Banff

We left Pincher Creek a little later than normal as we only had a three and a half hour drive to get up to the Banff National Park where we were going to stay for seven nights. We got some great pictures on the drive up:

That’s the beauty of traveling with friends – you get to see your coach from the ass end!

The Tunnel campground was located inside the National Park and we were without water, sewer and electricity. Good thing that we were near the bathrooms! Got to use water very spearingly. As for power, we were able to run our generator between 9-10:30am and 5-7pm. That really messed up our timing for hikes sightseeing, but having our batteries charged was always the priority. Here’s our spot:

Beautiful setting! The Wills were parked next to us, but the sites were very large with pine trees in between us.

For dinner we went to The Three Bears Brewery and Restaurant.

Like the previous pictures of the rears of our coaches I took this picture inside the brewery:

The other side of the wall was very scary!

A black bear’s ass end!

Seven years ago when Katrina and I came up to this area we stayed at the Fairmont Château Lake Louise for one night (very expensive) and we had seen the Fairmont Banff Springs so we thought we would take a gander. This building is beautiful and was built in the 1880’s by the Canadian Pacific Railroad as they put the tracks down to get to the area and wanted to draw people to see the beauty surrounding it. It was fantastic! Check out these outside pictures:

One wing of this massive hotel. So, so beautiful!

Absolutely beautiful! We also took some pictures of the inside:

Different locations and restaurants shots. We had lunch at the Vermillion Room which was very tasty!

From there Katrina and I explored the downtown area of Banff.

Very quaint with a lot of food options and unique shopping!

Meanwhile, Jeff and Molli went hiking and exploring. Here are some of their pictures:

When we got back to the campground we ran the generator to charge up the batteries before heading to bed early as the next day we had to wake up at 2am for a sunrise excursion.

Not much sleep as we were out of the campground by 3am in order to catch the shuttle to Lake Moraine to watch the sunrise cresting the mountains and lighting up this glacier lake. Unfortunately Mother Nature didn’t cooperate with our plans because the sun was screened by clouds.

We did get a chance to walk to the other side of Lake Moraine:

The lake was low because all the snow hadn’t melted yet.

Brrr! It was freezing. We did have a black bear sighting:

It wasn’t a real bear :).

On the drive back we stopped at Johnson Canyon to hike up to see the falls. Once we got on the trail Katrina and I realized that we had hiked this path back in 2017 when we vacationed here with our Mundelein friends, Peter and Maureen Acker.

These pictures were taken at the same location but seven years apart:

The weather was a bit colder this time and we are a bit thinner now. All good!

We got some great pictures of the canyon:

During the hike I kept having a sense that we were being watched and sure enough I found it:

A owl! Clever how he camouflaged himself! It was a very nice hike! I’m glad we did it again!

Katrina and I headed back to the coach to feed Bear and let him out. Jeff and Molli continued the hike farther up to see the Ink Pots. They said that it was worth it. Maybe next time we are in town. We met up with them again at the Park Distillery for dinner. Again, Katrina and I had been there and we remembered that the food was great. It was again!

The next morning we waited around for the generator hours and charged up our batteries. Then we headed to Bow Falls:

Which are just breathtaking. They looked surreal as they are so consistent flowing over the rocks. Since these falls are located adjacent to the Fairmont and we had talked up the place so much, Jeff and Molli wanted to see it for themselves.

The hotel has had a golf course since the 1920’s and they still had an original golf cart on display:

What beauties! The golf cart is so retro, but looks like something that the Jetsons would have.

It was too funny!

From there we headed over to the Hoodoo overlook. Having seen hoodoos before in Utah I can tell you that this one was nothing to write home about. In fact we didn’t even take a picture!

We had a beer voyage scheduled on Lake Minnewanka that was a lot of fun!

They served four local beers to each couple:

The beer was good, but Katrina and I swapped ours out for vodka / gin based drinks that were good as well. While on the boat we got to see our first black bear on the shore:

First black bear sighting! A bit far away but still very cool!

It was a very fun boat ride. I would recommend it to anyone who is in the area!

Back out our coaches I split some firewood and we enjoyed sitting around the fire soaking up the warmth.

The following morning we headed up to Lake Louise where we hiked up to Lake Agnes and the Tea Chalet. At the base of the hike is the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise where you can take wonderful pictures:

Lake Louise with glacier in the background.

Lake Louise water was so blue this time of year. When we were here in September 2017 it was much more torquise and milky due to the “flour” in the run off water from the glaciers that feed it. The pictures along the hike are stunning:

We hit snow about 3/4 of the way up but continued to the Tea House. It was so crowded that we decided not to wait for a cup of tea.

There is another lake along the way called Mirror Lake that was pretty but still had ice on it and was still low.

Since the Big Beehive trail was still covered in snow we decided not to attempt that treacherous hike. After a tremendous and beautiful hike around Lake Louise we headed to the Cave and Basin which is the first Canadian National Park. It was located near the town of Banff and hosts hot springs. We decided not to go for a swim but did take pictures of the original pool:

Dinner at the Banff Ave Brewing Company for some great food! We found a free parking area but couldn’t use it:

Although it states “No Busses” we parked there anyway. We are such mavericks!

It was a good thing that the Wills were driving!

The next morning we all loaded up into the truck (Bear included) and drove north on 93 – the Icefields Parkway to the Weeping Wall Viewpoint:

Weeping Wall. I bet in early spring this wall is covered with run off.

Then we turned around and headed south stopping along the way to see natures highlights. We knew that we would be driving this the next day but stopping two buses on a wayside can be extremely difficult.

Mistaya Canyon: