Dear Soul,
“The still waters of a lake reflect the beauty around it. When the mind is still, the beauty of the Self is seen reflected in it.” - BKS Iyengar
This is the second part of our Second RV trip, this time to Glacier-Banff-Jasper National parks in USA and Canada. Here is the link to the previous post for Glacier National Park, USA
The four National Parks of the Canadian Rockies: Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho share their boundaries and are part of UNESCO World Heritage Site. We have covered Banff – Canada’s first and Jasper – largest of the National Parks (and part of Kootenay) in this trip. Exploring these two parks is best done driving along 2 major highways:
- Highway 1 (Alternately 1A -Bow Valley Parkway) connecting the town of Banff to the village of Lake Louise and
- Hwy 93 connecting Lake Louise village to Jasper town (famously called Icefields Parkway).
As per the campsite availability along the way, we started with Jasper National Park and then Lake Louise and finally Banff National Park. One thing they promote is the “Bare” campsite program: to keep the campsite clean so that the campers can stay safe and help keep animals in the national parks alive and wild.
Day 6: July 21, 2022: Camping @ Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court, Banff National Park
From Glacier National Park, we started driving our RV to Canada only to know at the Customs border that it is mandatory to prefill and submit travelers’ information using ArriveCAN app and were asked to return to US. We had to re-enter USA and drive back for a while for LTE mobile coverage and downloaded the app. When we entered Alberta, we drove through endless yellow mustard fields to our friend’s home in Calgary. It was nice catching up after more than a decade and sure was a relief for the kids to get home atmosphere and play with other kids/toys. They helped us pick up Annual Parks Canada Discovery Pass, restock groceries and gave Indian breakfast batter, rotis and local tips for a good yogurt. The gas lines were long at Costco, so we drove towards Banff and camped at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court that night.
Day 7: July 22, 2022: Camping @ Wabasso, Jasper National Park
We drove through the town of Banff to fill up gas and started driving on Hwy 1 and soon Hwy 93 towards Jasper. Rated as one of the top drives in the world by Condé Nast Traveler, this Icefield Parkway (Hwy 93) is a 232 km stretch of double-lane highway winding along the Continental Divide through soaring rocky mountain peaks, icefields and vast sweeping valleys. Our first stop on the Icefields Parkway was Columbia icefield Glacier discovery center to get tour tickets to experience Columbia icefield adventure and Columbia icefield Skywalk. We parked our RV there, board a shuttle then rode a massive ice explorer to take us on Athabasca glacier to explore on foot for an hour. Another shuttle took us to skywalk center, where after walking a one KM walkway, we reach the Glass floored skywalk with unobstructed views of the Sunwapta valley. After that, we drove to Athabasca falls and finally went to our campground for the night- Wabasso.
Day 8: July 23, 2022: Camping @ Wabasso, Jasper National Park
We parked at the junction of Hwy 93A and Edith Cavell Road and my DH tried to hitch hike to the trailhead since the road is not suitable for RV to do the Edith Cavell Meadows trail, but he couldn’t find a ride, so instead he did Valley of the Five Lakes trail. Then we both hiked the Maligne Canyon trail and then went to medicine lake and Maligne lake. While DH kayaked in the Maligne lake, we played in water and had a close encounter with a family of bears driving back on Maligne Lake road to our campground.
Day 9: July 24, 2022: Camping @ Whistler, Jasper National Park
We went to Jasper sky tram, the longest and highest guided aerial tramway in Canada for stunning views of six mountain ranges, turquoise lakes, glacial fed rivers and the mountain town of Jasper. We wandered around the boardwalks while my DH explored the alpines taking the Whistlers Mountain summit trail. We headed to the Town of Jasper for lunch at a Chinese restaurant and groceries and Afternoon, we played at lake Annette beach. We went to Whistlers campground, most beautiful ever with so many elks around, spring flowers and could even see the tram from here.
Day 10: July 25, 2022: Camping @ Lake Louise Campground, Banff National Park
We skipped Jasper East area and starting driving back on Icefields Parkway making random stops on our way to Lake Louise. We stopped at Sunwapta falls and later my DH did Toe of the Athabasca Glacier trail while we fought the mosquitoes at the trailhead. After shopping at Saskatchewan River Crossing, we did Mistaya canyon trail, Peyto and Bow lakes. Just when I thought the lakes couldn’t get any better, Lake Louise was breath taking with turquoise water against the white glaciers at distance and wondered if this is the heaven on earth. While my DH and DD1 kayaked in the beautiful lake, my DD2 played in the ice-cold waters for a peaceful night in Lake Louise campground.
Day 11: July 26, 2022: Camping @ Lake Louise Campground, Banff National Park
As my DH left for hiking early in the day to Lake Agnes, Kids and I took a free connector bus from the campground to the Park & Ride with beautiful views of the Lake Louise Ski Resort & Sightseeing Gondola. From here, we took Parks Canada shuttle (reserved advance through Parks Canada website) to Lake Moraine, which is yet another beautiful lake but has no beach. We went back to bow lake that afternoon to play in the water although it was very windy unlike the day before.
Day 12: July 27, 2022: Camping @ Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court, Banff National park
We took scenic alternate route 1A from Lake Louise instead of Hwy 1, called The Bow Valley Parkway stopping by the viewpoints. We hiked the Johnston Canyon, and kids enjoyed the views along the suspended catwalks to the lower and upper falls. Next stop is Lake Minnewanka, where my DH and DD1 were adventurous enough to swim in the freezing waters while I struggled to even soak my feet in. We drove back to the town to finally take picture at the most sought-after BANFF sign before going back to our campsite at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court.
Day 13: July 28, 2022: Camping @ Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court, Banff National Park
My DH hiked to the top of Tunnel, Banff’s most popular mountain while we are still asleep and returned to take us into the town. We took the bus from our campground to Banff and from there to “Cave and Basin” National Historic Site. In 1885, a small area around the Cave and Basin Hot Springs was protected and became the core of the first national park in Canada. For years people used to bath in “the basin”, pool with warm, mineral rich spring fed water and preferred it over the dark and sulphurous Cave pool; now home for the endangered Banff Springs snail. We got to know the area history watching videos, interactive exhibits and roamed around the area and took the Roam Public transit back to the town. We explored and shopped around the vibrant downtown making the most of our final day in Canada.
Day 14: July 29, 2022: Kootenay National Park, BC, Canada
We started driving back to States via Kootenay National Park on Hwy 93 South (Kootenay parkway). We hiked the Marble canyon trail, which crosses the canyon multiple times on small bridges and at the top was a beautiful waterfall. Kootenay (and Yoho) is also home for the Famous and most important Burgess Shale fossils, soft-bodied organisms that lived in Cambrian Sea, 505 million years ago. We hiked the Paint Pots trail, that take us through mineral-rich springs of incredible colors. Our last stop was Numa Falls before we entered USA. We did shop at Whitefish, MT for Huckleberry tees and finally went back to Rocky Mountain “Hi”RV Campground. Kids played in swim hole until after 9pm, as it wouldn’t set until 10pm and made friends catching Crawfish. Apparently for them, this is the best part of the whole camping trip.
Day 15: Saturday, July 30, 2022: Back home
We spent all morning at the creek, catching more Crawfish and drove the RV to airport where the owners picked it up. There was chaos at the airport as there’s no internet, so they manually checked the list and let the people board. We were glad to reach home safe and sound after a very long memorable trip, indeed still vivid that I could write this post today after almost 2 years 😊
