to find a window to fly the drone the day before, because it drizzled for a long time. But today there is a clearer day in our cruise’s roller coaster weather. It looks like a sunrise or sunset but it is neither, because it is polar night and the sun stays below the horizon all day long.

30 October – arrival in Longyearbyen

After doing measurements in Kongsfjorden we do measurements in Isfjorden today. After dinner we have our expedition de-brief. Shortly after the last of 98 CTD casts is finished and we steam to Longyearbyen, where we started the expedition 17 days ago. Then it’s time to go out, feel the ground under our feet, walk to town and grab a beer.

31 October – rainy

The town looks quite dull, because it has +7 °C – much too warm for the season – and the snow in the valley has melted. It is raining.

longyearbyen-lataLongyearbyen in late October IIe-october-2

1 November – travelling back

Today it has become a bit colder and the rain turned into snow. Good for Longyearbyen, bad for our flight, which departs with a delay of 35 minutes. There are at least 16 people from the cruise on board this airplane and I cross my fingers that everyone gets their connecting flights, whether they go to Norway, France, Denmark, or in Scotland.

And if I get my flight, I’ll be back in Tromsø at 20:55.

I got it :-)

Kongsfjorden Oct 29 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-10: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

29 October

Yesterday we were on the open sea; last night we approached the coast of Svalbard. When I wake up, our position is 79° 2′ N / 10° 41′ E, about 15 km north of the northern tip of the island Prins Karls Forland. I can see the mountains, not through the scuttle (my cabin has none) but on channel 303 of the ship’s TV system.

When I go out right after breakfast, everything is foggy, but two hours later it has cleared up and for the first time in more than two weeks I see land again.

After lunch we have already taken the three westernmost CTD casts of our planned Kongsfjorden transect. Now we are heading east into the fjord. I’ve never been here before and I’m happy that the weather is clear. So I stand on the helicopter deck as I have done countless times before, but this time I am not alone. Most of the other cruise participants and some of the crew are standing outside enjoying the views of this extraordinary landscape, too.

To the right in the south lies Ny-Ålesund, a settlement that provides facilities for research activities to 19 institutions, among others the Norwegian Polar Institute.

Further and further east we go. We seem to skip a CTD station or two. Or all? It turns out that we first go all the way east to the glacier front of the glacier Kronebreen to use and enjoy the daylight and then do the CTD casts back west thereafter. For about two hours I stand outside and take one photo after the other. The others also take pictures with everything between a mobile phone and a large system camera. I use my Nikon D750 and three lenses – 24–70 mm, 70–200 mm, and 150–600 mm.

I am happy to experience this arctic landscape today, but I am also sad. I know that the human-caused climate change will change these landscapes drastically and that I probably belong to one of the last generations that can see glaciers calving into the fjords of Svalbard.

At around 2 o’clock we have reached our easternmost position. According to the ship’s navigational system we are south of the mountain Colletthøgda. According to the map service TopoSvalbard there is no open water south of Colletthøgda but the glacier Kronebreen. I’m afraid, the ship’s navigation system is right and the glacier has retreated a lot. The change has long begun.

I take some pictures in the early afternoon as well. The next photos are taken between 14:45 and 15:30 and you can see how dark it already is. The sun will not rise here before mid-February next year.

Around 19:50 – I am about to lose a card game – our cruise leader comes into the day room. She tells us that she has spotted a fog bow. Again I go out onto the helicopter deck – and it is still there. A flat, pale bow with the moon as a light source. I have seen a fog bow in daylight on another cruise two years ago, but never a lunar fog bow before. Pretty cool! Thank you, L.!

Fram Strait cruise – departure Oct 14 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-10: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

12 October

The weather in Tromsø is clear, the mountains are white, and the reindeer are flying.

At least, it looks like this, while I’m sitting at Gate F18 of Tromsø Lufthavn, waiting for my flight to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Some of my colleagues from the Norwegian Polar Institute are here as well. We are all going on board the research icebreaker Kronprins Haakon (KPH) for a cruise in the Fram Strait between Svalbard and northern Greenland for almost three weeks the next day.

On arrival in Svalbard, we get a lift to our respective hotels, where we stay overnight.

