At the Brewster Express depot in Calgary, I picked up a coffee and a couple of muffins. I got to talking with Rodrigo about travels and traveling – his father is an agricultural consultant so he’d been many places. We were 7 to board, picking up a solo at a second hotel stop and a pair at the third. At the airport seven more joined us and then we were heading west towards Banff. I noted that this bus ride had started by giving me many different additional vantage points to view the city skyline of Calgary and beyond. In fact, from the airport pickup, the sun was shining off to the west on the snow-capped Rockies
The bus followed Canada Highway 1, a trip of about 130km heading west, making stops at Stoney Nakoda (Resort & Casino) and Canmore. As we were approaching town, we saw a black bear out the windows. Once we reached downtown Banff, I shifted over to a local shuttle to take me out Tunnel Road to the c, my lodgings for 3 nights. After checking in and rolling my bags to my unit, I returned to the lodge and crossed to the free shuttle pick-up point. I wanted to time the ride as I had a morning pickup on Monday. Maybe 20–30-minute walk downhill took 10 minutes with 3 stops. I strolled around this town’s commercial center, finding it very tourist-focused. The Tourist Information Center was very helpful and friendly.
I found the laundromat, and determined I could drop off and they’d wash, dry and fold! There is an IGA to do grocery shopping, where I was able to gather fixings for a night in. But I went into the Canadian Brewhouse to get a beer and dinner. With a Banded Peak Microburst hazy IPA, the fish & Chips was haddock and the fries were extra crispy.
Finished with dinner, I caught the shuttle back to the lodge, and went in search of firewood. Located in the underground parking garage, I took a large armload back and used the provided newspaper and fatwood to get a good blaze going. Settling in for the night, I read in the living room for a while and then crashed in the bedroom in the front of the unit.
Tuesday morning was crisp and fairly clear, with a view of the ridged mountain in front of me as I left Cabin 173 to get to the shuttle stop. Well ahead of my pick-up, I walked Banff Avenue to get coffee at Evelyn’s Coffee World. The requested decaf meant another Americano, which I had with a blueberry scone. Back to Elk Street (most of the streets in Banff are named for four-legged animals) and the rendezvous point. Our driver, known as both Peng and Joseph, boarded us into a 15-passenger van. Couples from St Johns (Newfoundland) and Indianapolis, two younger British women, a father/daughter from northern Virginia and I were his complement.
Unfortunately, the windows were filthy, but when I tried cleaning them later I found most of the dirt was on the inside! So I took no pictures on the ride to our first stop which was Emerald Lake in Yolo National Park. We made a few quick stops, but he passed the pull-offs for Mt Castle, which National Geographic lists as an important stop in this National Park. Needless to say, I was a bit frustrated, especially as there were clear shots. At Emerald Lake, we were there about 15 minutes, and the water was rather turquoise in color to my eye. This was our most northern and most western point, having crossed the Continental Divide into BC.
After returning to the van, we headed south to the Kicking Horse River where we stopped to view the river at a rapids. A pedestrian bridge allowed us to view from both side, and to get posed shots with the river and mountains in the background.
Back underway, I took a great shot out the window (with unfortunate reflections) of the river valley and snow-capped mountains. A freight train full of containers rolled along the highway as we headed to Lake Louise.
With two-and-a-half hours at Lake Louise, along with several other tour members, I hiked the north shore towards the melting glacier feeding the lake. The lake surface was covered with melting and breaking ice, so there was limited open water. To my delight, I spotted pussy willows blooming on the side of the trail. Keen eyes spotted several free climbers working their way up the face to the rocks lining the gorge. The only wildlife that I saw were squirrels, chipmunks and small fish in the streams. I thoroughly enjoyed the hike, and was frustrated when the path became snow-and-ice packed, making it too slippery to continue to the actual glacier.
Turning around, the Fairmont Hotel was at the far end of the lake. While I took fewer pictures on the return, I think I may have enjoyed just viewing, plus I knew I had the time to saunter, rather than scramble. As I remember, we were all prompt in returning to the bus, and I’d cleaned my outside window, and then the inside! The tour was supposed to head to Morraine Lake, but that road was still closed, so we set off for Lake Minnewanka, which would take us to the east of Banff. Just before Banff we stopped at the Vermillion Lakes, where I got shots of prairie dogs.
I had been using my phone to try to capture the glory of the mountain peaks as we sped along Canada 1. (I hate the camera’s autofocus, as it would pick up the window if the camera was held away and at an angle.)
Lake Minnewanka is splendid. Free of ice, considerably larger than Lake Louise, there is a beach, and a tour boat pulled out for a cruise while we were there. We only got to the southwest end, but there is a trail which extends along the north shore about 2/3rds of its length. Joseph had given us a challenge – there are Adirondack chairs placed along the beach, however, only two were provided by the Park Services – we were to find them.
Joseph returned us to the pick-up point in Banff, so I decided to do a bit more shopping (milk for coffee, sliced chicken for a salad) at the IGA, and then I had to find a liquor store to get a bottle of wine. Loaded with fixings, I caught the shuttle up the hill, dropped off my food and went and got both a fire starter kit from the front desk and more wood from the garage. After fixing my salad and opening the wine, I settled in again in front of the fire and relaxed. Before going to bed, I prepared my laundry to drop off the next day.
May 28 was a Wednesday and I was slow getting going. Seventy-five minutes after rising, I rolled my laundry-filled bag to the bus stop, only to find it would be an hour before the next ride. Walking down the hill was easy, and I headed to the laundromat downstairs in the “mall”, where I paid and was promised for 4-hour service. Flashing my shuttle card (from Douglas Fir Lodge), I boarded the #1 shuttle to get to the base of the Gondola. Once there, I queued up to purchase a ticket. There would be a half hour wait until my lift time, so I went in to browse the gift shop. Sticker shock, but the exchange rate between Canadian and US dollars was favoring the southerners 4:3.
When my 12:20 ride was scheduled, I rode up Sulphur Mountain in the 4-passenger gondola with a couple from Seattle – he was a Ken too! Ever up for a challenge, I began walking up stairs, along wooden and gravel paths and more stairs, until I reached the highest point. It took about an hour, and I stopped regularly to enjoy the stunning vistas, capturing a few of them. With a few videos too. From the high point, I was able to look back to the gondola station. Most of the time it was bright and sunny, with a mild breeze and not too cold.
When I returned to the mountaintop station, there was a brief queue to ride back down to the base. After picking up a souvenir, I rode the shuttle back into town with a woman from Toronto and a Banff male who were in town for a forestry products conference. Feeling like eating, I headed into Park Spirits & More, a distillery. With an amber ale from 3 Bears and a bison burger, I updated my journal. This piqued the interest of James, my waiter who doubled as the bar and restaurant manager. He told me about the distillery’s tour, tasting and “make your own gin” options, and I booked all three. Distillery worker Jacob gave a tour for 9 of us, explaining the process of distilling from the mash of grains to the condensation of the alcohol.
Fewer for the tasting, with one couple sharing, we sampled vodka, Glacier Rye (which couldn’t be called whiskey because it hadn’t had enough aging), and three gins: unadulterated, vanilla and espresso. The two couples left, leaving me to make my own gin. Because I wouldn’t be in Banff (or return), Jacob’s solution was to prepare a “tea bag” with aromatics, spices and herbals, and then hand me a sealed bottle of their vodka. I had him remove some of the juniper berries, and we added coriander seed, spruce tips, cardamon, angelica root, both orange and lemon peel, and both the berry blend and the “feature of the month”. Armed with an instruction sheet to put the bag into the bottle for 10-days, I proceeded to collect my laundry, and then brought the whole shebang up to the cabin. Having a dinner reservation in town, I returned to the shuttle stop, and saw a juvenile fox run across the road.
My dinner reservation was at Lupo on Wolf Street, a restaurant touted by several of the guides and drivers I’d been with. Located up a flight of stairs from the street (a frequent occurrence in Banff) I was seated at the bar on a corner. As they had it on the menu, I had a taste of the “orange” Poderi di Carlo Pinot Grigio, Friuli Venezia Giulia DOC, which was pleasant but not worth their asking price. Rather, I ordered a 9-ounce glass of Podere Frontino Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC with the focaccia starter. The wine was particularly dry with good cherry fruit. My main, selected for flavor, was spaghetti and spicy meatballs, which was a complete fail for me. I tried to fix with parmesan cheese and pepper, which made it edible.
After that disappointing meal, I rode back up the hill to the cabin. Packing in preparation for the trip to Jasper the next day, I hauled the large roller up the flight of steps to by the front door before I settled in for the night. I did have another glass of wine from my bottle of the 2021 Red Rooster Cabernet-Merlot blend (actually a Merlot / Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon / Syrah / Petit Verdot blend) from Okanagan Valley, BC, but no fire that night.
Thursday morning I was up ahead of the 7:30 alarm. I had to clean up and remove my trash to the bins, strip the bed of linen and generally make it look like I hadn’t been there. By 8:30 I was up in front of the lodge, having checked out, awaiting my ride. Promptly at 8:40, I was one of two passengers in the SunDogTours van. We headed to Lake Louise.
I requested an unscheduled stop on the way at Castle Mountain, but as we neared, it was obvious that the vista was clouded in. [dscn3937] Onward, our next stop at Lake Louise was for a half hour photo “opportunity” while the final two couples were collected into the van. SunDog offers a transfer between the National Parks, with sightseeing stops along this beautiful highway which include Lake Louise, Crowfoot Glacier, Bow Lake, the Columbia Ice fields, the Weeping Wall and Athabasca Falls. I probably overdid the photography aspect of this leg of the trip, as I have 600+ photos for the day, more than half taken with my phone! Sharing both inline and through a Nikon album will mean some careful curating. (I'll need at least a few requests)
After Lake Louise we followed the Bow River north on the Icefields Parkway passing Hector Lake. A stop at the Crowfoot Glacier and Bow Lake Viewpoints had low cloud cover.
We made a number of other stops where I went camera-happy, but didn’t keep any notes. But I do know we turned off the highway reaching the conjunction of the Bow and Saskatchewan rivers, as we had a pit stop at the Crossing Resort at noon.
A half hour later, a lunch stop in a flats area, SunDog providing a bag lunch and beverage.
The stop at Athabasca Glacier involved viewing Athabasca Falls and walking on the glacier. From the lodge across the highway, after waiting for our group to be called, we headed over to the overlook via smaller buses, then boarded special vehicles to head down a steep slope and onto the glacier. There we were able to walk on the snow/ice for a bit, then reversed our route. On the hill at the transfer point were mountain sheep, grazing as we headed back to our tour bus.
About three miles north along the parkway we again stopped. From the parking lot we had to walk 400 meters to the Columbia Icefield Skywalk. The pathway is monodirectional, feeding visitors to the glass-base loop out over the ice and then return (to discourage multiple walks.) Now, I’m acrophobic, so this was another test of mind over fears. Back on the van, and another 2 miles along, we made a stop to use the Stutfield Glacier Viewpoint for more pictures, including some back towards the SkyWalk.
Following the Athabasca River north onward towards Jasper, we spotted a black bear off to the side of the road. At 6:30 we had a final stop in a park with a half hour to enjoy the Athabasca Falls, its canyon and the forest scenery. On the final 20 miles, the driver spotted a grizzly bear mother and her 2-year-old cub grazing on the side of the road (7:09) which was a real bonus.
We pulled into Jasper, where the Rocky Mountaineer had halted in the train station. A bit further up the road, the driver dropped me at the Astoria Hotel. I Checked and hauled my bags up a flight to my room. After getting settled in, I returned to the street and walked back to the train station, and a bit further, to the Jasper Brewing Company. I’d sampled there on our stop on my train ride to Edmonton, so I knew I was having Rockhopper to go with my fish & chips. Bored with the ketchup/mayonnaise offerings, I proposed that they mix 2 parts ketchup with one-part hot sauce, and stir in a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. The chef came out with it, telling me that, after confirming with his staff, he expected to begin offering this condiment to customers. My notes indicated I hung out at the bar, having three pints before beginning my walk back to the lodgings. It was still light out at 10pm, so I captured a couple outside wall murals.
Traditional US Memorial Day, Thursday morning had me up on the early side and walking into town. Preplanning had me booked again with SunDog for a transfer to and then a ride on the Jasper SkyTram. After collecting my ticket/voucher at the Jasper Adventure Center, I hopped on the SunDog bus to the base of the tram. A 15-minute bus/van ride, by 9:30 I had been joined in the queue by a British couple to board the 20-person gondola for 7½ minutes to the top of Mt Whistler. As the woman had mobility limitations, they planned to hang out at the lodge, while I decided I would hike to the actual summit.
