Banff and Surrounding National Parks

The Banff and Lake Louise area of Alberta Canada has been on my bucket list for a long time. Although I always expected this to be a winter destination, we opted to see it within its short summer season and found there’s even more than Banff National Park to experience in this area.

The town of Banff is extremely busy and a popular year round destination, possibly better known for its winter sports. However, there is a summer season here as well, albeit a mere two months of it. The park itself stretched north and south primarily along Highway 1, the Trans-Canada Highway. Getting around and parking at some of the popular destinations can be difficult, but there are both public and private transportation to help. Once you get off the highway the beauty of this place is magical. Emerald and turquoise water surrounds you everywhere, which is the result of glacier runoff. High above on rugged peaks and mountain valleys are 10,000-year-old glaciers everywhere, albeit not as large as they once were. One thing we were surprised about is that it’s not just Banff National Park to enjoy here, rather four conjoined national parks to explore. So, as you might expect, this blog just got a bit more complex, but I’ll try to simplify it and break it down individually into the four national parks, including Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho.

Banff National Park

Banff is the more popular of the national parks in the area and home to three ski resorts and Lake Louise. As mentioned previously, the town of Banff is a busy place with a flowing river of tourists from across the globe scattered among the main entertainment district. It’s a fun little town but the crowds can get a little overwhelming depending on your tolerance for people. The national park spreads northward primarily up the Trans-Canada Highway and Icefields Parkway where it meets up with Jasper National Park. Bow Valley Parkway (Highway 1A) is a more remote road that parallels the Trans-Canada Highway and a great place to see wildlife. We covered the park pretty extensively and have the following favorite, and must-see, stops to share.

Lake Louise

No trip to Banff is not complete without a visit to Lake Louise. This is so popular of a destination, that the small parking lot typically fills up before sunrise, so using the park bus system is the way to get there. Once you reach the lake from the parking lot you will see why its so popular. The turquoise blue water with majestic mountain background looks like a painting has dropped from the heavens. There’s an easy walk around the lake but we also decided to do the popular Lake Agnes Trail to the teahouse. Nothing like having some tea and biscuits up on a mountaintop next to a beautiful lake! The Big Beehive Trail extension from here would have been a great addition to this with an overhead view of Lake Louise, but we also wanted to visit Moraine Lake and didn’t have time for both.

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake is a short distance from Lake Louise along the bus route. There is no public parking lot here so the bus is the only way to see this lake. You can make a case either way for which lake is more beautiful, so you might as well get in the game and see both of them. I highly recommend the easy hike halfway around the lake, as the views continually change as you go. Another must do is the Rockpile Trail. This short trail to the top of a rockpile provides the best views of the lake, so good it’s on the Canadian twenty-dollar bill.

Peyto Lake

Right off of Icefields Parkway is the access to Peyto Lake, another must see. We visited this lake on our first day, trying to beat the rains that were coming in. The lake is accessible via a short paved trail which leads to an amazing overlook. As we arrived at the lake the rain stopped and the clouds cleared enough to see the fox shaped glacier formed, turquoise blue lake below with just enough low clouds to enhance the beauty. Within 20-30 minutes a dense fog moved in and you were lucky to see your hands in front of your face. Timing is everything!

Bow Lake

Down the road from Peyto Lake is Bow Lake. This is an easy quick stop right off the side of the road and well worth the stop for the amazing views. There are some popular hikes in this area, which we did not do.

Johnston Canyon

This is an amazing trail in the Bow Valley area. A boardwalk is constructed along the canyon, actually hanging off of the canyon, which takes you through this beautiful area with two separate waterfalls to see along the way. The first waterfall has a secret cave where you can get behind the falls. It’s an amazing trail but very popular so do this one early and during the week if possible.

Lake Louise Ski Resort Gondola

There are two gondola rides that you can do, the Banff gondola and the Lake Louise gondola. We did the latter. The ride up is very cool and the views from the top are awesome, however I’m not sure the payoff was worth the price unless you’re not a hiker and this is the only way to see some of these views.

Lake Minnewanka

This is a pretty lake not far from the town of Banff, which is a great place to take a boat ride or simply hang out on the shore and watch the sun go down, as we did.

In addition to the above, the Banff Upper Hot Springs and the Kananaskis Nordic Spa are both very popular destinations, however we can not comment on either of them personally since these did not make the cut for places we visited.

TIP: Lake Louise and Moraine Lake require an advanced reservation to get a bus ride to the locations. Additional reservations become available 48 hours in advance but can be difficult to attain. We found several private bus tours that allow easier access to both lakes for just a little bit more money. We booked on the WowBanff bus tour which worked out very well with their flexible schedule.

Jasper National Park

We didn’t fully explore Jasper National Park, but did do the Columbia Icefield tour of Athabasca Glacier which was epic. It’s not often you get the chance to actually walk on a glacier, so this was on the top of our list. From the tour center you look across to the Athabasca Glacier along with four other glaciers that are visible from this location. A bus takes you to another staging area where you board a 6-wheel drive massive Ice Explorer that takes you up a 37% grade to the glacier. Once there, you are free to walk around the glacier and explore. Although it is a bit commercialized and restricted where you can go, it’s still a once in a lifetime experience.

After re-boarding the bus, the next stop is the Columbia Icefield Skywalk, a glass bottom viewing platform 918 feet above the Sunwapta Valley. This is a very cool experience. Shannon even put here fear of heights aside and ventured out on the platform.

Kootenay National Park

Kootenay National Park is just West of Banff National Park along Highway 93S. It’s a beautiful drive with many stops along the way. Although we found the better areas to be on the northern section, it’s still worth a drive through the entire 62 miles. And if you’re planning on visiting Radium Hot Springs, this is located at the far southern end. Some stops worth specific mention include:

Continental Divide

The park begins at the Continental Divide, where there is a parking area and monument to take that great vacation pic. We’ve driven across the continental divide many times but often there’s not a spot to pull over and experience being on top of the world, so this was a fun quick stop.

Numa Falls

An easy access waterfall is always a worthy stop along our ventures, and this was no exception. Numa Falls is a great place to stop for a picnic lunch and take in the views of the beautiful falls from the river or bridge.

Paint Pots

The Paint Pots were interesting in both the experience and the history. These iron-rich springs create a rich orange color that have been used as pigment in paint and the clay itself for other purposes by the Ktunaxa people. It’s a pretty, but messy, short hike that goes across a wetland meadow to the actually springs (Paint Pots). It’s different, it’s interesting and it’s messy, so be prepared.

Marble Canyon

This is a beautiful hike that criss-crosses the canyon through a series of bridges. It offers a bit of everything including a waterfall at the end and an area that resembles a tropical Caribbean beach. The river at the beginning was a great place to get some of the red mud off of the dogs from the Paint Pots.

As mentioned, drive the entire road and stop at as many of the areas along the way as possible. There are plenty of other hiking opportunities, one of which is a more challenging Stanley Glacier Trail, which I didn’t get to hike this time, but hope to on a return trip someday.

Yoho National Park

Yoho National Park is north of Kootenay and west of Lake Louise along the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s the smallest of the four conjoined notational parks at 507 square miles but don’t let the small size deter you from this beauty. In fact, some of our favorite spots were in this park. Here’s five that top our list:

Emerald Lake

If the crowds at lake Louise are too much for you, check out Emerald Lake. This magnificent (emerald colored) lake is like a more quaint version of Lake Louise, although parking can still be a challenge. A pedestrian bridge brings you across the stream to a chalet on the lake. A small lodge and cabins are scattered around the southern section of the lake with walking paths, all resembling a small village on this majestic lake with its mountain backdrop. We stopped at the lodge restaurant and sat out on the patio overlooking the lake to enjoy a chocolate martini and charcuterie board.

Sherbrooke Lake

Speaking of escaping the crowds, Sherbrooke Lake is a hidden gem accessible by a fairly easy hike, albeit there is some elevation change. A wooded trail leads to this peaceful mountain lake. There were only a few other people along the trail on our way out which was such a treat in a busy national park. The trail continues on to the far side of the lake but gets a but trickier there. The reward at the far end is a short climb to an overlook.

Takakkaw Falls

This magnificent waterfall cascades down from over 1,200 feet above and is one of the highest waterfalls in Canada. It’s an easy boardwalk to reach the falls that you’ll be sharing with a lot of people, but it’s well worth it. Many adventure up the rocks or along the stream to get an even closer experience. It’s simply breathtaking!

Wapta Falls

This is a great easy three mile hike to a magnificent waterfall. Opposed to the tall waterfall of Takakkaw, this one is low and wide. There’s a viewing area at the top of the falls and then a short trail down to a lower point to get closer. This was another wooded peaceful hike, absent of crowds.

Natural Bridge

This is an extremely picturesque spot where the Kicking Horse River has carved itself under the rocks to create a natural bridge. According to a local I was eavesdropping on, back in the day you were able to walk across teh bridge. Well, nature has continued it’s sculpting and that would be a bit dangerous to attempt today but it was interesting to understand how it continues to evolve. There are, however, some climbing around that can be done… so I hear.

The national parks of Canada are amazing. The jagged mountains and glaciers backdropping the emerald and turquoise rivers and lakes are epic and look like something out of a magazine. As you stand at a waters edge marveling at the beauty, it doesn’t seem real even though you just snapped a picture to capture the moment. Yet, there’s also something very different and somewhat disturbing about these parks in comparison to American national parks. Instead of secluded natural land protected from human inhabitance, there are towns scattered within and major highways crisscrossing right through the parks. People work here, live here and commute through the national parks on a daily basis. Instead of scenic roads purposely made to blend in with the natural surroundings, there are concrete barriers and in many places graffiti stricken structures. This is supposed to be about preserving the natural environment and its wildlife. We humans are supposed to be the outsiders, however they put up fences to keep the wildlife at bay and build bridges for them to use to avoid going where we don’t want them to be. Here it seems the wildlife must adapt to us rather than us adapting to the wildlife. Diesel trucks scream by at 100 km/h under the shadows of glacier ridden mountain peaks. It all just seems very contradicting to the purpose, or possibly the purpose has just been lost. I don’t mean to be overly critical, and this is an amazing place that everyone should visit, but this part just stings a bit.

Be sure to check out all of our pictures of the four Canadian National parks.