Passing Kronprins Haakon on our way to the centre

footpath to UNIS, where NPI has its office, too

13 October

Three of us were staying in Coal Miner’s Cabin, which is south of the centre. We share a taxi to Bykaia, part of the Port of Longyearbyen, where KPH is berthed. It has got warmer and it’s raining.

And here it is – the ship on which the 18 of us will spend the next three weeks together with the crew.

Just kidding! The RV Kronprins Haakon is actually lying in the other direction.

During the evening, the weather gets a bit ugly. It’s +5 °C, it’s raining and the wind speed is around 20 m/s. The sea state gets rougher and the waves grow higher.

14 October

In the morning the sea has calmed down and at a quarter past nine I feel the first small bump as a small ice floe collides with our ship. We have entered a band of pancake ice.

Now we are in open water again and the conditions are calm. Anyway, if Windy is right, we will get pretty rough weather tomorrow with a wind speed of around 18 m/s and an air temperature of -17 °C – a drop of almost 20 degrees. That would result in a windchill of -33 °C and I am very glad that I took my Canada Goose parka and trousers with me.

27 September – Icefields Parkway Oct 11 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

27 September

My wife Annika and I have seen the Canadian Rocky Mountains on both our flights to Canada. We crossed them together on our way from Valemount to Jasper. We saw them again when we visited the Athabasca Falls the following day. We crossed them again in the opposite direction on our way from Drumheller to Radium Hot Springs. Today is the day when we want to drive the most famous road in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the Icefields Parkway, part of Alberta Highway 93.

5:40 – the alarm clock rings. We want to get an early start, because it could be a long day. At 6:30, we start our journey. It is a chilly and starry morning with constellations like Orion and Canis Major in the east. Our first stop is not on the Icefields Parkway but on the road between Golden and Banff – Natural Bridge Lower Falls in the Yoho National Park. The river lies in the shade of the morning. While we are back on the road, the sun rises and illuminates the mountain peaks.

We drive to the car park at Lake Louise, one of the tourist hotspots but just turn around. First of all, the car park is already full, and then we’ve decided to skip the lake anyway (the parking fee alone is 42$). However, this is where the Icefields Parkway starts or ends, depending from your perspective. The air is cold, the car thermometer shows -4 °C. We drive north. We have had incredible luck with the weather. The last rain has brought fresh snow to the mountains, but now the sky is clear again and all the mountain peaks are visible. And yes – this is an especially beautiful road to drive ,and now, in late September, it is much less crowded than I expected.

We see countless snowy mountains whose names I do not know. We stop at Bow Lake. At Bow Pass (2067 m) the snow is not above us but beside us. We take the walk to the Peyto Lake Viewpoint. We stop at Waterfowl Lake. We take the short walk to Mistaya Canyon. We look back along the road from the Big Bend Viewpoint. And then we arrive at the Columbia Icefield, where we can see the glaciers in the distance – both impressive and distressing, because the total area covered by the Icefield decreased by 18% between 1985 and 2018. (Geosciences 2021, 11(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11010019). We continue on to the Stutfield Glacier Viewpoint. Then it is time to turn around and drive the same way back. What a day! This has been another highlight on our trip to Canada, though by no means the only one.

And now – the trip photos.

Disclaimer: Some of the photo captions name the subject, while others name the place from which the photo was taken. I have done my best to use the correct names, but I might have got some of them wrong.

24–26 September – From dinosaurs to Emerald Lake Oct 10 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

24 September

My wife Annika and I are in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. The weather is nice. There is a Pachyrhinosaurus with two youngsters standing in front of us. They do not notice us at all. Perhaps that’s because they are made of plastic. They stand in front of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, and so do we.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

The Royal Tyrrell Museum holds Canada’s largest fossil collection and is famous for its dinosaur fossils. I am the first to get in when it opens. I just run through the museum to take some photographs before other people get in the there. After that, Annika and I go through the museum, taking our time. This museum is awesome! If I lived here, I would definitely have an annual pass to visit it from time to time.

After the museum, we take the car to Horseshoe Canyon. We go for a longer walk here on the countless small paths that lead through this badlands canyon. Be sure to have water with you and make sure you can find your way back, because the many hills make the place a maze.

