Canada Part 1: Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay NPs
2022 Parks Road Trip Diary: Days 32-37
Banff itself is one of my favorite touristy mountain towns, right up there with Queenstown, NZ. I knew this ever since our prior 2019 trip here, and this time it was certainly reaffirmed. If you are into hiking at all, live in North America, and you want to be wowed by nature, this is the place to go.
Day 32: The first major city since Austin
Waterton Lakes?
When we were in Glacier, we had read about its adjacent Candadian National Park right across the border: Waterton Lakes. At the time we were there, only overnight backpackers would have been able to do a hike that could start in Glacier and reach Waterton Lakes. But we could drive there!
Unfortunately, we still couldnāt go due to campground availability being too limited. It might have been doable by finding a private campground, but none of the options looked that great.
Plus, we were pretty tired from our four straight days of challenging hikes. So the alternative looked pretty attractive: go straight to Banff and make a nice long stop in Calgary. Itād be the first major city weād go to since Austin, Texas!
Calgary
Other than that one brief stop in Wyoming, we hadnāt eaten out at all, and Calgary was an exciting chance to break that streak. With the way we had been eating, any decent place in Calgary would have felt like a Michelin-star restaurant. We ate both lunch and dinner in Calgary, getting chores done in between.
After stuffing ourselves we headed off to Banff where we had managed to book a last-minute site at the Johnston Canyon Campground. It was dark by the time we got there, so that was it for the day.
Day 33: Healy Pass
For our first hike, we wanted to find something that we didnāt already do in our previous trip to Banff, that could fill most of a day, and that would hopefully have views that make it worth the trip. Our legs and feet were still healing from all the hard hikes in Glacier, so we also tried to avoid anything that looked like it would be too much of a physical challenge.
We decided on Healy Pass (11.4 mi, 2900 ft elev gain).
The hike up to Healy pass was indeed on the easier side. No real steep parts, just a lot of length through the forest before it opened up at the very end.
Iām showing you the two best pictures here, but we were actually quietly frustrated for much of this hike. It had lots of mosquitoes, and the forested part, which was 90% of the distance, was kinda bland. So it goes sometimes.
After, we headed out to Banff town to take a short rest and get some laundry done. Some spotty thunderstorms rolled in and made it a bit more work than we were hoping. šŖ
The rain continued. Half of the sky was blue most of the time, making it seem like the rain was always only minutes from moving on. We tried to wait it out, since we wanted to avoid having to cook in the rain, but finally gave up when it was almost 9pm and the hunger became worse than the weather.
Why didnāt we just eat out in Banff where there are lots of good restaurants? I donāt know. I think we were wrestling with our commitment to live minimally, feeling a bit guilty about the food indulgence yesterday in Calgary. This night was a helpful reminder that taking the minimalism too far might be irrational and unproductive.
Day 34: In and around Banff Town
Heeding that lesson, we decided weād take advantage of the town of Banff a bit more today. We didnāt have much of a plan in mind, but we didnāt really need it ā itās a nice enough place that even just sitting on a bench is a good use of time.
In the morning, we got coffee and pastries at a cafe called Little Wild, and I used their Wifi to write one of these posts. Judy checked out some of the shops on the main street. We got Beaver Tails. š
To make sure weād still get some exercise in, we then decided to hike the nearby Sulphur Mountain Trail (6.8 mi, 2500 ft elev gain). Itās a pretty steep climb, but very predictable. If you didnāt want to hike it, you could just take the gondola.
The top is really worth going to regardless of whether you hike or ride the gondola. It gives great 360-degree views, especially where it overlooks the town of Banff. Of course, let it be known that the gondola riders are all cheaters. (Just kidding.) (Only half kidding.)
We closed out the day with dinner back at camp. It was nice to have a healthy mix of exercise and relaxation for once.
Day 35: Stanley Glacier
It was time to get serious again about hiking. We expanded our search for hikes to beyond Banff National Park, into the nearby parks of Yoho and Kootenay. We decided on Stanley Glacier Trail (6.8 mi, 2000 ft elev gain) in Kootenay NP.
The basic stats of this hike make it sound easier than yesterdayās Sulfur Mountain, which I said was just āexerciseā. However, this trail had some pretty steep parts where you had to hike up slippery scree, adding a different dimension to the challenge.
Given the hikeās name, there might have been a glacier here near the summit, but the views in the other direction felt like the main attraction.
Getting to the top wasnāt bad at all. But going down that screeā¦ itās like skiing through gravel. Which I thought was fun! Judy did not.
Mount Rundle?
The only notable thing about the rest of the day was a short drive back into Banff for some Wifi, to research the hike I really wanted to do tomorrow: summiting Mount Rundle (9.4 mi, 5700 ft elev gain).
This mountain is one of the most iconic of the Canadian Rockies. At 5700 ft of elevation gain and an exposed slope like that, I needed to know what I would be getting myself into. I had been longing to summit this peak ever since we last visited Banff in 2019 and this mountain was looming over the town, just asking to be climbed.
The elevation gain would no doubt be a challenge, but it isnāt what concerned me most. It turns out Rundle is a class 3 rock scramble at the top, which is described by Ascentionism as āHands-on scrambling with moderately difficult moves. A fall will break a bone.ā I also really wasnāt sure how to interpret the variety of reviews for the hike, such as āBeautiful view and the fulfillment it gave me is amazing, but I will never hike this trail again.ā
I ended up scaring myself out of doing it. After reading more, it became clear that I had almost no experience doing this level of rock scrambling, and doing it alone would not be a smart place to start (Judy had made it clear she would not join on this endeavor).
So, Rundle will have to wait. If you are an experienced hiker / climber reading this, letās take a trip to Banff together some time š
Day 36: Iceline Summit
One of the things that put me over the edge for the decision not to hike Rundle was the exciting alternative that Judy had discovered: Iceline Summit (9.3 mi, 2900 ft elev gain) in Yoho NP. It was clear from research that it would be the best hike weād done so far in Canada.
It starts out at the base of Takakkaw Falls, which on its own is a worthy attraction. Once you get far enough up the hike, you reach a nice vantage point where you can witness the falls from a distance.
Even the views on the way up were awesome. The panoramas of vast mountain ranges that I had been astounded by in Montanaās Glacier NP just seemed to be commonplace for the hikes in this part of Canada.
Eventually the path opens up to a large flat area covered in glacial deposits, with snow and glaciers just beyond, and a glacial lake or two along the trail. I guess this is the āIcelineā of Iceline Summit.
The turn-around point isnāt a mountain peak, which is maybe a tad anticlimactic, but it is still a high point in this flat area.
This was our final day in the Banff / Yoho / Kootenay area, and it was well spent.
We slept that night in a Yoho campground not far from this hikeās trailhead. In the morning, weād set off on the three hour drive up to Jasper. By now I was feeling like I could wander through the Canadian Rockies forever.
post originally written 8/22, backdated to match reality