Sara’s sister Charlene planed a trip to Canada’s Banff National Park which has been on our Bucket List for years. So naturally we decided to join them. We had a group of 10 including Bob and Charlene and their children Elise with her husband Nathen, Greg and Rachel, Sister Anne and her son, Paul.
We started our trip by flying into Calgary and staying at an Airbnb very close to the airport. Location was very fortunate as most of the family group of 10 were very delayed, arriving at various times throughout the night. (Air travel is not what it used to be. Sister Anne arrived a full day later and missed Calgary all together.) The next day we went to church and drove to the fare grounds for the last day of the Famous Calgary Stampede.
Here we are at the ticket booth as soon as the gates opened. We bought our tickets and got in line with the rest of the cowboys.
The line looks long but it moved quickly through security and ticket check. We felt a little out of place among these Canadians with their western wear, cowboy boots and matching hats.
Here you see the juxtaposition of the Calgary downtown skyscrapers against the stampede carnival like two worlds colliding.
While we waited for the Men to find parking, we stood in line for a framed picture. From left to right, Kari, Elise, Rachel, Sara, Charlene. Look at Sara trying to seam taller by standing on her tip toes. Lol.
Stopped to see a real working blacksmith work with metal on an Anvil.
We were able to watch the heavy horse pull in one of the event halls. These were some of the biggest and strongest horses in the world as they worked together pulling more than five times their body weight a distance of 14 feet.
The sled they pulled had runners right on the dirt and was stacked with concrete blocks. There were three piles of concrete blocks to put on the sled as the competition progressed.
Horses were knocked out of the competition when they were unable to drag the sled the required 14 feet. The winning pull was over 10,000 pounds. So crazy! Right?
Next, we were on to the event halls. We stopped at the bucking horse exhibit where we learned that these horses were bred to buck from an early age, like the horse below.
This cute baby horse with a beautiful pattern on it coat is also a bucking horse/pony in training.
The last show we saw was a group of female horse show riders. They performed creating circles, lines and other patterns crossing over and through with their amazingly trained horses.
Here is one of the Showriders routines where they were riding in formation with their flags. The timing takes a lot of practice so they have the right spacing between horses while keeping their horses’ calm.
This is our ragtag group after the events heading out to find more adventures. Of course Greg and Sara in the spotlight :). Sara and Charlene are sporting their new free cow bandana from the event.
Canmore day 1
Then all 9 of us (Anne still in in route to Calgary) went to the closest Costco to load up with groceries for the week and, after three stops to get beer that fit Bob’s standards, we drove about an hour to Canmore. This charming town about 40 minutes outside Banff National Park is less busy and more reasonably priced than staying in Banff proper. We stayed in these centrally located condos.
This was the first view outside the window of our room in the condo.
A great view of the “three sisters” from our balcony.
Our first morning in Canmore Sara and I were up early and went for a run to explore the city (which is what we always do :)). We found this Canmore recreation center and thought this is where we could get in a work out during the week.
We found out is that this building is now used for Gymnastics and has two hockey rinks for high school teams to train and compete, like the Canmore Eagles.
Next on our adventure, we found a great trail system through the center of town with beautiful views like this one.
Elevation place is the new work out gym in Canmore. You can see the 3 sisters off in the distance in this picture.
It has multiple huge pools used for swimming, water slides, water aerobics, etc.
It has a two-sided multiple stories climbing wall. We had a great view of one of the climbing techs working on the wall.
Our first hike was just outside of Canmore in the Grassy Lake rec area. Most of the hikes require a parking pass that you can buy online. All the hikes in this area start with a climb and then just keep climbing. This is going to be a theme in our hikes :0). Our first view point was this waterfall.
The Canadian parks are very nice put up signage at places where you could fall, but they still let you proceed at your own risk. This sign is self-explanatory.
Beautiful lookout into the lake and waterfall. That beautiful watercolor will be a theme in these glacier-filled lakes.
Our hiking group at the rest stop. The path continued up with water flowing down the path.
Higher up the trail near the top of the waterfall.
View of the valley from the top of the waterfall
That afternoon we decided to go a second local hike called the Ha Ling Miners Peak Trail. Here is Greg hiking, of course, without shoes.
Across a water canal bridge with a beautiful view and then onto the trailhead.
As you can see by the trail map this was a hike upward through the forest and then to a high point of unmaintained trail near the top of the mountain – you will see that later…
A series of stone steps, that were smooth in places but had the chain to hold onto while going up.
After many stone steps we made it to these awesome wooden steps taking us from this forest to the top unmaintained trail section. The steps were amazing and made climbing this section so much easier.
