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| Herd of Bighorn Sheep on the Trail |
I finally checked off an item from my bucket list - hiking in Banff and Jasper National parks! The Canadian Rockies are full of beautiful lakes, mountains and wildlife, and they had been on my list for a really long time. So, I was happy to check them off this summer. We went on a 9 day trip in the Alberta area and loved every minute of it. While we hiked quite a bit and saw tons of lakes, I will share some of the highlights in this post, that I think are not to be missed. Check out my post on hiking in the Colorado Rockies to read about appropriate gear and altitude adjustment. All of that applies here too. Banff National Park:
On day 1 in Banff National Park, we headed to Johnston Canyon and hiked the Inkpots trail. The canyon itself is beautiful and most people hike to the lower and upper falls. To get away from the crowds though, continue hiking further on the Inkpots trail. This leads to five cool springs where the water percolates from the ground. The lakes are either blue or green in color depending on how quickly the pools fill. The swirling water makes them look like ink pots, hence the name. This was a moderately challenging and rewarding trail (7.3 miles out and back), especially on day 1. We always head to trails as early in the morning as possible, so parking was not a problem. But, if traveling to Banff in the summer, it is advisable to look into shuttle reservations or head out early.
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| Lower Falls |
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| Narrow canyon walls |
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| Cool spring at Inkpots |
On day 2, we headed to one of the two most popular lakes in the Banff area, Lake Louise. We were here for sunrise with several other folks. The sunrise was absolutely beautiful. While the mountains were covered somewhat with clouds, we were still able to see some of the mountain lit with sunrays. The color of the water in Lake Louise is unlike anything I have seen before. I could have sat here for longer if it didn't get even more crowded. So, we left the lake and headed on the Lake Agnes teahouse trail. This is one of the two most popular teahouses in Lake Louise. The Lake Agnes trail was an unrelentingly uphill climb, with no breaks whatsoever. There was one beautiful spot on this trail from where you could spot Lake Louise. This was a good place to take a break. When we arrived at Lake Agnes, our jaws simply dropped. The water in the lake was absolutely clear and you could see the reflection of the mountains clearly in the lake. It was much cooler up here than at the start of the trail. The place was crowded, but we still ended up spending a couple of hours here. You can just sit by the lake and don't really have to go to the tea house. But we grabbed a bite at the tea house and loved their food. The place just seemed otherworldly and the hike was worth it. While we intended to continue on the Little Beehive trail, we ended up spending way too much time at the lake and didn't hike further. Details of this hike: 4.6 miles out and back, moderately challenging with elevation gain of 1427 feet. Early start is a must if you want to park at Lake Louise and also, if rain is predicted on the day of your hike.
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| Sunrise at Lake Louise |
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| Lake Louise as seen from Lake Agnes trail |
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| Lake Agnes |
On the way back, we also drove along the scenic route of Bow Valley Parkway, stopping along the way to check out some of the beautiful views. My most favorite stop on this route was Morant's Curve, where we luckily saw a train pass.
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| Morant's Curve |
On day 3, we visited the other most popular lake in the Banff area, Lake Morraine. We tried to get here early on a weekend and were unsuccessful at finding parking. So, we took a shuttle to get to the lake. This is my most favorite place on this trip. The colors are so vibrant, again nothing like what I have seen before. It was much cloudy here than at Lake Louise, so most of our pictures do not have mountain tops in them. It was nevertheless a beautiful place and we again spent hours here. We went on two short hikes here. The first one was the Rockpile trail, which has beautiful views of the lake and is an easy trail (0.5 miles, out and back). The other trail that we hiked here was the Consolation Lakes trail (4.7 miles, out and back). It was a nice, easy trail. While I wasn't much impressed with the actual lake at the end of the trail, I loved the towering mountains there. It was beautiful and I could have spent more time just sitting here.
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| Beautiful Lake Morraine |
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| In front of towering mountains at Consolation Lakes |
Icefields Parkway:Icefields Parkway is a scenic drive connecting Banff and Jasper national parks. It's 144 miles long and has numerous viewpoints and hikes along the way that you can enjoy. We spent an entire day driving on this parkway and still missed several points and hikes. Plenty of vibrant lakes and mountains dot this highway and we loved stopping at every viewpoint.
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| Bow Lake |
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| Mistaya Canyon |
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| At the foothills of Athabasca Glacier |
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| Bridal Veil Falls |
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| Tangle Creek Falls |
Most people stop at Columbia Icefields Discovery Center from where you can take tours to Athabasca glacier and Columbia skywalk. You can also hike to the start of the Athabasca glacier, which we did. We didn't find the discovery center appealing and skipped the tours.
The town of Jasper is much smaller than Banff, but we enjoyed it much more than Banff. We only spent a day in Banff, and stayed in Canmore instead. Banff seemed much more commercial than Jasper. The first hike that we did at Jasper national park was the Valley of Five Lakes. This is an easy hike (2.8 miles loop) that takes you around five lakes, all vibrant in color and beautiful. The trail is full of beautiful flowers. The spot with two red Adirondock chairs was quite serene and even at this point in our trip, I could not get enough of the vibrant colors of these lakes.
That evening we also went to Patricia lake for sunset and were not disappointed.
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| Sunset at Patricia Lake |
The only tour we took on this trip was at Maligne Lake. The boat tour at this lake was the only way to get to the beautiful Spirit Island, or rather close to it. Maligne Lake is another glacial lake with beautiful water color. We went here early and hiked the Moose Lake loop trail. While we didn't see any moose on this trail, it was a decent hike. Spirit Island is considered sacred and spiritual place for the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. They host an annual healing ceremony on the island and visitors are not allowed on the island. The boat tour takes you to a nearby spot from where you can see the island in all its glory. It's a beautiful sight.
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| Sunrise at Maligne Lake |
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| Gorgeous Spirit Island |
On our last day we hiked the Wilcox Pass. It was a rainy day, but we got an early start and missed rain on our way up. This was a very different hike in the mountains and it was gorgeous. This hike provided the best view of the Athabasca glacier in my opinion. We also spotted a herd of bighorn sheep unexpectedly on the trail. While we were early on the trail so that it was not crowded, we didn't think we were early enough to spot any wildlife. We stopped at a point to take photos of the glacier and S spotted these beauties staring at us from a distance. At first we couldn't believe our eyes, there were about 10 of them sitting on the trail. We spent some time taking photos then thinking of how to continue on the trail. Finally, we went off trail and around the animals so as to not disturb them. This was by far the best experience we had in Jasper. As we continued on the trail, the views kept getting better, the temperature dropped, there were lakes, snow and streams along the trail. This is by far my favorite hike on this trip and I highly recommend it. It is 7.1 miles, out and back trail, classified as hard, with an elevation gain of 1358 feet.
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| We saw rainbows like this in several places in Alberta |
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| On the trail |
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| Expansive views on the trail |
Wildlife Spotting:
We were lucky to spot deer and bears on the side of the roads. On our way back from Maligne Lake, we stopped at Medicine Lake and spotted a huge bald eagle with its nest and two baby eagles.
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| Bighorn Sheep |
For anyone who enjoys nature, Canadian Rockies are a must. I am grateful for the opportunity to visit and spend a decent time in the region. Apparently fall is also a good season to visit the region as the colors are much different. In winter many lakes, such as Maligne are fully frozen and you can visit ice caves. Glad to have crossed this item off my bucket list!!!
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