Banff Travel Blog, August ‘24
Disclaimer - This trip would never have happened without the grit, planning and knowledge of Sam… and I am extremely grateful.
Monday: Getting Started on the Right Foot
We spent Sunday assembling our gear, getting out to our campsite and making ourselves at home so we could hit Monday running! After a Drill Sergeant 6am start, we did a 10 mile hike that began at this breathtakingly turquoise lake that just didn’t seem real no matter how long you stared. The silt picked up by the river on its way down the mountain helps refract certain blue/green light to give the lake such a striking color! After looping the lake we started our climb, and halfway up had a quick spot of tea, a slab of chocolate cake and some other snacks at an adorable little tea house! The recharge gave us exactly the push we needed, and we persevered on our climb! The big trees gave way to little evergreens, which gave way to rocks and that glacier blue ice! It was quite a push up some steep gravel at the end, but we all made it and got to look back all the way at the (now tiny) lake where we started!
We then took a bus to a second lake with a much shorter hike to another beautiful, but this time VIBRANT blue lake! We made it back to camp, cooked up some fajitas and tucked in for the night! (Well actually the fajitas were Sunday night and we went to a super lame bison restaurant, but I’d prefer to forget about that tourist trap experience where my mind kinda just melted from a mixture of exhaustion and confusion!)
Steps: 32.9k
Tuesday: Day at the Pool
We had a marginally later start today, giving some time for some morning Jo on the stove! On the drive to hike #2 we were driving down the road when we saw a few cars pulled over, and lo and behold there were 3 elk indecisively crossing the road! I was about halfway out of the car window trying to get some views! Two males with big ol horns and a doe! Once they disappeared into the woods, we continued onwards to our ~8 mile hike, did a nice little stretch circle (gotta take care of yourself!) and headed out! This hike was a pretty simple one, but had tons of wildflowers, little creek-waterfalls & path side presumable-currents (that we totally didn’t eat, and the orange ones weren’t totally yummier than the red ones). Harith had a girthy walking stick providing us a wonderful cadence to our hike, and we were one of the first groups to make it to the destination… another lake upon a huge swath of rocks/boulders - perfect for a rock scramble!
We all took a dip in the ICE COLD lake, and it was so beautifully clear and tranquil! The birds were chirping, the lake was gurgling and the sun was shining! Spez did some great rock skipping, Julie decided she would probably succumb to hypothermia before making it to the other side of the lake and a meal of peanut butter and tortillas wasn’t held back by a dearth of utensils! I took the chance to scramble across the rocks and find a nice little secluded piece of nature -- and saw a successful dragonfly hunt! Oh, and these old guys brought these little inflatable boats that they took on the lakes, paddled w/ their foot flippers and fished in! After sunning ourselves for quite a bit, we headed back and were 2 minutes from the trailhead when we saw our first (and only) bear of the trip! A cute little black bear popped their head up from about 20 feet away, and we had a little staring contest before continuing on our way!
After cooking up some veggie burgers we adapted to the fire ban by setting our lantern up in a pseudo campfire setup — I believe the consensus was 4/10. Buuuut we got some fantastic real spooky stories about a haunted hotel in Banff that has consistent ghost sightings courtesy of Sam — and she really crushed the presentation! A helpful ghostly bellhop and a terrifying bride are sure to keep me far away from the Fairmont Banff Springs. Then some star gazing and off to bed.
Steps: 32.6k || Meal: Burgers
Wednesday: the BIG hike
It was a big climb day today, and it was a hard climb. But it’s difficult to describe how beautiful the scenery was here. And varied. Mountains all around (apparently these are still the Rocky Mountains!) but all so different. Some desert-y seemingly out of Colorado/utah, some covered with millions of trees at odd angles, some with huge rock piles and some hiding ponds/blunks/lakes (which Sam and I did get in again!). Found some nice slanty rocks at the top of the hike which acted like our lawn chairs, and they worked well because the sound of the wind and waterfalls was soon accented by some Harith snores. After really soaking it in we started the long journey down, and Julie spotted some wild beavers and marmots which was sooooo exciting -- one was even posing for us on this nearby rock with the sun hitting it just right; who knew rodents could look majestic! Gotta be honest we never could figure out what carved the tracks out at the higher parts of the trip -- there were some seemingly too intentional trails to be caused by random walking, but not structured enough to be caused by a vehicle… mystery unsolved :(
We got to watch the sunset over the train tracks / mountains a short hike away from our campsite, and other campsite things of note were this adorable little creek by our campsite as well the showers that the girls liked to call their sauna and warm up in there! Spez broke our stink contract by showering multiple times this trip… just saying
Steps: 31.7k || Meal: Pasta
Thursday: Driving along the Icefields
Thursday was transfer campsite day -- woohoo! After the group split for breakfast / small waterfall hike we reunited to drive along the beautiful Icefield Parkway. We stopped about five different places along the way to our next campsite, seeing vistas, dipping toes in water, etc. etc. The drive took us about halfway to Jasper, and we saw (in my opinion) the best water feature of the trip so far — a raging rapids thru a gorge that was moving with such velocity and strength we really couldn’t believe it. Another stop took us up a deceptively long hike to a scenic vista overlooking some incredible mountains and lakes -- and it was like a Disney line how each time we thought we had made it there was a secret turn and another hundred feet incline. A third stop took us right up to a wide river feeding into said lakes right as the sun broke thru -- a really nice moment! The weather overall has been pretty wacky: quick rains, lots of sun, cloudy, windy, heavy rains, huge rolling fog. You name it, we got it.
And our second campsite was definitely the more rough-and-tumble of the two, but had SUCH a pretty view of the mountains / glaciers. Unfortunately it brought much much more rain than the our first spot, but regardless was my personal favorite
Steps: 28.1k || Meal: Sausages & potatoes
Friday: Twisted Rapids, Aye
The team took on some really great category 3.5 white water rapids! Fears were conquered and we braved the rapids suited up in our slick wetsuits! A good two hour trip down the river, which started with a chill 45 ride down the river before we hit the good stuff! Janas was a really fun guide, although he had a weird tendency to whistle christmas songs and ask our opinions on christmas. Along the ride we saw some beautiful mist shrouded mountains, and then the rapids hit! We honestly had pretty good chemistry and everybody managed to stay in the boat, although Harith, Sam and I definitely got the brunt of the water! Towards the end of the trip Sam P and I took a nice swim in the river, which wasn’t too bad until the rapids started picking up and our silly guide didn’t let us know! Sam really had to drag my wet self fully back into the boat like I was a big fish as I wriggled about! If the day wasn’t cool enough already, we saw a big horned sheep on the ride back!
After a very refreshing warm lunch from an indian inspired cafe, we headed out to two sensational waterfalls per the recommendation of our white water rafter guide. The first was wide and pretty cool, but the second was huuuuge. Blowing us back from all the mist which essentially overtook the rain, and plummeting hundreds of feet from the glacier — feeding the same water which we rafted on earlier! This second waterfall was just so grand, and the volume (both sound and water!) was stunning!
Steps: 15.6k (plus 11km of rowing!) || Meal: Ramen
Saturday: The Finale
The final day… but not to worry our flight wasn’t until midnight so we were able to fit in plenty! We packed up camp, returned our rented gear, wandered around Banff for a bit, did a final hike to a crystal clear lake full of folks lead climbing up the natural limestone pocketed cliffs and saw our final waterfall! This might have been the coldest water of the trip also! On our way to the airport we stopped for some Thai food (really looking for some heat after a week of campfire meals) at a real sketchy hotel, and then hit the airport lounge to adequately prepare for our redeye flights back!
Jack, Enjoyed reading the blog and seeing the pictures put your trip altogether. I’m sure you made many memories