This is what they meant by unmaintained trail with Greg, Charlene and Bob hiking up. It was loose gravel/scree and super steep! The view however was amazing in all directions.
This was the first look out below the top, we stopped to take a look over the edge.
The view of the valley below was amazing…
This was the steep unmaintained trail from the top down to the main trail, filled with rock and scree.
Sara getting down to the more stable maintained part of the trail.
View of the awesome steps going down to the main trail.
Our group who made it to the top ready to go down – down is easier right!
Some of the stone steps on the way down in the forest.
Elise and Nathan were in the condo working remotely and had a feast ready for us when we got back. Burgers on the grill, roasted potatoes and all the fixings.
We took turns cooking dinner each night and voted on each meal. Elise and Nathen won best dinner overall for their efforts. We ate most of our meals in the condo. Breakfast was usually eggs because we bought about 7 dozen at Costco.
Lake Minnewonka
We wanted to get out on the beautiful lakes in Banff but many of them had a pretty steep cost to rent a canoe or paddleboard. Lake Minnewonka was a less traveled and reasonable option.
Ramp to the dock on the lake: as you can see, we were here early (another theme for the week, getting early start to beat the crowds).
Dock to either take a power boat ride on the lake or rent a boat.
We got our things staged on a picnic table in the shade and Bob went over to rent a canoe we could share in shifts on the lake.
Two people would go out on the lake for about 30 min and then come back for the next team. The lake looked really inviting.
Sara and I didn’t have a shift for about an hour so we went for a short hike with Anne and Charlene.
River near the hiking trail. We will actually canoe up the mouth of this river from the lake.
Out on the water was beautiful. I have to mention that Sara and I tried to take Charlene with us in the middle of the canoe. About a minute after we pushed off from the beach Charlene and I heard a siren go on a boat near the dock and we knew they are coming for us. They stopped us and told us what we were doing was “against the law” so we took Charlene back to the beach to avoid “Canoe Prison”. Always good to test the boundaries.
We kept paddling with mountains and forests on both sides of us, beautiful skies and clear water all around. The water was cold mountain run-off so no swimming here.
We paddled up the river going against the river flow until the bridge to the trail I previously mentioned and then we had to go back. Here is us heading out with the river flow – no paddling needed.
View of the lake from the river…
Next adventure was hiking the C Level Cirque Trail about a mile up the road from the lake parking lot. We didn’t know if there was a parking lot at the trailhead so everyone hiked to it.
Once we got there we found out there was a parking lot. Paul and I ran back on trail to get both of the cars from the parking lot and move them to the trailhead while the others started to hike.
Greg and Nathan waited for us and we started up the trail together after getting some water. The trail went up steadily until reaching this old coal miners shed.
After about another 4 or 5k in the forest it opened up into this amazing Ampitheater of Cascade mountain. Years and years of rock scree in a valley between the mountain peaks. But we weren’t done yet. There was a skinny train leading to the top near the right side of this view.
We kept climbing up this rocky area between the trees…
Here is Sara going up a really steep section with loose dirt and rocks
We kept hearing that if we continued just one more kilometer, the view would be worth it. It was a great view, but the hike was so steep and uneven I’m not totally sure that it was indeed worth it.
A great view of Lake Minnewonka, Johnson lake and Two Jack lake. The colors, the mountains and the hike took our breath away. After a short break and some food we were on our way down.
The first part was pretty good trail.
Then it got really steep with loose dirt. Kari had the longest slide of the trip in this section which really shortened his walk down 🙂
The trail on the side of the scree valley on the way down.
Sara and I got to cook this evening and we made Mexican food for the team. Beef tacos with all of the fixings. We were tired and hungry by the time this picture was taken. We showered up and went to bed.
Hop on Hop Off Banff bus
We all wanted to see the main attractions in Banff but didn’t want to try to drive and park for all of them so we booked everyone on the hop on hop off bus for the day. We parked in the large free parking near the train station and walked over to meet the bus.
We got there early and had some time to kill so Greg, Paul and Nathan were playing some hackie sack in the parking lot.
The big yellow bus came to pick us up and we were off to the park.
They provided us with a time schedule for the day of when the bus would be at certain stops. Their guide helped us with our plans for the day. We had all decided that Moraine lake was going to be the most busy so we wanted to start there.
Elise and Rachel were so happy have sister time and to be on the bus together 😉
We had one stop on the way to Johnston Canyon with a view of two mountains and a stream.
This mountain across the street was named Castle Mountain. When Eisenhower, the WWII hero, took his tour of Canada after WWII, Canada wanted to honor him… for a while, and then they decided to change the name back to Castle Mountain.
