Sunday, June 5, 2022 - We drive for about one hour from Cochrane to Banff, Alberta. We left at 9:00am and our check-in time was 2:00pm, so we stopped for about an hour and a half at a casino parking lot on the way. The drive to Tunnel Mountain was easy since we had "scoped it out" previously. We drove into Banff and walked around the town to see what it is all about. It is a typical "touristy" town with lots of shops to buy T-shirts/hats and also restaurants/coffee shops to dine. It is a very nice town with a main street converted to walking with no vehicles. We also checked out a photo gallery that had some amazing photographs of the area.
Monday, June 6, 2022 - We started the day by loading up the kayaks on the truck and then we drove to the launch site for the two Vermilian Lakes along Highway 1 near Banff. We had ridden the bicycles along this lake when we did the Bow River Parkway ride. So we launched our kayaks and toured the lakes. This was the first time that we used our new kayak specific wet suits and they worked great. We have neoprene booties for our feet too, so were remained quite warm when in the water too. There was not too much to see as far as animals go on the kayaking trip, but it is always fun to get out onto the water.
After the kayaking, we drove to the Upper Hot Springs at Banff and went into the pool filled with hot mineral water. We stayed in the hot springs for about an hour. The views from the hot spring are beautiful and I hope to have the photos on the blog shortly. (We have lousy internet at the campsite and we have been so busy, I have not had enough time to go to Starbucks to upload the photos.) The hot springs was a lot of fun. We met and conversed with some nice people and it was just fun to simply unwind and relax. Life is good! The hot water tends to drain your energy, so we went back to the RV and just relaxed for a while.
Tuesday, June 7, 2022 - We awoke to a drizzly, rainy day and we had to move the rig to another parking spot. We had extended for two more days here in Banff because there was more to do in this area. One issue was that the kayaks were mounted to the top of the truck and I had to remove them before I could move the trailer. I was going to just take them off at our next camp site and set them on the ground, but I decided to just put them back in the trailer for our next move to Kicking Horse Campground on Thursday. I move the kayaks to the trailer and secured all the gear in the "garage" for travel on Thursday to our next campground. We then moved the trailer without incident to the next site here at Tunnel Mountain. In 1884, the train lines came to the Banff area. The plan was to put a tunnel through this mountain that was kind of in the way through the Bow Valley; everyone called it Tunnel Mountain. An American engineer then found a way to go around the mountain that was a little longer but did not require digging a tunnel. The name of Tunnel Mountain stuck even though there is no tunnel anywhere around here.
After parking the rig, we decided to go check out Lake Louise. We drove to the town and then proceed up to the Chalet and the lake. We had heard of horror stories about the crowds and parking, but it was not too bad at all for us. Being a little cold and threatening rain may have helped. We parked and walked to the lake. The lake is beautiful and lives up to its reputation. We went into the Chalet to look around and found a nice coffee shop with reasonable prices. We share a pastry and each had a cup of coffee. It was very nice. We then went to the lake and began taking as we hiked along the trail on the north side of the lake. It was fantastic. The water was wonderful shades of blue and it was calm. The mountains rose majestically on all sides to extreme heights and were covered with snow. There was some ice on the lake near the Chalet, so there was only one small canoe on the lake. We decided the we would skip the idea of kayaking on this lake. Logistically, too hard to park and launch the kayaks. We hiked all the trail until we hit snow and could go no farther. Also, the day began to improve and before too long we had patches of blue sky. Lake Louise lived up to its reputation as a magnificent beauty. It is definitely worth the stop, although in the summer months, the crowds will degrade the experience. Be sure to see the photo gallery and the videos that we made of our hike along the lake.
