Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta

Lake Louise is a famous area of Banff National Park.  The setting of the alpine lake is stunning, although the large hotel and crowded parking lots prevent it from being a tranquil place. There is also a small hamlet of Lake Louise that provides some basic services.  Cristin and I stayed here 2 nights, several days apart. We camped at the Lake Louise Campground  early in the week as a 1-day base camp to check out Yoho National Park to the west of Lake Loise in British Columbia (see blog entry on Yoho NP). We did not explore the Lake Louie area until we returned later in the week.

Jasper National Park

Bull Elk off Hwy 16 just east of Jasper

We really liked Jasper, both the park and the town.  The town of Jasper is much less touristy than Banff (but still.touristy).  We spent two night camping right on Honeymoon Lake, a primitive campground. We also spent at a night at mega-campground Whistlers right outside of Jasper. We spent the days touring around.  We hiked the Sulphur Skyline trail, and enjoyed a spa before AND after the hike at Miette Hot Springs. We drove the scenic Maligne Valley Rd, hiked along the Maligne River and Maligne Lake, and saw a grizzly right off of Hwy 93 near the Whistlers Campground entrance.

 

Honeymoon Lake

The Icefields Parkway and the Athabasca Glacier



The Athabasca Glacier

The Icefields Parkway is scenic Highway 93 North that links Lake Louise in the south to the town of Jasper in the north.  It is about 140 miles in length and passes thru some of the best scenery in the world as it parallels the continental divide.  It is popular to bike the Icefields Parkway over several days, staying at campgrounds or hostels along the way. The highlight of the Icefields Parkway is the Columbia Icefield and the Athabasca Glacier located at about the midpoint of the highway and near the boundary between Banff and Japser National Parks.  Several major glaciers eminate as lobes from the massive Columbia Icefield. The Icefields Visitor Center is hub of activity and base to explore the glacier.


A typical view on the Icefields Parkway

Yoho National Park, British Columbia

The Natural Bridge on the Kicking Horse R. In B.C.
Formerly water poured over the top of the rock as a waterfall
but the rock is limestone which is more easily dissolved
and the river found a new path.

We spent part of a day exploring  Yoho National Park near Field, B. C., which is only about 30 minutes west of Lake Louise on Trans-Canada Hwy 1. We saw a natural bridge over the Kicking Horse R. Then we did an easy but very enjoyable hike around Emerald Lake. This area is famous for the Burgess Fossil Shale, one of the most productive and important fossil beds in the world. Major discoveries continue today that contribute to a better understanding of the earth's past. The fossil beds can only be seen as part of a guided hike that has a hefty fee.   If I had known about this guided hike, I would have pre-registered and planned our itinerary to accommodate it.

The Natural Bridge viewed from one end.

Banff Townsite

After mountain biking in Canmore, we headed to the town of Banff.  Months ago we had reserved a private room at the hostel in Banff for the bargain price of $150.  Banff is an extremely expensive location, even more so than the generally high prices we encountered most everywhere in Canada.  I found the town to be uncomfortably touristy-on-steroids.   However, we did find some interesting things to do and are certain there are many more that we didn't have time to discover.

Canmore, Alberta.

The Three Sisters watch over Canmore

Canmore is a cool town I'd describe as peaceful, classy, scenic, low-key and convenient. It is located about an hour west of Calgary and about 10 miles east of Banff.  All three communities are on Trans-Canada Hwy 1.  When we did research for our trip, we learned that Canmore is a highly recommended base for outdoor activity in its own right.  It is convenient to Banff, but also less much expensive for accommodations and dining.   So we reserved a motel in Canmore for our trip's second night. It was nice to know we had a place already lined up for the evening as we departed the worst campground ever that morning in Saskatchewan.  (See blog entry Overview of Banff and Jasper Trip).  We stayed at the Bow Valley Motel and had a nice dinner at the Grizzly Paw Brew Pub.