New Release! Canadian Rockies Landscape Series!
Blog #2 - I’m pleased to announce that I’ve released my Canadian Rockies Landscape Photo Series! You can check it out in my Portfolio or in my Print Shop for purchase!
I visited Banff and Jasper National Parks in July 2018 and I can still clearly remember the unbelievable blue glacier-fed lakes and the jagged peaks of the Canadian Rockies. My bestfriends and I spent 4 days hiking and driving around seeing what this part of Canada had to offer. Here’s a quick summary and guide from our experience!
Getting there:
We traveled from Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Calgary Airport (YYC). We also had a connection through Toronto Pearson Airport, but expect a whole day travel just to get to Calgary if you’re coming from the east coast. We stayed in Calgary for a day and explored city. We got lucky that we picked the same weekend as the Calgary Stampede Festival, which is basically a ten-day rodeo, exhibition and festival held by the city to commemorate the rich agricultural history of the region.
From Calgary we then started our drive and headed into Banff which is a quick hour and a half drive. The ride was smooth and traffic-free. When we arrived in Banff, we were surprised how many tourists were out and about in town - and I mean bus-loads of tourists! The busy season is June through August so we should have expected this. Luckily, we had planned our travel and lodging months in advance (which I highly recommend), so we did not have any problems with our stay.
For lodging, there are a few options: Airbnb, hotels, hostels, or campsites. Hotels during this time of the year were extremely expensive and Airbnb’s were scarce. We elected to stay at hostels which I recommend - there’s plenty of them around town; they’re clean convenient, and the guests are usually friendly and respectful! The hostels we stayed in mostly had bunkbed situations but we knew we weren’t going to spend plenty of time indoors (why would you when you’re in Banff?!).
There are plenty of places to eat around Banff -mostly small restaurants. We only went to a few because we packed food during our hikes most of the time. But the ones we did eat in were good so I would say most of the food options in Banff are decent.
For getting around, there are shuttles you can take or you can rent a car and drive. There are pros and cons in each. Shuttles go to the major tourist sites and you don’t have to worry about parking (parking is a big issue this time of the year); however it is inconvenient to wait for the shuttle times. If you have a car, you’ll likely have some issue with parking on hiking trails, and touristy areas unless you get to the locations early; but a good thing about a car is you can visit some of the less touristy spots in Banff.
Exploring Banff:
Our first course of action after checking in was to see the famous Lake Louise. We saw the lake, but what else did we see? A ton of people! We were expecting the crowd but we couldn’t believe how many people were there! We ended up parking almost a mile away from the lake, and event the main part of the lake was filled with people. Luckily the lake is large and the path extends a good ways around the lake so we were able to find a spot with fewer people. There’s no hiking needed to get to Lake Louise (unless you parked far like we did); you pretty much get to see the lake as soon as you leave the parking lot.
This was our first sight of the crystal blue glacier-fed lakes of this region and we honestly couldn’t believe it was real and natural. We spent some time gazing at this natural beauty, but besides the lake, there wasn’t much to do. We took some photos and decided to make our way to the next lake - Moraine Lake… until we realized there’s more people that go to this lake and the parking is half the size of Lake Louise’s. Once the Moraine Lake parking lot becomes full, they close the road leading up to it and it is only accessible to shuttles. We decided to head back into town and take the shuttle in. After a few minutes of shuttle waiting and a few Canadian dollars, we made it to Moraine Lake. Similar to Lake Louise, there’s no hiking needed from the parking lot to the lake itself; you instantly see the lake as soon as you arrive. And I’ll say I liked this lake much more than Lake Louise.
The next morning, we wanted to make sure we could park our car as close to Moraine Lake as possible. So the best solution we came up with was to wake up at 4AM and drive there to watch the sunrise. This was absolutely the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen until this day.
I was worried the sunlight would be diffused by the cloud cover on the East, but the light shined through and lit up the Ten Peaks of Moraine Lake. It was one of those speechless moments to see the progression of golden sun rays flowing down the face of mountain, especially since the same colors were reflected upon the crystal blue water. I highly recommend taking the early morning just to see this happen at least once when you visit once.
From there we planned on doing a longer hike so we traveled back to Lake Louise so we can attempt to hike Devil’s Thumb.
I mentioned previously that there isn’t much to do in Lake Louise besides walking around the Lake, but there are actually some hiking trails that start in Lake Louise that lead you to other less accessible lakes.
On our hike towards Devil’s Thumb, we passed by Mirror Lake (which is about 2 miles from Lake Louise) and then Lake Agnes (which is about half a mile from Mirror Lake). We stopped by Lake Agnes’s famous tea house for some good tea! I highly recommend grabbing some snacks and tea here!
After a few more miles and some sketchy rock scramble, we arrived at Devil’s Thumb! At the top you can see both Lake Agnes and Lake Louise! It’s crazy how much elevation was gained over this hike since you can see how tiny the Fairmont Chateau hotel is. The total hike roundtrip is 8 miles and about 2,800 feet of vertical elevation. This hike was a challenging hike but very interesting in my opinion!
