Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

It's Day 3 of our stay in the Columbia Valley (see previous post) and we spent the day on a loop drive through Banff National Park to Banff, Lake Louise, Golden and back to Brisco. We downloaded the GuideAlong App, which is a location based audio tour...sort of like having a tour guide in the car with you! We loved the App, and would have missed a lot of side trips along the way if we hadn't had it!

We'd never visited the Canadian Rockies, and WOW! It's no wonder Banff National Park became Canada's first national park—and the world’s third—when it was set aside in 1885.

In the photo above (lower left) is Numa Falls on the Vermillion River in the Kootenay National Park. We stopped at this day use area on Hwy 93 between Radium Hot Springs and Johnson Junction, just for a bathroom stop, and ended up walking up the trail to see the falls. The glacial river, falls and fall colors (lower, middle photo above) were all fabulous. This is quintessential Canadian Rockies...with something spectacular around every corner!

We continued on down the road and stopped at the Town of Banff to buy our National Park Pass and have lunch. The founders of this town were thoughtful in its layout. They made sure the main streets had perfect views of the stunning surrounding mountains! It had a very Swiss Alps feeling, with many shops and restaurants, and getting around was easy in this pedestrian friendly mountain town.

By the way, the Parks Pass covers you for all the parks along this corridor, so it's a seemless transition from one to the next as long as you got your pass at the first park you entered.

A little history in the town of Banff: "Unlike many other mountain towns that began as mining settlements, Banff was established in the 1880s with tourism front of mind. During the 1870s, construction started on the ambitious Canadian Pacific Railway, a coast-to coast railway across Canada. The planned route tracked through the Bow Valley in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In 1883, it was there at “Siding 29” that three Canadian Pacific Railway workers stumbled on a series of natural hot springs on what is now called Sulphur Mountain.

The Cave and Basin hot springs were quickly identified as a potential hot tourist attraction. Competing claims by 'discoverers' of the springs for the right to develop them prompted the Canadian government to create a reserve to protect the springs and surrounding area in 1885. Enlarged in 1887 and named the "Rocky Mountains Park of Canada" (later to be renamed Banff National Park), it was Canada’s first national park and the world’s third. The Banff townsite was established, a hotel was quickly built, and the area was soon being promoted as an international resort and spa." (Facts credit: www.banfflakelouise.com )

From Banff town, we drove to Two Jacks Lake and Lake Minnewanka ... both beautiful! I had tried to reserve a campsite at Two Jacks, but was unsuccessful. We'll have to plan farther ahead next time we come back!

Two Jacks Lake

Lake Minnewanka

After Lake Minnewanka, we drove up to Mount

Norquay to see the views and check out the details on the chairlift. Of course, the Banff Gondola is the widely renowned option for tourists to get amazing views of the area. Our waitress at lunch told us about the lesser known chairlift ride at Mount Norquay. It is half the cost, and according to her, has better views. In the end, we opted to not ride the chairlift, but still saw some amazing views from the Norquay ski resort, and we got a close up view of some Bighorn Sheep!

We'd heard so much about the jewel of the Canadian Rockies, turquoise colored Lake Louise. Going back 25+ years, Scott's grandma Dot spent many a summer admiring Lake Louise. Our parents had visited as well, and marveled at its beauty. To be honest, I wondered if it would live up to the hype. It did! I couldn't capture the beauty of this lake in photos. It is perfectly framed by towering peaks and the Victoria Glacier, and is so vast it's hard to fit in one frame. But if you ever have the chance to visit, don't miss it! It really does deserve the reputation as the crown jewel!

Speaking of those turquoise waters, did you ever wonder where the color comes from? Each of the lakes in the Canadian Rockies carries a distinctive hue, which is due to the way sunlight hits fine particles of eroded glacial silt suspended in the water. Apparently the colors are most vivid as meltwater reaches its peak in July and August, but it was certainly stunning in September as well!

Lake Louise

Our last stop for today's road trip was Takakkaw Falls, the biggest and the mightiest of the many incredible waterfalls in the Canadian Rockies!

It is a little over a half mile walk from the parking lot to the base of the falls, on an easy paved path. Something I've not shared before is that Canadian National and State Parks are dog-friendly! As long as your dog is on a leash, well behaved, and you pick up after them, they can accompany you on trails in the parks! This is a departure from US National Parks, where dogs cannot go on trails, and we really enjoyed the added freedom it gave us while traveling with Scout!

Takakkaw Falls have a total height of 1,224 feet (373 meters) making them the second tallest waterfall in Canada. "Takakkaw" translates to "magnificent” in Cree, and boy was it!! The falls are fed by the meltwater of the Daly Glacier, which is part of the Waputik Icefield. The trail terminates near the base of the falls, where you can feel the mist from this glacier-fed cascade.

We had packed a lot into this day, so were ready to start the drive to complete our loop through Golden, BC, down the Columbia Valley and back to Brisco.

One other site as we drove were the park’s custom-built, naturally vegetated overpasses that allow safe passage for all types of wildlife (moose, bighorn sheep, elk, black and Grizzly bear, and other creatures big and small). The vegetated overpasses have set the global standard for animal highway safety.

It was a long day filled with beautiful scenery, and more waterfalls, lakes and rivers than we could count. We were ready for the hot tub, and our last night in Brisco, before heading to Jasper tomorrow!