In the late afternoon, we have another destination, the Last Chance Saloon, Alberta’s oldest operating saloon. They are about to close, but we get in and can sit in this extraordinarily cosy saloon and enjoy the delicious food. I order a “Badlands Brisket Taco Bowl” and am surprised to discover that the bowl does not contain any taco, it is made out of taco. And the smoked brisket – wow!

If you are in Drumheller, your day may start with a dinosaur and it may end with one, too. This is Tyra, the World’s Largest Dinosaur, a roadside attraction that we have passed several times over the last few days.

25 September

Today we head to Radium Hot Springs, which lies on the other side of the Rockies. It is a longer drive of about 400 km. First, we follow the grid-like roads through the prairies, then follow the Bow River until Castle Junction.

There we leave Alberta Highway 1 first and then Alberta altogether. We are back in British Columbia, where our journey began almost three weeks ago. Something interesting is happening. It starts to rain. We have had dry weather for weeks; now there is rain with everything from “I’ll drench you with a drizzle, even if it takes half the day.” to “Buy yourself an ark.” In Radium Hot Springs, we check in at the motel and take a nap. When I wake up, I see animals looking like goats on the property. I take a photo of a mother with two lambs. These are, of course, a bit cautious but not shy at all. It is only now, while blogging, that I learn that these are bighorn sheep, which are quite famous in Canada.

After dinner (goulash soup at the Old Salzburg restaurant) we take a walk before heading home.

26 September

Today we head northeast to Golden, where we’ll have an apartment for three days. It is the only place we booked well ahead, because we want to visit the Rockies and accommodation there is ridiculously expensive. It is still cloudy, but the rain has mostly stopped. To be honest, I am glad about yesterday’s rain. With the drop in temperature, it might have snowed in the mountains. Hopefully it did.

The road follows the Columbia River, which is not a single river so much as a system of river branches, islets, oxbow lakes, and swamps. Sometimes we take the main road; sometimes we take the small gravel roads on the other side of the river.

When the clouds lift, we get a glimpse of the mountains. There is fresh snow on the mountaintops.

We pass Golden to visit Emerald Lake, which lies between Golden and the Rocky Mountains. We take a hike around the lake, slightly distracted by a chipmunk running back and forth on the trail not far from the car park.

Then we start our trail. Although the first half of the trail is very easy to walk, it takes a long time. I’m to blame because I wait for the sun to shine on a certain part of the mountains on the other side of the lake. Halfway along the trail, it becomes a normal forest path with small bridges, slippery tree roots and some mud puddles. I have bear spray within reach; Annika carries a bear bell. So far, we haven’t seen a single bear, and I’m happy about that. Of course, it would be cool to see one from a safe spot, but I don’t want to meet one in its forest.

Tomorrow we will visit one of Western Canada’s most scenic routes, the Icefields Parkway, which crosses the Canadian Rocky Mountains in a north-south direction. Hopefully the weather will be as fine as predicted, and hopefully it won’t be too crowded.

23 September – Drumheller I – badlands and hoodoos Oct 8 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

23 September

After a night in the ~~village~~ ~~town~~ city of Red Deer my wife Annika and I continued our journey southeastwards. We are in the prairies now, which are dominated by farmland and large grain fields. While the terrain is slightly hilly, most streets are dead-straight. They go either north—south or west—east, making the map look like squared paper.

The fields can be huge from a Central European perspective. Sometimes there is an old barn, sometimes a grain silo and sometimes there is a pumpjack, because in Alberta oil is still being extracted. But mostly it is grain fields, some already harvested, some not yet.

Harvesters collect the grain, and lorries transport it, leaving a long track of dust behind. At one place we see a GrainsConnect plant with large silos for interim storage and a train to dispatch the grain further, most probably to the Pacific Ocean to be shipped overseas.

Of course I love the spectacular mountain views, the incredible rain forests with their old and mighty trees and the turquoise alpine lakes. But I also love the monotonous rhythms of these prairies. They are part of the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains, which stretch from Alberta and Saskatchewan through the USA into Mexico. (We didn’t drive that far that day ….)

You get into this rhythm of the squared patchwork, then you start to wonder what these fractal-like disruptions on the navigation map are, and all of a sudden you are in a completely different type of landscape – the badlands.