Next we hopped off the bus at Moraine Lake which is only available using bus transportation. No private cars allowed.
Every opening in the trees was an amazing view of the lake and the mountains with the snow behind it. We couldn’t believe the color of the water in the morning light and before it was filled with canoe’s. ($70 per hour to rent here)
Here we are walking on the path that hugs the right side of the lake. The color of the water is more intense when you look at it from above. We did a short hike to the top of the “Rock Pile” to look out over the lake for this perfect picture postcard view. My favorite view and highlight of this trip.
The next stop was the famous Lake Louise and its grand hotel overlooking the lake. We heard that rooms here are $7000 per night. That’s in Canadian Dollars but still not cheap! Also heard that “The Rock” stayed in the $10,000 per night room when he was filming a movie here.
Not surprising that this lake is very popular with tourists because of the hotel and beautiful views of the lake. We were able to explore around the lake on a path leading up the mountain. The story behind the hotel is that the rail road ran out of money so they built the hotel so they could use the money to complete the railroad. The hotel burned x 2 but now they have water stored up the mountain that they can use to put out the fire when/if they have another one. All that pretty water used to put out a fire.
Sara and Greg going up the start of the path above Lake Louise
After several switchbacks we got a view of the lake over the top of the trees
We continued on the Lake Agnes Teahouse trail to the big beehive and lake.
The water was cold but Charlene was hot so she jumped in with several others and was happy to cool off.
We continued up the trail and came to this waterfall and couldn’t resist stopping.
Just beyond the waterfall were these wooden stairs leading up to the teahouse and lake.
Lake Agnes teahouse trail lake was beautiful and we went the edge of the water to put some cold water in our hats for the hike down. It was way too hot for tea.
We hiked down to find some shade and eat something before hopping back on the bus to go to Jonson Canyon.
This stop is a long series of elevated trails leading into a canyon with waterfalls and the stream carving out the rock.
The sound of the waterfalls was loud and it was nice to have some shade after being in the hot sun all day. The waterfalls were beautiful and the water color was amazing.
Back on the bus back to Banff we saw our first bear on the side of the road in the tall green grass. Not a great pic but the bear was busy eating. Our tour guide gave us all Bear Pins to celebrate the occasion.
Ice Fields Parkway
The ice fields parkway is a scenic freeway leading from Banff through Jasper with stops along the way to see lakes and Glaciers. If you are looking to get unplugged, this is the road for you because there was no internet.
Our first stop was Herbert Lake.
We parked in the parking lot and walked across some muddy dirt to the edge of this beautiful lake in the cool of the morning. Then it was back in the car to the next place to see, this will be a theme for the day – keep moving forward.
The next stop was Bow Lake – we parked and scurried down a steep embankment to the side of this beautiful lake.
The lake was quite a site in the early morning beneath the mountains and the glaciers of snow looming in the mountains giving up their ice melt to color the lakes.
We left the lake and stopped at Mistaya Canyon. There was a short hike and then we could see the canyon of rock carved out by the high-speed running water of the river. It was so loud.
We hiked a short distance further and we were able to go down right next to the river and the canyon where the water really rushed into the rocks. The water was moving so fast that it was mesmerizing. Greg was sitting just watching it.
Next, we pulled off to see Peyto Lake. It was a packed parking lot with lots of activity. Bob found a parking spot for us like he always does.
There was a short trail off of the parking lot leading to a lookout. We brought a snack and headed out.
The high platform offered amazing views in all directions. We are told that the reason for the amazing color of water is from the rocks rubbing together creating “glacier flour” that gathers at the surface of the water absorbing the reds and reflecting the blues giving it that turquoise color.
To the right was the lake with its legs leading out in several directions and the mountains rising to the sky. The higher the vantage point, the more the aqua blue color shows in the lake.
Leaving Peyto lake were back on the road heading toward the Columbia Icefields. On the way we started seeing smoke in the distance which increased as we got closer. In the shot below we stopped in a lookout for the waterfall in the distance. Aww don’t Charlene and Bob look cute :).
In this pic you can see the hazy view into the mountains because of the smoke. On the way to the lookout Bob said it looked like people were terrace farming in the hills and what I heard was “terrorist farming”. It made everyone in the car laugh for quite awhile for the rest of the trip.
Next stop was the Columbia Icefields. As you can see the glaciers were strong in these surrounding mountains. We drove off of the main highway and into the long road to the parking area.
We parked along the road and started walking toward the glacier. Here is Greg and Charlene in route.
