Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper

I have been back a full day from my road trip. I am not quite ready to go back to work. It perplexes me that the summer is almost over and I start school again in a few weeks.

We left for the road trip last Saturday. We stopped at Shuswap Lake to meet up with another couple. We swam and boated on the lake for a few hours in the afternoon. That was loads of fun. The lake was busy with Albertans (mostly families). The camp grounds were mostly filled with RVs. Lots of people wake board and tube on the lake with speed boats.

We spent the evening overnight in Golden at the Sportman's Lodge. The hotel was good and exceeded my expectations. The hot tub had weird foam on it and made our bathing suits smell like wet dog. The pool was very small, but it had a waterslide. We ate breakfast at the ABC Restaurant just down the way. Service was slow, however, the food was good.

 

On Sunday, we drove to Banff. We camped at Tunnel Mountain Village I (or II). The camp site was very good and the bathrooms were a decent size. There were only two showers for the whole loop. Luckily, most of the people in our loop left on Monday. So, we had the loop and bathroom to ourselves. The bathrooms were rarely cleaned and usually had garbage on the floors, plugged toliets, and lack of toliet paper.

In Banff, we shopped and explored the first day. After lunch back at camp, we drove to Bow Falls. There were always lots of tour busses with foreigers everywhere. I heard all kinds of languages and saw all kinds of license plates.

The following day, we canoed down the Bow River from Blue Canoe rentals. Then the other girl and I went to the Banff Museum, Canada Place, and the Cascade Gardens. I never made it to the Buffalo Nations Luxton Musuem or seen the First Nations dancing in the Casade Gardens. I also did not go on any walks or hikes in Banff. We also drove up to the Cave and Basin site and I saw the Reflecting Pool, which was the original hot springs pool and the first federal park.

Banff is beautiful. We ended our last evening in Banff at the Upper Hot Springs. The mineral water rehydrated my dry skin and completely relaxed me. It is busy, but becomes sparse a few hours before closing time. We went into town for dinner and ate at Wild Bill's. The food was good, but the service was mediocre.

Before we left the next morning, we drove around the golf course. We saw a family of elk feeding in the forest just before Bow Falls.

 

We headed to Lake Louise by driving down the Bow Valley Parkway. We saw some goats on the road. There were various view points to stop at. The mountains are beautiful on a clear day. Unfortuately, the weather started to become cloudy and rain was on its way. In Lake Louise, we had to split our camp sites because they only allowed one tent and car per site. There is an electric fence and a wire cattle guard surrounding the campground. Lake Louise village is very small. The grocery store is very basic. We did not shop prior to Lake Louise, so we feasted on hot dogs and cob corn for dinner.

We went to Lake Louise and snapped a few photos before the horizontal rain. Everyone started running back to the parking lot. We stopped under a tree hoping the rains would stop. They did not, so we went into the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The hotel lobby was beautiful. It amazes me that some of these hotels in Banff have been there since the early 1900s.

We then went to Moraine Lake. This is the lake that is on the back of the old Canadian twenty dollar bill. The lake was a lovely pristine blue surrounded by glacier mountains. It was created over thousands of years dating back to the ice age. You can go on a small 5 minute hike up a hill for a better view of the lake.

The lodge has a small cafe below it that sells overpriced items that are disappointing. We had machine pumped watery hot chocolate for $3.50 each.

The rains had started and thank dogness for tarps. We stayed one night before heading to Jasper.

 

Before leaving Lake Louise the next morning, we went to Laggan's Mountain Bakery and Deli. I had a Western breakfast bun and chai latte, which were both delicious. We also grabbed some fresh baked sourdough bread.

We drove up the Columbia Icefields Parkway towards Jasper. Driving past summits and glacier mountains was breathtaking, even on a cloudy and overcast day. There are a few campgrounds and hostels along the Parkway, but I cannot imagine staying at those places because it could be very cold.

We stopped at Peyto Lake and Mistaya Canyon. I was very impressed with the canyon. It consisted of twisting, deep chasms with rushing waters.

Then, we stopped at the Columbia Icefield. You can walk up to the glacier. It was raining. I did not go on the glacier for fear of slipping or falling down a crevice. We read a story on a sign about a nine year-old boy who fell in a crevice and died from hypothermia. It also said the last several attempts to save people who fell have failed. Some people hiked up on tours with strap-on ice climbing metal cleats. You can pay to ride up the glacier on snow cat tour.

We ate lunch in the Columbia Icefield cafe. It serves the basics and is decent. We had chicken burgers and fries. There is also soup, salad, sandwiches and chinese food. The dining room also serves a lunch buffet for $18.95.

 

In Jasper, we stayed at the Whistler campground. It has a central area with showers (about 9), recycling, amphitheatre, and field. There are also two swing sets. The amphitheatre shows nightly shows for families. I really was impressed by this campground.

The town of Jasper was my favourite. It was not very commercialized bursting with tourists. It was a basic town with a two main streets surrounded by beautiful mountains. While in town, my favourite stores were the Tea Leaf Boutique and Jasper Camera & Gift. We had lunch at Japser Park Pizza. We were early for the oven-fired thin crust pizzas (after 5 pm), but the pizzas were still great.

 

While in Jasper, we visited the Maligne Canyon. It was a hike down along the canyon with a system of bridges. We did not go all the way down, but most of the distance. The deep crevices and waterways were impressive. My first and only hike. We also drove to Maligne Lake. The drive up to the lake is lovely with many opportunities for viewing wildlife. On the way, we passed Medicine Lake, also known as the Dissapearing Lake. The lake water level was very low and we could see animal tracks in the sand.

Maligne Lake was beautiful. We could see snow on the glacier mountains. We strolled along the lake to a better viewpoint. Every now and then in various areas of Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper, we could hear people with bells on their backpacks and clothing. We called these sounds "dinner bells". The bells are not loud enough for a bear to hear.

On the way back from the lake, we came upon random cars stopped all over both sides of the road and people running around outside. The chaos turned out to be caused by a sighting of two black bear cubs on the side of the road. I thought these people were morons. We could not get by them and no desire to get out of the car because we did not know where the black bear mother was.

We ended our trip in Jasper at the Miette hot springs. They were lovely, but I felt it was like sitting in a giant hot tub. Still relaxing. There were deer in the parking lots feeding on grassy areas. The drive is about 15 km off the highway. Luckily, we did not see any wildlife running across the road on the way back to the highway after dark.

Drove back the next day straight to Vancouver. Long drive, but it is good to be home.

Listening to: Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams