We had a short drive from Calgary to Banff where we stayed in Banff Tunnel Mountain Village II. Since we did not have full hookups in Calgary, we made a stop at the rest stop so we could dump. We knew we needed empty tanks because Banff also did not have full hookups, but fortunately we did get 50-amp electric which we didn’t think we would get.
We had plenty of time the first day to sight-see so we did a little window shopping (I looked but did not buy anything) and explored Bow Falls near the Banff Springs Hotel. We had dinner at Chuck’s Steakhouse. The table-side prepared Caesar salad was very good—but still not as good as Annapolis’ Carroll’s Creek. Randy’s prime rib was better than my filet but neither were great so we were both a little disappointed, especially for the price. It’s a good thing there is a favorable exchange rate.
On our second day in Banff we had a wonderful bus tour that took us to Johnston Canyon, Yoho National Park, Spiral Tracks, Natural Bridge, Moraine Lake, Emerald Lake and Lake Louise. It was difficult to see anything other than the train coming out of the tunnel at Spiral Tracks but loved the rest of the stops, even when the rest of the stops were busy with other tourists and other bus tours. Lake Louse was the biggest surprise for us because we were comparing it to Randy’s trip in 1966 and our family trip in the early 90s. On both previous trips you could just drive right up to the chateau’ in the motorhome and have lunch. Now it is very crowded with very limited parking. They recommend using the shuttle from the parking areas out on the road or at the ski area of Lake Louise where we had lunch. Because we were on the tour bus, we only had a short walk to the lake with a limited amount of time, but everything was timed pretty good except for the amount of time for lunch at the ski lodge. We probably did not need the extra 30 minutes for lunch, but that may have been because there were only a few tables being used. I was able to get Randy’s first comparison picture (between 1966 and 2019) at Lake Louise. Randy was the biggest difference (13 to 65) but the landscape and building had also changed considerably. The trees were very tall and the hotel now has extra floors compared to prior years. There also appeared to be more buildings on the side of the hotel. I guess at $800/night being the cheapest room they can afford to add on! I need to see if I can find any pictures from our trip I the 90s for another comparison.
Emerald Lake and Moraine Lake were also beautiful. Randy climbed to the top of the boulders alongside the lake to get a fabulous photo of Moraine Lake. I went part of the way with him, but let him continue to the top. I was afraid I would have balance issues on the way down the rocky slope/steps. The turquoise water and reflection of the snow made an outstanding photo. I took a similar photo from the lake’s edge, but the colors are not nearly as vivid.
We hiked to the Lower Falls at Johnston Canyon. Part of the walking trail were platforms over the water which I did not like. Our caravan wagonmaster, Carol, kept coaxing/pushing me so I finally made it to the Lower Falls. I did not wait in line to view the falls from the cave. Randy said the view from inside the cave really didn’t add anything to the trip, except to get you a little wet.
The Natural Bridge at Kicking Horse River Valley was another beautiful spot. The bus driver warned us not to go off the path as several rescues are needed every year for people that fall in the swift water. You could tell why some of the rescue attempts turn into body recovery efforts. The water tumbled over large boulders and rocks for quite a distance. And of course, there were several people off the paths trying to get better pictures or carving something into nearby trees. Fortunately, no rescue effort was needed that day!
I love that we have “free” days with no planned activities built into our caravan. We took advantage of our free day in Banff to look for wildlife. We had planned to go on the Lake Louise gondola tour since they have frequent grizzly bear sightings from the gondolas, but it was a foggy morning so we decided it would not be worth the time. Instead we drove up to Rampart Creek campground where we had stayed on our last trip in the early 90s. This was on Randy’s bucket list of places he wanted to stop. The campground is still a primitive campground. The roads were full of potholes which I don’t remember from before. We both had a different opinion on which site we had stayed at on our last trip. One thing we both agreed on was that Dirt Yacht would not fit! We were lucky to see a large bull elk, 2 different small black bears and mule deer while we traveled on Highway 1A so the day was successful for us. I did check the Lake Louise Gondola wildlife calendar and grizzly bears were spotted that day but it had started to rain again in the afternoon when we got back from Rampart Creek so we missed our opportunity. I am sure we will have more opportunity to view grizzly bears as we travel to Alaska.
We had to get an early start for our trip to Jasper so that we could stop at the Columbia Icefields. I don’t remember taking a bus over to the glacier and the ice coach seemed smaller than our last trip, but I will have to find those photos where Ryan was standing in the tires to do a comparison. Ryan definitely could not stand inside these tires; however, the driver said that these coaches have been in use since the 80s. They are definitely larger than the smaller half-track/snow cats that Randy and his family used in the 60s. When I looked at some of the older photos from Randy’s earlier trip, I noticed a little girl and mom that were wearing dresses. I can’t imagine being up on that cold glacier with my bare legs! It took us a little effort to get out of the parking lot. Our RV needs more room to make turns so we had a tough time getting out of the parking lot. We had to disconnect the Jeep so that Randy could back up and then hook back up. There was another caravan (Adventure) coming in for an afternoon tour which added to the confusion. It’s a good thing our tour was rescheduled from 3 to earlier in the day or there would have been no room for all of the RVs. I am not sure where they stayed last night but they all pulled into the Hinton KOA where we are staying today.
We ended up using our free day in Hinton/Jasper to do some shopping and catch up on laundry. We did drive around looking for wildlife but didn’t get to see too much. We found a beaver pond and did see some mule deer, but not a whole lot else. I think they were all bedded down in the rain. We had a caravan cookout in our last night in Jasper which was a lot of fun. It’s another early day tomorrow for the long drive to Dawson Creek. The weather is supposed to be nice so hoping we have a good day.