The plains are gone and now you are amidst these eroded mountains. Let’s hear, how Copilot AI describes the next image:

“Overall, I’d describe this as a well-exposed stratified badlands butte showing millions of years of sedimentary deposition and subsequent erosion.”

The area has sparse, desert-like vegetation on the sandy ground, including cacti like these plains pricklypears.

Then you drive further, a bit uphill and Bam! – you are in the plains again as if the badlands had just been a dream.

Now we are not far away from Drumheller, our destination for today, but first we have to check out the Bleriot Ferry, a cable ferry crossing the Red Deer River. The ferry operator tells us that we can (and should) use the ferry, that the road to Drumheller on the other side is closed, that we should drive there anyhow to the viewpoint, and that we could come back here thereafter. Sounds like a plan. We take the ferry – it is free, ignore the “road closed” sign and park on the small car park by the Orkney Viewpoint. And that’s an incredible viewpoint over the dusty Badlands – 72 million years old, the Red Deer River with its green, mellow banks and, in the distance the prairies. A perfect place to have a light lunch with bread, dips, and cookies.

We head back the very same way and take the ferry again. From there it is only twenty minutes to Drumheller where we’ll stay in a motel for two days. The town looks a bit like a dinosaur theme park – dinos everywhere! – because numerous dinosaur fossils have been discovered in the area, making it one of the most important paleontological regions in the world. The town is also home to the famous Royal Tyrrell Museum that we plan to visit the next day.

In the late afternoon, we take the car to Willow Creek, which is well-known for its hoodoos – geological rock formations created by erosion. Annika and I take a walk and gaze at nature’s art exhibition.

Before we drive back to the motel I want to take some better photos of the hoodoos, now that most other tourists have left. I take a first photo …

… and then slowly but surely the evening sun that hid behind a layer of clouds comes out and all of a sudden the hoodoos start to glow in the warmest sunset colours imaginable, as if they were glowing from within. I’m truly happy that I can experience that moment and that I have my Nikon at hand. This moment teaches me that if you want a good photo, look for a good subject; but if you want a better photo, wait for the light.

20–21 September – Nordegg, Alberta Oct 6 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

20 September

Nordegg, Alberta, Canada – another settlement I never heard of before (which doesn’t mean too much). This will be Annika’s and my next stop; we will stay in a hostel for two nights. After a brief breakfast, we leave Hinton, fill up the car, buy food for the next few days and take the direct road east. This road is mostly unpaved and leads through autumnal forests and across rivers on old bridges. It is a perfect road to take it nice and slow, especially on such a sunny day when the destination is less than 200 km away.

Using these roads in a dry period means a lot of dust when another car approaches or passes.

However, we are mostly alone and enjoy the views of the yellow aspen trees and the turquoise rivers.

Just as our car has been filled up with petrol, we are filling ourselves up with colours, just like in the children’s book about the mouse Frederick.

We arrive at the Nordegg Shunda Creek Wilderness Hostel already at a quarter to three; way too early to check in. Anyhow, we may use the facilities and besides, it is so warm and sunny outside that we just sit on the terrace until we get our room.

Shunda Creek Wilderness Hostel – inside I

Shunda Creek Wilderness Hostel – inside III

Shunda Creek Wilderness Hostel – inside II

Later we realise that this hostel is not only extraordinarily cosy but also extremely well-conceived. The kitchen is perfectly equipped and apart from the cups, everything is within easy reach. There is a lot of space and even when the hostel is fully booked it never feels crowded. There are even free goodies in a drawer that I open more than once over the next two days.

Before lunch, we take a short drive to Goldeye Lake to take a swim. The lakebed is muddy and rocky at the same time, but the water is wonderfully refreshing.

21 September

While Nordegg may not be the most popular place in Alberta, it is located near a prominent river: the North Saskatchewan River, which originates in the Rocky Mountains, flows eastwards, widens into Abraham Lake before continuing for another 1000 km, eventually joining the South Saskatchewan River.

What luck we have! The morning is pretty chilly, but the sky is blue and promises to deliver another beautiful, sunny day. After a leisurely breakfast we take the car to Abraham Lake. When we see it for the first time from the car, its bright, intense turquoise colour looks almost ridiculous, like someone had played around with Photoshop, setting the hue to its maximum. The lake is so calm that I wish I had a kayak to paddle on this beauty of a lake.

While we are driving to the next stop, strong gusts appear out of nowhere and start shaking our car. Standing outside in these strong gusts makes my dream of kayaking on the lake vanish instantly.

Another stop and most of the wind is gone – where did it come from? The water level of Abraham Lake is quite high. Many trees at the shore stand in the water.

More stops, more photos. Of course, I do not know what screen you use, but let me assure you: the colours were as bright as the photos show. Another thing that fascinates me: while driving more and more mountains appear around us until we are surrounded by them. It is as if these mountains were living beings that actively move around.

We have passed the whole lake and now follow the river again. If we continued another 30 km west, we would end up at the locality of Saskatchewan River Crossing, which lies on the famous Icefields Parkway. We can already spot glacier-covered mountains ahead, such as Mount Wilson (3260 m), as shown in the next photo. But the Icefields Parkway is not our route today; we will drive it the following week – hopefully with equally brilliant weather.

So we turn the car and drive the same way back. We pass Abraham Lake again and, while driving along, the mountains seem to scurry back to their secret places and we are in the hilly lands of Nordegg again, where we first take a nap and then eat a delicious dinner that Annika cooked with small potatoes, eggs, carrots, Parmesan cheese and two dips. And I still have a bottle of my favourite Canadian drink: Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

22 September

This morning I finally take a picture of the wetlands by the hostel. Then we will head off to Red Deer, where a surprise await us.

18–19 September – The Canadian Rockies and an unexpected interruption Oct 4 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

18 September

Only reluctantly do we leave the Summit River Lodge in Valemount. It is a wonderful place. We fill all our bottles with the delicious well water, pet Cookie, the cat, and say goodbye to our hosts. Today we will continue to Jasper where we booked two ridiculously expensive bunk beds in a shared hostel room. But hey, it’s Jasper, one of the places that every single tourist seems to visit and we are lucky we found accommodation for less than a thousand dollars a night.

We take Highway 5 and then Highway 16 east, which leads to Jasper. After a turn we see a huge, striped mountain with a snowy top ahead. It is Mount Robson, with 3954 m, the highest summit of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. On the way there, I find a nice spot by the Robson River to take photos.

We stop at the Mount Robson Welcome Centre where people take pictures of this massive mountain too.

About 60 kilometres further east we cross two borders. The first is the provincial border between British Columbia and Alberta, the other is the time zone border. I will not try to explain the Canadian time zones here. They are independent of the provinces and several changes have been made this year. Pretty confusing. Let’s keep it simple: We set the clocks forward by one hour.

We pass Jasper and take a side road to Medicine Lake and Maligne Lake. Medicine Lake is special because it is not a normal lake, but rather part of the Maligne River that disappears underground. The water level varies greatly over the year. This time of year it has a pretty low water level. At the southern tip the lake is mostly empty and reveals large sandbanks, interrupted by small but fast-flowing streams.

The next lake – Maligne Lake is one of the iconic lakes in the Rockies. I guess the main season is over because we can always find a parking space, even here we have to wait just a few minutes.

We stroll along the shore to find a good bathing place but maybe the best one is near the tourist centre. There we change into our swimming clothes and walk into the lake. And we walk and walk. The lake is so shallow that I finally just lie down in the water to get wet. When we come back to dry ourselves a moose is approaches. We already heard about two local moose in this area and the signs indicate that we should not approach wildlife. But what do you do when the wildlife is approaching you? We grab our things and move back on the way to keep our distance. When the moose turns I take some pictures. The moose makes calling sounds. Is it looking for its mum?

At the restaurant – already closed we meet a couple from France that has been travelling around Canada for almost two years. Like the Canadians we met in Likely they also recommend visiting Drumheller. We are shown some photos of an impressive landscape. Maybe we manage to visit it later.

While we are driving back to Jasper the VW Tiguan displays a warning: “Check the coolant level.” That doesn’t look good. We stop the car for a few minutes but the same warning pops up again. We open the car’s hood and, sure enough, there is hardly any coolant left. The French couple passes and stops to help us. We realise, that there is a leak in the hoses. As usual, we don’t have any mobile coverage at all. All passing people are helpful, but no one has coolant or distilled water. It is the French couple who stop a camper van from Virginia. The camper van has Starlink. In the end , they are the ones that help us. Slowly we continue our drive back to Jasper with the camper van following us as a backup. We are lucky, we make it as far as the crossing near town and gratefully wave goodbye to our helpers. To all of you who helped us or tried to help us: you are great people.

