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Banff National Park

Alberta, Canada

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

August 15^th, 2019

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. -John Muir

We left our campsite on the north side of Jasper and headed down Hwy 93, also known as the Icefields Parkway towards Banff to our campground in Canmore. We had planned to make some stops along the way but one stop we hadn’t planned on was the traffic created after a small airplane crashed right by the highway. It was a small Cessna with two people onboard, one of which unfortunately didn’t survive.

The only campground we could find was a walkup only provincial park so we had to boondock for one night and show up early the next morning to get a spot. Our plan was to find a rest area the park where trucks overnight and stay there…but the best laid plans of mice and men, this didn’t quite turn out as planned! The only place we found even near the park was a place the city allowed overnight parking, which when we arrived at near dark (10:30pm) looked more like a homeless shelter parking lot. We were a bit out of place but someone moved and gave us a spot for the night. We left by the 7AM, when the no parking zone went into effect and we queued up at the campground plenty early to get one of the spots when someone left that morning.

Banff had spectacular scenery and the crowds of people to match it! Parking was always a challenging, Lake Louise being the worst of all. We found some tricks like going back to Lake Louise later in the afternoon after hitting other sites earlier in the day, this was one strategy that seemed to work. We found Lake Moraine to be much nicer with less crush of tourist and much prettier water. We took a horseback ride along Lake Louise where we were rained on and was chilled to the bone! Another favorite of ours was the Lake Agnes Teahouse hike that JoAnn refers to as the teahouse death march.

Bow Lake

The Icefield Parkway

Considered to be one of the most scenic drives in all of the Americas, this 135 miles of highway that connect Jasper and Banff National Parks is more than it is cracked up to be. Many travel it by motorcycle or even bicycle. We drove it south with our trailer in tow, making stops along the way at pull-overs we wanted one last look at the scenic views and wildlife. After passing the Icefield Center we entered Banff for the first time and continued to see the best of the Canadian Rockies.

The plane crash did have a sobering effect to the beauty we saw, knowing that they too were going to enjoy the mountains.

Waterfall along Hwy 93

Icefield Parkway heading south

Camper along Icefield Parkway

Bighorn sheep (females and young), along road licking the rocks

Baby bighorn sheep looking on from safety of the cliffs

Boo and Rou

First responders to the aircraft crash

Aircraft crash in the Athabasca River

Full Icefield Parkway drive video

Morning pano photo along the Icefield Parkway

Lakes and Glaciers of Banff

After making an attempt to visit Lake Louise on day one and not being able to get past the town, we drove north and spent several hours exploring other lakes in the park, all glacier fed to some extent and depending on amount of glacier flour suspended in the water, this will render their distinct color.

We visited many other glaciers and snow fields, amazing views and knowing most of these glaciers are dating back to the time wooly mammoths and saber tooth tigers roamed the earth.

Iceflow near Colombia Icefield

Snowfield overhang

Snowfield overhang

AA Glacier at Colombia Icefield

Glacier from Colombia Icefield

Colombia Icefield

Jeff and JoAnn selfie in the Athabasca River

Trying to teach JoAnn how to skip rocks

Jeff and JoAnn at Bow Lake

Lake Louise

Lake Louise has a turquoise color which has made the lake famous. The color is caused by the glacier flour that is suspended in the water, causing the sunlight refraction to change. Only lakes fed by an active glacier here have this color. Other glacier fed lakes in other parts of the world have a different glacier flour mixture and thus a different color refraction.

This is an international tourist magnet with a fine hotel sitting on the north shore of the lake. Originally built to attract outdoorsmen, Swiss mountaineer guides were hired to make this a destination like the Alps in Europe. A number of teahouses were built and we hiked up the mountain to the Lake Agnes Teahouse where we enjoyed tea and snacks.

We took a horseback ride the following day along the lake to the eluvial fan created by the water from the glacier. We rode the horse trail along the lake and when we were almost to the end of the lake the rain began. We had grabbed our raincoats ahead of time and were lucky we had, the cooler temperatures that came in with the rain would have made it a miserable ride otherwise.

Chalet at Lake Louise

Lobby of chalet at Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Native American at Lake Louise with many tourist

Teahouse begger

Lake Agnes

Filling kettles for teahouse in Lake Agnes

Lake Agnes falls

Lake Agnes teahouse trail

Lake Moraine

Moraine Lake, just a few miles away for Lake Louise is much nicer and offers a specular view of the valley of Ten Peaks. The color is much crisper turquoise color with a distinct glacier created moraine that created the dam for the lake. From the rockpile as it is known, you get an award-winning view of the lake and the mountains surrounding it. This landscape has inspired generations of artist from all over the world. It is known as the Valley of Ten Peaks.

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake from the rock pile

Jeff & JoAnn at Moraine Lake

Glacier stream feeding Moraine Lake

Paddleboarder on Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake

Geocaching take you to some special places

I enjoy geology and a good way to learn about a place is to do some EarthCaches or special geocaches, rather than find a hidden box with trinkets and a logbook you go to places with geological significant features and answer some questions about the site.

One such site was an EarthCache about a slot canyon east on Canmore where we discovered not only the amazing canyon and waterfall but a riverbed full of cairns. These cairns went on for many turns as we walked up the creek bed, tens of thousands of them making this place look alien and somewhat spiritual.

Jeff at Bow Lake

Rock climbers on Grotto slot canyon hike

Grotto slot canyon with cairns in the creek bed

Castle Mountain

Beehive Mountain from Mirror Lake

Lake Peyto

Fairmont Banff Springs near Bow Falls

Jeff EarthCaching at Crowsfoot Glaicer

As we wrap-up our first venture into Canada with an RV we found that Canadians are friendly and everything is clean and well organized. We feel this was the most beautiful park we have visited to date and would love to visit again. We didn't find as many boondocking opportunities as we expected, especially close of the national parks. It was easy to deal with currency, we mostly used credit cards and ATM's for cash. The tourist season is short so expect to pay a premium during your stay. Our cell phones worked and our current plan covered North America so we didn't incur any additional cost. We spent almost a month dry camping across the border and are looking forward our next venture when we head to Alaska next season.

What we Learned:

- Where there is great beauty, expect many tourists. - There are hikes that are uphill both ways, just ask JoAnn. -Having a camping reservation in an area that is this popular during peak season is important.

Next Stop:

We plan to drive back into the US south along this same mountain range and spend a week in Glacier National Park.

Travel map for 2019

© 2026 Time2Geaux Unplugged

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