How much adventure can you cram into a two week travel period? Well you will have to follow along with this series find out!
For the last 10 years our summer vacations have been to the East Coast of Canada (Newfoundland) so that our family would get some time with Hayden as he grew up. We love going home, but for the past few years we’ve been wanting to travel to some new places and show Hayden something new. So this year we finally felt like it was time to broaden our travel and head West – as far west as you can go, literally.
Sunday
Our trip began with us flying into Calgary since we wanted to spend some time in Banff before heading into BC. We spent the first day gathering supplies that we couldn’t take on the plane and spent that night in a hotel after having supper with my uncle.
First thing Monday morning, we loaded up the rental Jeep and headed west in the mountains. Dan and I were super excited since we had done this drive before and knew what was coming. However, it was apparent that Hayden was not impressed by the hills in the distance…. yet. That changed as we got closer though, and he actually spent time looking out the window – rather than watching movies – as the Rockies towered above us.
Although we were camping in Banff, we drove right though without stopping with the intention of doing some sight seeing as we had lots of time before we were able to check into our camp site. Our first stop was Lake Louise, or so we thought. Words of advice: Come early and not during high tourist season, unless you don’t mind waiting. We couldn’t even get near Lake Louise, and instead were diverted to a massive parking lot where it would be at least 3 hours to wait for a shuttle to even get into the town of Lake Louise. All we wanted to do was see the lake and move on. Denied!
After parking and realizing how long the wait to get on the shuttle bus was, we decided to get back in the car and headed up the highway towards the Columbia Icefield instead. The hope was this was not going to be quite as busy. It goes without saying, but the drive north is beautiful with the blue/green lakes and snow peaked mountains everywhere. We stopped a few times to grab some pictures as the views were amazing.
See them! 
Enter mountains 
Once we arrived at the Icefields, it was apparent that we would have to wait to do anything there as well. It ended up being over a 3 hour wait, but we decided to wait it out since Hayden really wanted to walk on the glacier. So we signed up for the 4:30 glacier tour and Skywalk package. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect with the Skywalk tour but it was part of the package, so we took advantage and went on that tour first to kill some time.
The Skywalk was a new feature added a few years ago made up of a path along the side of the cliff leading to glass-floor observation platform overlooking a 280m drop.
Here we go 
What a view 
Would you walk the glass floor? 
Waiting for our next tour
After the Skywalk we had a few minutes to spare so we grabbed some supper and then headed to our Glacier Tour. Dan and I did this many years ago and it was very interesting to see just how much the glacier had changed.
On the way up there was a family of mountain goats grazing on something of interest in the rocks. Not quite sure what it was, but they seemed to enjoy it.
One thing to remember if you do this tour is to bring an empty water bottle. Many tourists will fill their bottles from the glacier water that runs along the surface. This is pure fresh awesomeness. Hayden was really happy to taste the glacier water and filled his bottle twice.
Goats on the way up 
Happy Smiles 
Glacier water 
Loved the breeze from the glacier
After our tours, it was time to head back to Banff to setup camp. It was getting late, so we decided to attempt another go at Lake Louise along the way. We had heard that the main rush of tourists dies down after 7 pm at night and that the parking lots were no longer restricted for access.
On the way back we saw a black bear wandering down the middle of the road. This was the second bear sighting for the day – the first was a small grizzly but we didn’t get any pictures.
When we got to Lake Louise, the crowds had disappeared and we were able to easily find a parking space, so we made our way to the water’s edge for a picture. It was still pretty buy and we could only imagine the insanity that would have been happening earlier in the day with bus loads of people streaming in.
Black bear! 
Lake Louise Views 
Feeling the waters
Just down the road from Lake Louise is Moraine Lake, another very popular place to visit. Since Lake Louise wasn’t so busy, we attempted the drive to Moraine Lake as well. Unfortunately we were greeted by a line up at the parking lot that didn’t move for over 30 mins. With daylight running out fast, we opted to turn around and head to our campsite. It was now almost 9 at night and we still had an hour drive, plus a tent to set up before going to sleep, and it had been a long day.
This was a full day and as you can see Hayden was exhausted. We all were, but he is lucky to catch some zzz’s in the back seat – and to think, we bought him a comfy inflatable pillow for this trip and we could have just given him a water jug.
In was obvious from day one that our plan to fly by the seat of our pants was not going to work out and we had to change how we approached the remainder of our time in Banff. We knew that this area was a busier these days than when we had last visited, but were still a little shocked at just how much so.
Be sure to check back next week as we explore more around Banff!
Glad you got to see Lake Louise….beautiful. And you did manage to fit a lot into your day!