In the hostel it takes some effort to communicate with the Avis customer service, who provided our rental car. They cannot understand the situation that we have a breakdown but do not need any roadside assistance. But finally, we learn one thing: Avis has an office in Jasper.

19 September

Did I sleep well? No. It was very noisy both inside (the metal separations between the bunk beds droned loudly every time someone was touching them) and outside (a lot of drunk people were shouting and quarrelling until night). But that’s not important. What is important is to get a replacement for our rental car. To make a long story short: none of the numbers provided got us any help, but the one employee in Jasper did.

First we have to wait in the queue for quite a while but before lunchtime we have a new car, a Kia Sportage. Will it be a good replacement for our VW Tiguan? We’ll see. Annika has already filled out the extensive paper form. We move all our stuff from one car to the other, return the old car key and here we are – having our mobility back. We were extremely lucky that the car broke down near Jasper, that we made it back and that Avis has an office there. So we don’t have to change any plans and are ready to leave Jasper just a few hours later than planned.

Today we will head east for a few days but our next overnight stop, Hinton, is near, so we want to drive a bit of the Icefields Parkway first. This part of the Alberta Highway 93 is most famous for its view of glaciers, mountains, and lakes and a “must-see” for many tourists. Today we want to drive to Athabasca Falls – not on the main road but on the older road 93A on the other side of the Athabasca River. Here we are almost completely alone. We stop at one of the pullouts and have our lunch by the river.

The river is beautiful but the trees clearly show that there have been forest fires in this area as well. Many trees have black, burnt bark and I am not sure whether any of them will survive. Nevertheless new saplings with fresh leaves are growing between the black trunks.

We stop at another pullout and walk to the Athabasca River near the waterfall. Even here we are almost alone. We can see the tourists on the official trail on the other side. We go to the shore – on our side, this is possible – and look at the turquoise water of the river and the steep rocky cliff on the other side.

Less than 200 metres further on is the official car park. Even here we get a parking space almost immediately. Together with other tourists we follow the trail. Sometimes I have to wait a minute until all selfies have been taken, then I get the good spots to take my own pictures.

This was our preview of the Icefields Parkway. Now it is time to turn and leave the Canadian Rocky Mountains for a while. We take Highway 93 and turn east onto Alberta Highway 16. There we pass a slope behind a lake with a lot of quaking aspen trees. The leaves turn bright yellow in autumn, a bit like the birch trees at home.

As we leave the Rockies behind, something strange happens: it gets cloudy. We haven’t seen clouds for days and almost had taken the blue sky, the sun and the fact that our rain gear stayed untouched for granted.

When we arrive in Hinton it reminds me of a western town from the movies. Yes, the streets are paved, the horses were replaced by pickup trucks long ago and the houses are not of wood anymore, but the rows of houses and the spacious roads and the overall layout of the town evoked this image. We check in into our hotel and walk to the Filipino restaurant Pinoy Kusina where we eat Tapsilog, a dish under the label “All day breakfast”. On our walk back we can see the Rockies in the west and even the sun peeps through the clouds.

16–17 September – Williams Lake—Valemount – From desert to mountains Oct 4 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

16 September

After two overnight stays in Williams Lake it is time for Annika and me to move on. Flexibility is more important to us than ticking off a list of must-see attractions. Since affordable hotels, motels, hostels and B&Bs are quite limited this flexibility sometimes leads us to places off the tourist trails. Did you, for example, ever hear of Little Fort? We didn’t either, but this is our next stay.

But first we go south to explore Farwell Canyon. On the way there we drive through hilly landscapes and grassy meadows. The cattle stand on the meadows, by the lakes, in the mud beside the road and on the road itself, too.

When you drive through Lapland you may see the sorting corrals for the reindeer. Here I see a fenced area that looks very similar, however this corral is for cattle.

While we are approaching Farwell Canyon the landscape changes. It becomes drier and you can see the eroded hills.

The road to the canyon provides impressive views of the canyon and the Chilcotin River.

