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Wyoming/Montana/Alberta

The Best of the Grand Tetons to Banff: Iconic National Parks

Program No. 20524RJ
Explore six national parks — Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, Waterton, Banff and Jasper — and discover unique waypoints like Old Faithful, Many Glacier, Lake Louise and much more!

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Prices displayed below are based on per person,doubleoccupancy.
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Jul 9 - Jul 20, 2024
Starting at
6,199
Jul 16 - Jul 27, 2024
Starting at
6,199
Jul 23 - Aug 3, 2024
Starting at
6,199
Jul 30 - Aug 10, 2024
Starting at
6,199
Aug 6 - Aug 17, 2024
Starting at
6,199
Aug 13 - Aug 24, 2024
Starting at
6,199
Aug 20 - Aug 31, 2024
Starting at
6,199
Aug 27 - Sep 7, 2024
Starting at
6,199
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Filling Fast!
Jul 9 - Jul 20, 2024
Starting at
8,399
Jul 16 - Jul 27, 2024
Starting at
8,399
Jul 23 - Aug 3, 2024
Starting at
8,399
Jul 30 - Aug 10, 2024
Starting at
8,399
Filling Fast!
Aug 6 - Aug 17, 2024
Starting at
8,399
Aug 13 - Aug 24, 2024
Starting at
8,399
Filling Fast!
Aug 20 - Aug 31, 2024
Starting at
8,399
Filling Fast!
Aug 27 - Sep 7, 2024
Starting at
8,399

At a Glance

Prepare yourself for an adventure of monumental proportions — a journey through six national parks in Wyoming, Montana and Alberta Canada. The Rocky Mountain colossus must be seen to be appreciated, and your journey will take you to Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Waterton, Banff and Jasper national parks. Experience famous waypoints like Jackson Hole, Old Faithful Geyser, Mammoth Hot Springs and Lake Louise as you learn about the geology, history, flora and fauna of the Rocky Mountains.
Activity Level
On Your Feet
Walking up to one mile daily. Standing for up to three hours. Elevations up to 8,041 feet.

Best of all, you’ll…

  • Visit the massive Columbia Icefield and venture by Snow Coach onto the surface of the Athabasca Glacier.
  • Experience the Crown of the Continent via the Going-to-the-Sun Road as we traverse Logan Pass aboard Red Buses in magnificent Glacier National Park.
  • Discover Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, and bear witness to an aboriginal hunting practice that was used by native people of the North American plains for almost 6,000 years.

General Notes

Transit days include one six-hour and two three-hour drives. Field trips and transit days include stops along the way, and coach is equipped with lavatory.
Featured Expert
All Experts
Profile Image
Cynthia Blankenship
Cynthia Blankenship fell in love with Earth science in 9th grade and never looked back. She is a geologist, outdoor enthusiast, and award-winning speaker. After two degrees in geology from Duke and Rice Universities, and 30 years in the energy industry, she is pursuing her next career passion: to make the geology of Jackson Hole understandable and fascinating for all. Through innovative displays and clear explanations, Cynthia will delight with a heightened understanding of the powerful forces that created this magical place.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Profile Image of Tim Raben
Tim Raben has always enjoyed culture, history, travel, and people. A native of Rapid City, S.D., Tim’s career in insurance with The Harford Insurance Company took him and his wife, Karen, to Illinois, Nebraska, Indiana, New York, and Connecticut. They then worked as business consultants in the Chicago area until they retired in Rapid City in 2004. Since then, Tim and Karen have participated in Road Scholar programs and have enjoyed their roles as group leaders.
Profile Image of Jack Gladstone
Jack Gladstone View biography
Jack Gladstone is a storysmith and troubadour from the Blackfeet Nation of Montana. Regarded as a cultural bridge builder, he produces programs on indigenous history and tradition. Jack has released 15 critically-acclaimed CDs, and garnered the prestigious Best Historical Recording from the Native American Music Association. A former college instructor and Smithsonian scholar, Jack has opened shows for Rita Coolidge, Garrison Keillor and Bonnie Raitt.
Profile Image of Morag Mottram
Morag Mottram View biography
Morag Mottram was born in Scotland but has lived in Canada since she was seven. She has been involved with the fitness industry since 1992 while living in Toronto, and continued after moving to the Bow Valley in 2004. As a certified personal trainer and fitness appraiser through the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, she leads hikes and programs within the Bow Valley. In addition fitness and leading, Morag enjoys kayaking and canoeing, hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, music, reading and baking.
Profile Image of Cynthia Blankenship
Cynthia Blankenship View biography
Cynthia Blankenship fell in love with Earth science in 9th grade and never looked back. She is a geologist, outdoor enthusiast, and award-winning speaker. After two degrees in geology from Duke and Rice Universities, and 30 years in the energy industry, she is pursuing her next career passion: to make the geology of Jackson Hole understandable and fascinating for all. Through innovative displays and clear explanations, Cynthia will delight with a heightened understanding of the powerful forces that created this magical place.
Profile Image of Nikki Heim
Nikki Heim View biography
Nikki Heim has been working in the field of natural resource sciences for over 15 years throughout western Canada and the northwestern United States. She held roles in terrestrial wildlife ecology, focusing on understanding population dynamics of medium to large sized carnivores and promoting wildlife co-existence, gaining a foundation in landscape ecology and wildlife management. In her free time, you can find her in the woods playing with her pup Koda, hiking, skiing, climbing, or enjoying improving her skills in nature photography.
Profile Image of Mike Pflaum
Mike Pflaum View biography
Mike Pflaum recently retired from a four-decade career with the National Park Service in a variety of positions and parks. He served over half of his career in Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and Badlands. He served as park superintendent or acting park superintendent in six different park areas. Mike holds a B.S. in recreation and park administration, and minor degrees in geology and in earth science. Mike has served as a federal law enforcement officer, EMT, park medic, firefighter, search and rescue technician, and instructor.
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Wildflowers of Glacier National Park
by Shannon Fitzpatrick Kimball and Peter Lesica
Wildflowers of Glacier National park and Surrounding Areas is a user-friendly guide featuring over 300 of Glacier National Park's most common plant species. From wildflowers to trees to grasses and sedges, this book features beautiful photographs, detailed descriptions, notes on habitat and fun facts for each plant. It's a perfect plant reference for anyone with an interest in the natural history and splendor of Glacier National Park. The index lists plants both by their common and scientific names.
The Great Divide: The Rocky Mountains in the American Mind
by Gary Ferguson
For most of our Nation's history, Americans have identified with the "purple mountain majesties" of the Rockies. Trappers and debutantes, miners and missionaries, artists and drinkers, escaped slaves, independent women abandoning hoopskirts, and assorted black sheep of respectable families have all sought refuge and inspiration there. This spectacular landscape has always offered a sense of freedom from crowds and conformity--a world, as Frederic Remington described it, "beyond derby hats and mortgages bearing eight percent." Gary Ferguson spins magnificent tales about the vivid characters who have peopled this majestic region, from the original Indian inhabitants and their interactions with European explorers, to the delirious victims of gold rush fever, to hippies in the Sixties, to today's adventure travelers in high-tech outerwear toting satellite phones into the wild. Throughout, he explores the ebbs and flows of America's attitude toward the vast expanses that embody our sense of freedom.
Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone
by George Black
Empire of Shadows is the epic story of the conquest of Yellowstone, a landscape uninhabited, inaccessible and shrouded in myth in the aftermath of the Civil War. In a radical reinterpretation of the nineteenth century West, George Black casts Yellowstone's creation as the culmination of three interwoven strands of history - the passion for exploration, the violence of the Indian Wars and the "civilizing" of the frontier - and charts its course through the lives of those who sought to lay bare its mysteries: Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a gifted but tormented cavalryman known as "the man who invented Wonderland"; the ambitious former vigilante leader Nathaniel Langford; scientist Ferdinand Hayden, who brought photographer William Henry Jackson and painter Thomas Moran to Yellowstone; and Gen. Phil Sheridan, Civil War hero and architect of the Indian Wars, who finally succeeded in having the new National Park placed under the protection of the US Cavalry. George Blacks Empire of Shadows is a groundbreaking historical account of the origins of Americas majestic national landmark.
Crown of the Continent
by Ralph Waldt
A professional naturalist's incredible, personal portrait of America's largest and most pristine wilderness in the lower 48 states: the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem in Montana, Alberta, and British Columbia. This vast area includes two national parks in two countries (Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes in Canada), three designated wilderness areas including the famous Bob Marshall Wilderness. This book describes the area's geology, wildlife, plant life, and crucial environmental issues with over 150 stunning photographs.
Rocky Mountains; Smithsonian Natural Histotry Series
by Scott Elias
The Rocky Mountains are one of the Earth's most spectacular geological features, containing vast stretches that remain wild and untamed. Hikers on mountain trails often see the wilderness just as Lewis and Clark saw it almost 200 years ago. The diversity of life found along the Rockies' 2,000-mile range is so varied that the mountains are divided into three regions: the Northern, Central, and Southern Rocky Mountains. Scott A. Elias discusses the unique features of each region in his comprehensive natural history of "the backbone of the continent." Elias examines the physical environment of each of the three regions, looking at geology, important land forms, climatology, soils, water resources, and paleontology. Equally detailed chapters examine botany, invertebrate zoology, native fishes of the plains and mountains, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals. Elias also includes a history of the native peoples and a synthesis of activities since the Spanish colonial period in the Southern Rockies. Conservation topics are woven throughout the book and the final pages examine the problems of overuse and overcrowding in national and state parks. Elias offers recommendations to alleviate these problems and stresses that the Rockies are a national treasure and should be treated as such.
Wildflowers of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks
by Richard Shaw
The purpose of this paperback book is to picture and describe the beautiful wildflowers of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks as well as the other areas included in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.





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