Rocky Mountains: Banff, Jasper, Canmore

Once awake, it was off for the road trip down the Banff Jasper Highway. Keep in mind that you have to have a park pass to be on that road and they do check. We passed by and kept going to our first stop, the Columbia Icefields.

The Columbia Icefields are impressive. The trip up to the glacier is expensive, so you have to budget your time and costs effectively before you get there. We opted for the full package that included the glacier visit, the sky walk, the boat tour and the gondola in Banff. In the end, it saved us money. We joined the lines and had our entertaining bus driver take us out to the glacier. You are free to walk for a small ways before being called back to the bus. Once back, you line up for another bus to take you to the sky walk. It was impressive but nothing like the grand canyon. It was interesting to see how swiftly the weather changes in the mountains. The clouds swirled and moved in and around the peaks, eventually soaking us with rain. It had been sunny on the glacier.

Then, based on the recommendations of the tour guide, we made a couple of stops along the highway back. First, we stopped at Mistaya Canyon. This is short walk to some dramatic carved stone canyons. The waters rush through and pound into the valley below. This was a short stop and then we continued back to Peyto Lake. This again is a short uphill hike to the viewing point of a stunning glacier lake. The meadow hike would have been wonderful to do but I was still sore from the previous day. However, onward the journey went.

Banff’s Gondola beckoned. Not only does the gondola have the world’s highest Starbucks, it also offers interesting aerial views of Banff on the way up Sulpher Mountain. While you can hike the mountain, the gondola is easier. Considering the rain, we decided to go up anyway. Once on the top, we were able to watch the fog shift and weave through the mountains. We had clear views and then no view at all. Wait five minutes and the weather would change. However, that only lasts so long so then we took the trip back down and headed for some shopping and to a pub for supper. Yummy.

We finished the day by going back up Sulpher Mountain to soak in the hot springs. This is a wonderful treat for tired muscles. There weren’t too many stars, but we closed the place down. All in all, a successful day of adventuring. But, you can’t be in Kananaskis  and not visit Woody’s so at 1:00 in the morning, you could have found us there with a pint.

The next morning, we left the hotel a bit later. It was a glorious and crisp mountain morning, so we took the opportunity to hike Troll Falls in Kananaskis. We consulted the bear warnings and headed through the meadow before turning up past bear scratched trees to the falls. These are a climbing falls. We started at the bottom and walked up and over to do a loop to get back to the car.

Since we had other plans, we didn’t linger and headed towards Canmore for coffee. We found a lovely little bakery on the back side of town that had fabulous lunch. They bake their own bread and the specialty breads are worth taking home if you are so inclined. I couldn’t but oh…the memories are good. From there, we drove out towards Lake Minnewanka for the Lake Tour. 

Columbia Icefields

Banff Jasper Highway

Sky Walk

Peyto Lake

Nothing to see here

Five minutes later

Banff Hot Springs

Meadows looking towards Nakiska

Grizzly Claw marks

Troll Falls

The Banff Lake tour was the final thing in the package deal we had started at the Columbia Icefields. It would have been wise to book ahead, but we got lucky and had the final two tickets for the boat tour. This gentle journey around the lake served to have our guide tell the story of the wildlife, tell about the history and spot the bald eagle.

Lake Minnewanka

 

It really was a shorter day in the mountains as we had had to pack suitcases and then drive back into Calgary for the evening. When you only seem to have a weekend, it is rather hard to squeeze everything in.

Banff on Dwellable