My experience has been that once you’ve visited the Canadian Rockies, you have to return and relive the experience occasionally. It’s so cathartic, so renewing, especially for city dwellers like myself.

The journey begins in Calgary, Alberta. This is the best place to get direct airline connections and also is only an hour from the mountains. My test vehicle for the trip was a silver SLE model Toyota Solara,  which came equipped with a 3.3 liter V6 and a 5-speed automatic transmission. It also had a gray leather interior with the front seats being perforated buckets. Controls found on the steering wheel controlled the audio, the driver information display and also allowed for hands free connection for Bluetooth users. Even the fake wood trim on the dashboard and doors looked good in the car.
 
Upon picking up the Solara, I headed west into the Canadian Rockies. Wow! Each time I come here I am re-wowed all over again. The scenery is absolutely magnificent. My first stop was about halfway between Banff and Jasper. I wanted to see Peyto Lake in person. We have all seen photos of the turquoise lake perched high in a mountain valley. It was so much better in person. Only a short hike from the parking lot on a paved path has you overlooking one of the prettiest sites you’ll ever see.

I’m always interested in the fuel economy of vehicles, especially with the price of fuel today bumping up around $3.00 a gallon and the equivalent of $4.00 a gallon in Canada. When I started the journey, I reset everything so that I could get an accurate reading. The terrain goes from hilly to downright mountainous in this area so I was prepared to experience some bad economy, especially with a powerful V6 engine. Interestingly, even over the foothill, I was registering, according to the car’s onboard computer, consumption of 8 liters per 100 kilometers…that translated into about 30 miles per gallon U.S.!! This is much better than I was expecting but it was mostly freeway driving and the journey was just beginning.

Just a short drive from Peyto Lake is Moraine Lake. This lake is another lake at high elevation and affords a spectacular view. The access road to Moraine is shared by Lake Louise, also one of the most beautiful views anywhere. One of the things I like about this region is the large number of magnificent natural scenes that exist all in close proximity to each other.

I eventually left Banff National Park and headed south on the Kananaskis Highway. To watch the sunrise in this wondrous alpine region is breathtaking. The Kananaskis Highway goes south and skirts the edge of the Rockies generally with the high mountains on the right and the rolling foothills on the left. Signs warn of wildlife in the area and, within an hour’s drive, I saw black bear, deer, mountain sheep and a moose, all close to the road. There were also some stray cattle, but they don’t count.

The suspension setup in the Solara is also impressive. It manages to offer to the passengers that deft combination of a comfortable ride that is controlled enough to give you confidence and safety on winding roads, but also a supple ride quality that is not at all harsh. It is the hallmark of a well designed touring car. There were many opportunities to test the cornering and handling capabilities of the Solara and, as the miles rolled along, I came to appreciate the setup of the vehicle more and more. It is a very comfortable car to drive. In addition to many curves in the road, there were lots of long downhill slopes. 

After the mountains came an eastward sweep into the rolling hills and prairie land of Southern Alberta. This is wheat field and cattle ranching country and there’s lots of it. The landscape is dotted with many small towns that have as their root, agriculture. Many of these idyllic 1950’s looking places have clean, tree lined streets and neatly kept homes. Between the towns, often what you see is grain growing on rolling hills for as far as the eye can see in any direction. In its own way, it was as beautiful as the mountains.

By journey’s end, I had traveled 1,678 kilometers in my circle tour of Alberta and the Canadian Rockies. In the end, fuel economy came out to an overall average of 8.0 liters per 100 kilometers (30 mpg) for the entire trip. When you consider that the Toyota Solara is a fairly large, 3,400 pound vehicle and that I was traveling at elevated cruising speed over very mountainous terrain, this fuel economy number is pretty amazing.