We want to cross that river but first we turn back to a parking place to explore the “Farwell Canyon Sand Dune Trail” which leads to sand dunes with desert-like conditions. However, we only walk part of it because it is warm and we have forgotten to take water with us.

Time to turn again, drive down the hairpin bends to the bridge over the river and up the other side. Here the road becomes smaller and smaller and also rougher. We could follow this road to meet the highway 97 in the southeast.

The problem is that we had to cross Fraser River on the Gang Ranch Suspension Bridge and we cannot find any information whether we can cross it by car or not. Since the dirt road is narrow and rough and the drive would be long and bumpy I suggest turning again.

So we see it all again, the hairpin bends downwards, the canyon, the river, the bridge, the hairpin bends upwards, the car park for the trail and even the Toosey Band Gas Station that we passed hours ago. It had been opening by the Tl’esqox First Nation three months ago. We fill up the car and buy bannock for lunch. Normally I do not like hot dogs, but the smoked sausage in that type of bread is delicious.

Soon we are back on British Columbia Highway 20 where we cross Fraser River on a more boring but somehow also more reliable bridge.

After passing Williams Lake again we take the 97 southeast. The names of the villages: 150 Mile House, 151 Mile House, 108 Mile Ranch, 105 Mile House … . The names originate from the distances to the town of Lillooet on the Cariboo Wagon Road during the Cariboo Gold Rush of the 1860s.

In the Rusty Iron Coffee Co. we get a coffee and a bun just before closing. Lucky us! My espresso is outstanding and the café is very cosy. Anyhow we sit outside enjoying the warm and sunny weather. Then we explore the 108 Heritage Site nearby with its old buildings such as a school and a church before we continue on to Little Fort, where we arrive at half past six.

17 September

Where is the North Thompson River? It was there the day before. Now it is hidden by fog that covers the whole valley. Only a slightly brighter spot reveals the position of the sun.

But it is only a matter of time until the sun wins and evaporates the fog.

Today we will head to Valemount, where our next overnight stop is located. We have only to follow Highway 5 for 200 km, then we are there. It will be a short day. Hahaha! Hihi! We already have learnt that every day of travelling in Canada is a full day because there is so much to discover, with or without detours.

Today we take a detour. We leave Highway 5 in Clearwater to visit the Wells Gray Provincial Park which is famous for its many waterfalls. The first motif however is not water falling down but a North American red squirrel. It is very busy, not very shy and I can take some photos.

Then the waterfalls: we do not visit them all, some need a hike to get there and some do not sound so interesting. So I’ll show two of them. First, Dawson falls, not very deep but broad. You can access the shore of the Murtle River and watch it from there while listening to its constant droning.

Then Helmcken Falls, where the same river falls 141 metres into a canyon. Equally impressive, but from the viewing platform you are pretty far away.

We take the dirt road to the Green Mountain Trail. We were not alone at the waterfalls – here we are. It’s only we two and a lot of butterflies – probably from the genus Polygonia – fluttering around the viewing tower.

On our way back we spot an ice cream sign by the road. That’s always a reason to stop. The ice lady is kind and funny, the ice cream is delicious and the scoops enormous. And I like the sign which says: “It’s never too cold for ice cream.” So true.

Just another stop to the picture of the ranch entrance …

… and we are back on the highway. Or we could be, if the weather weren’t so nice and Clearwater didn’t have this bathing lake, Dutch lake. Time for a stop, time for a dip. We bathe and swim in the fresh, clear, but not really cold water. Many recreational sites are community-driven. Bampton is one of them and does not only have a wonderful swimming jetty but also provides life jackets for kids.

Bampton Recreational Area – bathing jetty

Now it is 6 o’clock in the afternoon and we still have 174 km to go. The sun is setting while we drive and the higher mountains that we are seeing for the first time on our trip lie in the shade.

When we arrive at the Summit River Lodge, our accommodation for this night, it is already dark. A pity, since this lodge is so beautiful, both outside and inside! And the drinking water is great, it is taken from a well and doesn’t taste of chlorine as the ordinary Canadian tap water.

Before going to sleep, I go out and take a photo of the mountain as seen from the house. It has a glacier on it and its name is Mount Albreda (3029 m). That’s higher than any mountain in any country I have lived in: Germany, Sweden, Norway.

