Canada’s Banff National Park is a bucket list trip for almost any serious hiker. While Jean had never been there, I had only made a short trip way back in 1985. For our 2018 vacation we decided to take the plunge. We got some tips on places to hike and logistics from some friends who had been there recently, and ended up deciding on a weeklong trip focused on the area near the town of Banff. From the US Banff is pretty easy, simply a passport, a quick currency exchange, and you’re off. Being technological luddites, we went out and got our first smartphone for the trip, knowing that we might need to make some of our other trip arrangements on the fly.
To
keep things simple, we decided just to day hike. That would give us more
flexibility to sample a variety of trails, and wouldn’t lock us into an
itinerary if the weather turned bad. We booked a cabin in the park at Johnston
Canyon for the first half of the trip, and then a motel room in the nearby town
of Canmore for the rest of our time.
The Banff area is immense. Besides Banff, there are three contiguous national parks Jasper to the north, and Yoho and Kootenay to the west. Together those four parks occupy 5 million acres, an area twice the size of Yellowstone and the Tetons, and with 50% more trails! We knew that we would just be dipping our toes into this wonderland.
7-28-18
We flew into Calgary, AB and spent our first night at a Days Inn after stops for food and bear spray. We’re not big city folks, but we were impressed with Calgary, a beautiful, diverse city.
7-29-18
Stanley Glacier Trail, Kootenay NP 6.0 miles
Among
all its other treasures the Banff region contains one of the world’s most
famous fossil locations, the Burgess Shale, a type example of the explosion of
species in the Cambrian Period. The main fossil quarries can only be visited on
park tours, but the Stanley Glacier Trail is the best route to find fossils on
your own. The main trail was a fantastic route through a sheer glacial valley,
but it stops at a scenic moraine. Social trails continue on to a waterfall, and
to a huge boulder that is the starting point for fossil hunting. I’m the family
geologist, but Jean proved more adept at finding trilobites, the most common type
of the fossils.
Waterfall at Stanley Glacier.
Johnson Canyon Bungalow
Trilobite Fossil.
7-30-18 Twin Falls Loop, Yoho, NP 10.8 miles
To
prepare for the trip, Jean did a lot of biking at the YMCA, and one of the
videos she watched on the screens at the Y featured Takakkaw Falls in Yoho. The
falls is close enough to the trailhead that you can hear the thunder from your
car. Heading up along the Yoho River after a pair of smaller falls we passed
Laughing Falls, another huge high volume falls. We’d left early in the morning,
so we got the prime viewing spot for Twin Falls to ourselves. There’s a
backcountry lodge nearby and we talked with the owner Fran who was in her 57th
year on site. Even better we got to hike a loop on the return. Already Jean was
talking about wanting to come back next year.
Johnson Canyon Bungalow
Takakkaw Falls. 
Twin Falls.
7-31-21,
Plain of the Six Glaciers, Banff NP, 7.6 miles
Johnston
Canyon, Banff NP 3.0 miles
It
was finally time to visit Lake Louise, probably the most famous location in the
park, due to the famous Chateau Lake Louise. We got a 5AM start to ensure a
parking space, took some photos of the lake and chateau, and then headed around
the west shore on a route recommended by our friend Stephanie. The only alpine
trail I’ve been on to rival this would be Grinnell Glacier in Glacier NP, but
otherwise there’s no comparable access to the glaciated terrain. Banff has tea
houses scattered about, and we reached ours early in the AM. We sat out front
and listened to the rumble of what we assumed were avalanches. On the return we
walked through the chateau, and then stopped at the Banff VC for brochures and more
hiking advice.
Jean at Lake Louise.
Johnston
Canyon is normally one of the more crowded spots in the park, but our cabin was
well out of the tourist mainstream. We ate an early dinner in their restaurant
which was quiet in the off peak hours, then hit the trail. Steven had first
shown us pictures of the trail here, and
the amazing waterfalls were a major reason we made the trip. The canyon seems a
hybrid alpine/slot canyon. The trail is an engineering marvel, asphalt to the
main falls, then much of it metal catwalk bolted into the canyon walls with new
waterfalls around each bend.
Plain of the Six Glaciers. 
Jean and I in Johnston Canyon.
Johnson
Canyon Bungalow
Johnston Canyon.
8-1-18, Emerald Basin, Yoho, NP, 7.2 miles
Emerald
Basin is the busy side of Yoho, there’s a lodge and boat access to the lake. We
did the loop around the lake and a side trip to the basin, with its ring of
majestic mountains. The loop was packed for our return leg, and there must have
been 20-30 boats out on the lake.
Next,
we drove down into Canmore where we would stay for the rest of the trip. I ran
5 miles out and back on the Heritage Trail, a paved bike path along Canada 1 stretching
from Canmore to Banff. After suffering through runs in hot humid Knoxville it
was a luxury to breathe some cool, dry air.
Emerald Basin.
Canmore
Days Inn
Emerald Basin.
8-2-18,
Cascade Amphitheatre, Banff NP, 9.8 miles
Cascade
Amphitheatre is an out and back hike from the Mt. Norquay Ski Area and starts
with a confusing walk through the ski trails. We lost a little elevation at the
start, but gained it back in a hurry approaching the amphitheatre. In the amphitheatre
there are several knolls perfect for sunning during lunchtime. I walked to the
end of the trail, which peters out high in the basin, and then repeated the
trip to show Jean the flowers and views that she might have missed. We saw only
~10 parties all day, perhaps our quietest long hike of the trip. We also saw
our first bighorn sheep of the trip.
Wildflowers.
Canmore
Days Inn
Cascade Amphitheatre.
8-3-18
Bourgeau Lake, Banff NP, 9.3 miles
Canmore
Nordic Centre PP, 5.0 miles
The
weather had finally turned, so this was a cooler and cloudier day. We met up
with two women on an 18 day vacation and swapped hike ideas with them all the
way to the lake. By the time we reached the cirque, the wind was blowing hard,
and we huddled in the trees to eat lunch. Maybe it was the light, but this was
the most scenic small lake we visited on the trip.
Bourgeau Lake. 
Waterfall approaching Bourgeau Lake.
On
our return we stopped at the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park which had
been the site of the cross country skiing and biathlon events in the 1988
Calgary Winter Olympics. Jean and I walked a mile on a paved trail then I ran a
3 mile loop on a nice gravel trail. Mountain biking seemed to be the most
popular option here.
Canmore
Days Inn 
Canmore Nordic Center.
8-4-18,
Stoney Squaw, Banff NP, 2.6 miles
Our
plan for our final day was to hike the Boom Lake Trail, but Highway 93 to the
west was closed due to fire danger so we went back to Mt. Norquay. The Stony
Squaw Trail isn’t well marked, and the overlook described in our guidebook was obscured
by a number of social trails. But the forest on the back side of the loop was
very pretty with lots of deep moss. After the hike Jean got in a long hold line
calling the airline so I took a quick 2 mile run while we waited.
Mt Norquay Ski Area.
Stoney Squaw Trail.
Next,
we went back to the Nordic Center where I ran the green and orange loops mostly
on single track for a ~ 5 miler.
Our
final night was in the Calgary Days Inn. We flew home the next day.
Bison Sculptures in the Calgary Airport.
