I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

It's the tourists and people who rarely cross that have never encountered CBSA that try to treat Canada like some kind of theme park. They're also often unprepared with appropriate ID, documents, receipts and stuff and get weird when CBSA starts asking them exactly the same nature of questions that CBP asks of people going southbound.

I would also emphasize that CBSA knows how often you cross, through a US-Canada data sharing agreement. An ALPR system takes a picture of your license plate on your car and very quickly queries a database, for information presented to the question-asking-person, as your vehicle approaches the window. This is assuming you're driving northbound of course. Even if that doesn't happen, they'll ask to see your drivers license along with your passport and immediately know you don't reside anywhere near the border.

They know immediately if the zip code where your car is registered is somewhere close to the border, or is very far away from the border. And if you have, or have not, crossed the border recently. It's people from very far away from the border that rarely if ever cross who also think they can take their guns, drugs, etc into Canada and won't get questioned about it.

So, going from Seattle up to Banff by way of the Sumas / Huntington crossing...

I went in and was asked for the purpose of my visit ("tourist"), duration of stay ("one to two weeks, no more than two"), for my occupation ("I am currently unemployed") and my permanent residence ("I am currently without a permanent residence")... and the officer looked at my car with camping equipment for more than two weeks... and I was sent to have a bit more of a discussion with an agent.

Parked my car and went in and waited. While waiting, another family was moving from Washington to Alaska... and they were having difficulties. Three vehicles, four possible drivers, though one was an older woman. One car contained a rifle and one of the drivers had a criminal record.

I got to the counter after an hour, explained, was denied entry but that could be rectified if I came back with proof of ties to the United States and proof that I had sufficient funds to be able to stay the duration of my stay without needing any employment.

So, got back in my car, got in line to go back to the US and called my parents on my iPhone (still a rather new tech). They happened to have been at the insurance company when I called, and so got insurance for the car that I was driving for Canada - and sent a photo of that insurance and their drivers licenses with the address clearly visible. Got to the US border agent who was confused that I hadn't entered Canada but was clearly coming from Canada and sat in that office for a little bit while they looked to see that yes, I was an American citizen.

After half an hour there went to the ATM and got a balance of my accounts. I had more than sufficient funds in the account, and then went back to the border crossing. It was the same agent at the crossing so I didn't need to explain again, but said I had the necessary proof (which surprised him that I got it that quickly) and had me park again and go in to the office.

In the office, the family was still trying to figure out what to do. An hour later after they decided that the brother with the criminal record was going to walk back to the US side and that they were going to pay an arm and a leg to register the rifle I got to the counter, showed my parents drivers licenses ("this is where I am going, I had some time without any responsibilities and so decided to tour North America"), the photo of the car insurance for Canada (they called that one in and verified it... again, surprised that I was able to get it so quickly), and matched the account on the ATM receipt with the account that I had for my card... and let me in with some paperwork in my passport noting that I needed to provide that paperwork when leaving the country otherwise entering again could be problematic.

Anyways... I had a great time in Canada. Loved Banff and later Waterton. Handed over the papers to ensure I was leaving at Chief Mountain. I'd love to do it again some day... the drive from Kamloops to Banff was one of the most enjoyable "just driving" days I've done.

It took a while, but trying to cooperate to the best of my ability and that new "sending pictures around" technology really helped.

A selection of some of the photos I took there. https://imgur.com/a/stdkS0c ... some are memories, some are trying to capture the beauty of the area. I don't have them on http://shagie.smugmug.com because technically I was a tourist rather than a photographer and selling the prints gets into potential future visa issues. The rock formation is a nice, compact chevron fold.

I recall doing the long walk into town and dumping quarters in the Bubble Bobble machine they had in the arcade there.

Met a cute girl there.

I don't have any great photos from Athabasca area... some of the other photos...

https://imgur.com/a/c2Ep6ox

The style of waterfall photographs that I find myself drawn to are high contrast, narrower field of view that have a... "story of the water". You need to be able to follow it through the frame. The great spouts aren't ones that I find interesting. I much preferred Romana falls (Mount Hood - https://shagie.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfalls/Ramona-Falls ) and Burney Falls (near Mount Shasta - https://shagie.smugmug.com/Nature/Waterfalls/Burney-Falls ). While they're veils of water from high cliffs that crash onto rocks far below, I can photograph them... intimately. They are majestic, but there are so many parts to them that tell their own "story".

https://imgur.com/1o6BVGR - I think this is from the Lake Louise area. Not sure, it's not labeled but it's date stamped near other photos in that area.

https://imgur.com/joZFgVT - Another example of "intimate photos of grand nature" - this is a small part (from where I stood https://www.google.com/maps/@52.1765131,-117.0554424,3a,75y,... ) of the mountains.

https://imgur.com/SmKxAeQ - I have it labeled as "Lower Brenda Falls" in my photos. I think its from Waterton area... Ahh... looking it up, Bertha falls. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Waterton+Lakes+National+Pa... (I'll be fixing that up in my albums)

And even then, a fire can show the recycling power of nature. https://imgur.com/IHQhm7z and wildflowers are once again freed from the seed bank. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Marble+Canyon+Trailhead/@5... - I was there in 2009, the fire was from 2003. https://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/natures-riot...

(See also the "Cheeto truck explosion" on the road to Yosemite after the area had a wild fire through it - https://shagie.smugmug.com/Nature/Wildflowers )

https://photos.app.goo.gl/A8LypichDTns3n1V6

I'll have to try to get out there this summer/spring, wildflowers tend to emerge after mass fires like that.

The road up to Marmot Basin was just crazy when I was up there this winter. Desolation.