The next day we will see more mountains, because we head to Jasper which lies in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

13–14 September – From the island into the desert Sep 24 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

13 September

My wife Annika and I stand on board of the ferry Queen of Cowichan. After several days on Vancouver Island we are heading back to the Canadian mainland, this time to Tsawwassen, which is south of Vancouver. To get there we have to cross international borders twice, first into the USA and then back into Canada. These borders are invisible because they are on sea. Back on the mainland, we see signs to the USA border at several places as well.

We make a stop in the village of tucckʷiowhum which is part of the Nlaka’pamux Nation. British Columbia is home to many distinct First Nations, each with its own culture, history, territory, and language. Often the languages are visible on the bilingual signs. The following stop signs show two different languages. According to the AI I used for research, “ƛ̓éyi” is Nłeʔkepmxcín which is spoken in the Fraser Canyon and Nicola regions. “T̄ÁLLEC” is St̓át̓imcets which is spoken in and around Lillooet, the town we are heading for today.

But we are not in Lillooet yet, we are in tucckʷiowhum. This is the first place where we can see the devastation caused by this year’s forest fires. Some hills are covered with black trunks. Even some of the buildings have burnt down. We know that forest fires are part of nature (or can be) but it makes me sad to see the black trees, some standing, some fallen.

We continue our trip north. The landscape changes slowly. The forests are less dense, the soil looks drier and is often vegetated with brown grass.

At half past seven we cross the Fraser river and arrive in Lillooet, a small town with a population of about 2300. The sun starts to set, but the mountains in the east still have sunlight.

View at the Fraser river and the Fountain Ridge

We check in at our first motel ever. We get a giant room with two double beds, a fridge, a coffee machine and a microwave. Since there is no proper kitchen available we walk into the centre where we eat salad and pizza at Manny’s Corner. The delicious Tandoori Chicken Pizza is massive and although I ordered only “medium size” I only manage to eat half of it. The leftovers will serve as tomorrow’s breakfast. On the other side of the street: The Roman Catholic church and a fast food chain.

In the streets: some pedestrians, especially younger ones and cars – mostly pickup trucks. The latter are very common in the area, the bigger the better. No wonder that our rented VW Tiguan, not a small car either, was rated as an “undersized vehicle” by the ferry company :-D .

14 September

Yesterday it had cleared up and when I wake up, the sky is blue. I go outside, just to the road where I see a flock of mule deer grazing on the dry meadows.

Our first action this morning is to visit Seton Lake. Sam, the manager of the motel said, it was a good place to take a swim and it is. There are some other people around but it is only us actually swimming in the lake.

Back in town we are looking around. I already knew that the landscape around Lillooet is desert-like, but I never expected cacti to grow here. This species seems to be the Brittle pricklypear.

You meet the Brittle pricklypear in person when you are stupid enough to wear sandals. But it is the yellow-blooming Rubber rabbitbrush that shapes this landscape. You can see them everywhere.

Nearby lies the Lillooet Suspension Bridge, built in 1913 and in active use to cross the Fraser river until the modern “Bridge of the Twenty-Three Camels” was built in 1981.

Our way leads north along the Fraser River canyon. We stop several times, mostly to enjoy the views and once at the Fountain Flats Trading Post, a convenience store where we buy snacks and something to drink.

Another stop we make is at the second-hand shop in Clinton where Annika buys a Thermos flask with an interesting feature: it does not insulate for a minute. In a corner of one of the rooms: Two pairs of large snowshoes.

Near Chasm we leave Highway 97 and drive north on unpaved roads. Beside the road are several alkaline lakes, most of them dried out. On the surface there is a thin layer of soda crust, underneath it is black mud. I never saw anything like this before. My rubber boots get muddy and it takes ages to wash the soft-soap-like mud away.

Alkali lakes between Chasm and Williams Lake I

Alkali lakes between Chasm and Williams Lake II

Alkali lakes between Chasm and Williams Lake III

At half past eight we arrive at our motel, the Stampeder Inn in Williams Lake where we’ll stay for two nights.

Again I remember my wondering before our journey: Will Canada be different from Scandinavia apart from its size. And again I get the answer: Some parts are very, very different!

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