Our two nights in Canada's Jasper National Park were truly elegant. Upon arrival at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge we received a welcome basket of wine and cheese. The next day, we hiked the trail to Mt. Edith Cavell and gazed at a hanging glacier lurching precariously over a cliff. Its melt water feeds waterfalls flowing into a turquoise cirque below. At the base, we found a cool (no pun intended) ice cave that reminded us of the lava tubes of Hawaii. We snapped a couple pics and got out quickly as it didn't seem like the safest place to be hanging out. After the hike, we relaxed in the pool back at the lodge and ordered a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to the room. Our package deal included a dinner of scallops and venison appetizers, entrees of Quebec medallions of pork and rack of lamb and fabulously decadent desserts. The next morning, we had breakfast in bed, delivered to our cabin by a little golf cart from the main kitchen. We then drove south along the Icefield Parkway passing the Alabasca Glacier oozing out of the Columbia Icefield - a vast, frozen land hidden behind the toothed peaks of the Rockies to the west. Saddling the Continental Divide, this icefield is the source of rivers spawned in the Rockies that flow to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. We continued on, entered Banff National Park and checking into the Lake Louise Inn for the night. On Thursday, I went to the Park Information Centre to ask the Rangers about options for an overnight trip into the backcountry while Aili finished up some work in the room. Paradise Valley seemed the best choice, located one valley over from the famed Lake Louise. After returning for Aili and packing up, we went back to the park office to get our wilderness permit - however, it turned out the trail was closed to groups of less than four due to "a bear showing unusually aggressive behavior." Apparently, there was a report of a grizzly following a hiker along the trail. When I confessed to Aili that the ranger I spoke to earlier warned me the trail might be closed soon, she wasn't impressed at all. The valley being off limits, we picked an alternate hike to Hector Lake. This hike was shorter but required fording the Bow River which can reach up to mid-thigh during the summer. The weather was warm and the skies were clear so we decided to be adventurous and give it a go. Unfortunately, the map we were given incorrectly showed the trailhead one kilometer PAST the scenic turnout and caused us an hour of bushwhacking through the forest looking for a trail. We did find an old homestead of rotting log buildings - apparently built during the construction of the roadway several decades ago... but no trail seemed to exist. We returned the park office and discovered that the trailhead was one kilometer BEFORE the overlook and no one had ever noticed the incorrect map! We returned to the correct trailhead, hiked down the path and crossed the river at the shallowest looking spot. The rapidly flowing water reached just above our knees in mid-stream and the glacier fed river wasn't as cold as we expected - although we didn't linger in it any longer than necessary. Shortly after, we reached Hector Lake and our campsite for the night. With our tent pitched in an opening just above the lake, we scoured the shoreline and adjacent forest for firewood. As the sun set, the surrounding mountains glowed purple in the fading light and we cooked up dinner and started the fire. We roasted marshmallows, stoking the fire until the heat radiated outward like a blast furnace. Snuggly tucked in our sleeping bags for the night, we noticed that there was not a breath of wind and we could hear every creak and crackle in the woods. Thinking of the "aggressive" grizzly and the black bear we had seen on the roadside just before the trailhead, our thoughts quickly got away from us and every falling pine cone or twig we heard turned into impending danger. Eventually our eyelids got the best of us and we fell asleep. In the morning, we awoke to a perfectly calm lake filled with the mirrored image of the snow-spotted mountains around us. We sloshed back through the river, hiked out of the forest, and drove into the town of Banff, stopping at the famed Fairmont Hotel before leaving the Rockies behind and heading to Calgary for the night. On the way, we passed the road to Aili's favorite town in all of Canada: Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta! (Now, does that really fit on an envelope?) In Calgary, we ate a nice dinner downtown and strolled past the urban restaurants and bars - a nice break from weeks of small towns and rural outposts.