Canadian HWY 1:
The next day we made our way to Jasper National Park! According to Google Maps, the drive from Banff to Jasper is 3 hours and 22 minutes. That was not at all the case for us. It took us over to 6 hours to get there! Not because of traffic or any complications, but because we stopped at almost every single overlook. Some notable stops were Peyto Lake (left), Athabasca Mountains (middle), and the Athabasca Falls (right), but there were plenty more on the way. You also get a chance to view an actual glacier icefield on the way and you can visit it up close. Click on each photo for a larger view!
As you can see, it was honestly difficult to keep my eye on the road for most of this drive. My friends complained about the rough ride on these roads but only because of how often I kept hitting the lane rumble strips.
It was also interesting how quickly the weather changed throughout the drive. If you can see Peyto Lake, which was closer to Banff, the weather was mostly showing partly cloudy skies, but as soon as we crossed over to Jasper, it started raining and thick, dark clouds appeared.
I’ll also make a note about the wildlife - we saw so much more in Jasper compared to Banff. I would assume it has something to do with tourist density (Jasper is typically less touristy than Banff) so be prepared to stop for animals as well.
Overall, Canadian HWY 1 is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever taken. It was incredibly scenic and unique. I would recommend allocating a whole day of travel from Banff to Jasper only because all of the stops are absolutely worth stopping for.
Exploring Jasper:
Even though Jasper National Park is located in the same mountain range as Banff National Park, it has its differences. Sure, the mountains look similar and the lakes are same tone of blue that you’ve seen across these photos, but Jasper has a different charm to it - it has a more remote and isolated feeling to it. It could be because of the fewer busses of tourists, but maybe it was just the atmosphere of the area.
Because we basically spent the whole day traveling to Jasper with our stop-and-go road trip (i.e. stop at every overlook), we arrived at Jasper too late to do anything but explore the town. The town is pretty much the same size as Banff. There are plenty of small shops and restaurants to go to and see, similar to Banff. We also stayed at a hostel here in Jasper which is the same experience as Banff.
The next day we had reservations to go on a boat cruise around Maligne Lake. I had no expectations for this cruise, and we had to pay around $60 CAD per person to get on, so I was at least hoping that the view would be worth $60. The lake also isn’t nearby town; it is about an hour drive to the lake. After it was all said and done, every Canadian dollar and every minute of the drive and boat ride was absolutely worth it.
This was probably the best thing we did in Jasper. The boat docks at the North end of the Lake and makes its way South towards Spirit Island. Spirit Island (shown above) is one of the original “Kodak moments” shot by photographer Peter Gales in the 1940s to promote Kodak film. The photo eventually became an icon and was displayed in Grand Central Terminal in New York City in the 1960s. As a photo-geek like myself, seeing this in person was a jaw-dropping moment. It is said that the name Spirit Island comes from a myth of a heartbroken spirit wandering the island. The spirit fell in love with a woman from another tribe, and their tribes were at war with each other. With their relationship forbidden, the island served as their meeting place. Once their love was discovered, she was banned from the island, but the man still visited the island to wait for her until he died (a la Romeo & Juliet story). The myth continues to tell stories of how the man still lurks the island this day, waiting for her love to return.
The boat trip to the end destination is about 30-45 minutes. Maligne Lake is long and skinny and surrounding it are massive mountains which makes the boat ride so unique. The entire boat ride out and back was about 2 hours because they give you 15-20 minutes to walk around the docks of Spirit Island (not the island itself, but close enough). This cruise is a MUST do in Jasper especially if you only have a few days in town.
After our cruise, we headed to a hiking trail towards the northeast side of the park. The hike was called Sulphur Skyline Trail and it was about 45 minutes from town. This hike was rated as hard from my research, but I’d say its about a moderate-hard trail. There isn’t any difficult terrain but it is steep at roughly 2,000 feet of elevation gain over 2.5 miles. It also got progressively steeper and the last stretch once you hike above the tree line is pretty much straight up. At the summit you’ll see 360 degrees of unobstructed views of the mountain ranges and Fiddle Valley beneath it. If you’re lucky you’ll also see some mountain goats wandering around as well! The 360-degree view at the top is quite breathtaking, but there is one thing more amazing than the summit - the hot springs at the trailhead! Yes, after the 3 and a half hour hike out and back, you can enjoy the the Miette Hot Springs!
Conclusion:
Visiting Banff and Jasper has been an unforgettable experience. It is a place filled with the natural beauty of rugged mountain peaks, deep valleys, crystal blue lakes, and wild animals. The only regret I have is that I wish I stayed longer. We only ended up spending 2 and a half days in Banff and one and a half days in Jasper. We wished we had more time for the other activities like taking the gondola lifts, kayaking around the lakes, or hiking more trails, but we also know that we’ll be back for sure. I urge you to pay these places a visit and check it out yourselves. The photos I took as shown here and in my portfolio are a pretty good representation of the sights, but trust me when I say that it is absolutely THAT much better seeing it in person!
If you have any questions on my trip, my photos, trip planning or about Banff and Jasper, please reach out to me on my Instagram messages or send me a question on my Contacts page - I’d be happy to share more insight and help you with any questions you may have!
Thanks for reading about my trip to the Canadian Rockies! I look forward to doing more of these blogs for my other previous trips and future trips as well.
Capture that photo. Capture that moment. Capture that story.
Carlo
CFP Photography