The path rose from the parking lot up an incline to a long expanse of rock and water leading to the Glacier.
Here you can see the trail from the parking lot to the lookout over the Glacier and back at a lake of runoff from the melting ice.
This is a view from the lookout area onto the Columbia Glacier between these two mountains and the water runoff from the melting ice.
Sara is standing next to a sign that warns us of the dangers of hiking on this trail to the icefield with a cone blocking the way – yes we kept going :). The cone didn’t stop us.
The trail was a mixture of rocks and crushed rocks as we made our way down switchbacks to the water and then to the edge of the Glacier.
Here we are looking at the last stretch before going onto the Glacier. At this point we looked over and saw Greg walking barefoot on another path that ended at the water and he was stuck. That was until he put his shirt in his empty water bottle, threw it across to the land ahead and swam over in the literally freezing cold water. Let’s just say there were more than a few eyes on him, including guides. We met up with him again where we all crossed over a small river on planks to the glacier.
The glacier was ice mixed with dirt and crunched under our feet. The air was cold and there was a wind blowing between the mountain peaks toward us. Below us we could see the white and blue glacier water flow and ebb through the cracks.
About three quarters of the way back to Canmore the traffic slowed down and we saw this bear on the side of the road. He was feeding on the flowers so intensely that he didn’t pay any attention to us. He was just working on getting fattened up for the winter.
Kootenay, BC
We started this day heading into Kootenay to go to the Radion hot springs. We saw a sign stating that it was 100k to Radion and the group was concerned about time since Greg had to catch a bus to Calgary to get his flight. We change plans and looked for hikes in Kootenay to do for the day.
Our first hike was Paint Pots. It started with a normal dirt trail into the forest and then came to a bridge for a river crossing.
The color of the river was blue green and crystal clear with mountains rising in the distance.
After crossing the river the path quickly changed into a wooden boardwalk over a marsh. The boardwalk was in excellent condition and allowed a meander toward the forest in the distance.
The closer we got to the forest the dirt turned rust red; a drastic contrast to the green marsh grass and evergreen trees.
The trail turned rust colored and then started ascending.
It led to a small clearing at this picture perfect pool which also served as a foot bath for Greg.
The trail continued into the forest…
which then turned into a trail of ferns..
and then into a clearing with a view of the mountain above. We didn’t know how much further the trail went in this direction, so we turned around headed down.
Our next stop was Numa Falls. We parked in the small parking lot and walked up the trail to the falls.
The beautiful water rushed below the bridge.
Next stop was Twin Lakes. It was a short but steep hike through the forest to a summit.
The summit overlooked this isolated lake surrounded by forest. We saw one other person who had brought in some paddleboards to use on the lake.
At this point it was time for Greg to go to the airport so we split up and Paul, Anne, Kari and Sara went together to one more hike to a water fall on the way home. The hike started out flat but then suddenly got steep so we split up and continued to the falls. As you can see there were some steep drop offs along the way.
The falls were right in the middle of two canyon walls and that water was rushing fast.
We ended a long day on the trail by meeting up at Canmore Brewing
On the patio, it was time for a beverage, some talk of the day and of a game of poker. Nice that it was walking distance from our place.
Slot Canyon, Canmore Quarry Lake
Our last day we started on a trailhead in Banff leading to a slot canyon with a dry sandy riverbed.
We kept hiking and came to an area where there was some water flowing out of the rock to the valley below.
Further hiking up into the canyon..
We came to an area with lots of balanced rocks (cairns) all over the place. Rachel and Sara took their time setting up their rock sculptures.
Further up the canyon it opened up and led to a rock field.
On one end was a small cave up a scree field into the mouth of the cave. Paul and Rachel were brave enough to climb up and take pics at the opening of the cave. We were wise enough to see that the view wasn’t worth the climb.
We were hot from the morning hike so it was off to find some water to be in for the afternoon to cool off. On the way to the Quarry we saw these Elk gazing near the side of the road.
We carpooled together and headed to Quarry Lake in Canmore.
After finding a spot (hard to come by on a hot day),we got set with our swimming gear and made our way to the lake.
The quarry water was just what we needed in the heat of the day. As you can see, we had plenty of friends who also had the same idea. The lake water was cool but not ice cold like the other mountain lakes on our hikes this week.
It was awesome to be in the water with views of the mountains towering above us. We had our time in the water and then it was time to find something to eat.
After dinner it was time to have the three Gilles sisters get a picture with the Canmore Three Sisters mountains. The ones in the front are the most pretty ;).
We will miss Canmore and hope to come back in the future.
Leave a Reply