After Lake Louise, we decided to drive up to Moraine Lake. It is about 14 kilometers from Lake Louise. We were very lucky again, because the park officials limit the number of people who can drive to the lake because of the parking lot size; only about 150 vehicles. Again, there were several openings when we go there. The lake is small and mostly covered in ice. The lake level varies with the season and was pretty low right now so we could actually walk out to the middle of the lake on the rocky bottom. The mountains around the lake are beyond spectacular. It is called the Valley of the Ten Peaks. Their are ten jagged peaks around the end of the lake that climb to heights of several thousand feet over the lake height of 6,181 feet. It is one of the most photographed lakes in the world. Again, breath-taking. Even though it was drizzling when we arrived, the skies began to clear and the Sun came out to shine on the Ten Peaks. What a great photo opportunity. Again, this was a lake that we had planned to kayak, but it was out of the question for the time that we were to be in the area. One picture is worth a thousand words, so be sure to check out the photo/video gallery for visuals of the lake
It was nearing 3:30 in the afternoon, and we were getting hungry, so Lisa went online and found us a little restaurant in the town of Lake Louise to try. It is called the Bill Peyto Cafe'. It is named after a famous explorer and guide in the area. There is a Peyto Mountain and a Peyto Lake and more in the area; apparently, we was quite the personality. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was cool too.
We then decided to go check out our next camping spot at Kicking Horse Campground west of Lake Louise on Highway 1. By now, it was a sunny day and the exposed mountains all around us were fantastic. On the way to the campground, we pulled off the road at a viewing sight where to can observe trains making the climb over Kicking Horse Pass. The route was very steep, so the trains need four or more engines and the went very slowly up the hill. On the other hand, coming down was very dangerous trying the keep the trains from derailing or flying down the hill. What they did is an engineering marvel. The adopted a Swiss concept and built two circular tunnels where the trains would be climbing while in the tunnel and they actually spiraled back over themselves in a very unusual way. There were two of these spiral tunnels and what they did was make the gradient much more gentle for the trains. They could now make the run with only two engines, carry more weight on the train, and climb the pass five times faster than before. It is in 1906 or 1907 that the tunnels were made and they are still in use today. There were not trains on the pass at the time so we decided to continue on down to the Kicking Horse Campground, but as we were leaving the campground, we noticed a train beginning the climb up the pass. We then scurried up to the viewing point and waited for the train. It was a super-long train, so it entered the tunnel and exited right in front of us and passed right over itself and then passed right in front of us. There three separate places where it could be seen. It is pretty amazing and well worth the time to wait for a train to transit the area.
When we stopped at the Kicking Horse Campground, we found a wonderful and easy place to park our rig since it is basically and open field. It is dry-camping, but that is not a problem for us; especially for just a couple of day. The view is beyond belief. We are right in a valley between high peak that never seem to stop climbing into the sky. We now had a sunny day and the peaks were majestic. We are anxious to get to this site for a couple of days. As were were driving around the campground, we stopped to say "Hi" to a couple sitting under their awning at their camper. They were Randall and Linda. They are on their way to Alaska too, so we got out of our truck to exchange plans and ideas. They are super nice people. As we were talking, a large female elk came running through the meadow right past us at a pretty good trot. Amazing to watch one run with their extremely long legs. I made the off-hand comment, "I wonder what is chasing it?" We went back to conversing and after a couple of minutes a large grizzly bear wandered into the camping area. It completely ignored all of us campers who were taking photos. It was eating dandelion flowers and just kept meandering around like it owned the place; which it did. It then came past where we were and Randall and Linda hopped into their camper and Lisa was already in the truck, so I joined her. The bear walked right in front of our truck about two feet away from the radiator as I was videoing the entire activity. Wow! That was quite an experience. One thing that was interesting is that this bear was white. On the drive back to Banff, we went online to see if white grizzlies are common and we found that they are not. This bear was identified online to us. It is not an albino. It has a DNA variation that makes its hair turn white. It is extremely unique and rarely seen. It had been seen in the Banff area about two months prior, but it was not in the Kicking Horse area which is about 60 miles farther north. Needless to say, it was an experience for us and all the other campers in this particular campground. The moral of the story is to always have bear spray with you where ever you hike in these mountains. By the way, the bears name is "Nakoda" which means "friend" or "ally" in the language of the three aboriginal tribes in the region. Sometimes you just get lucky when your travel. Be sure to see the videos of this beautiful animal.
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 - Today, after breakfast, we decided to drive into Banff and then continue up to the Banff Gondola for a trip up to the top of Sulphur Mountain. This climb of well over 2000 feet affords one some excellent views of Banff, Bow Valley, and Spray Valley, not to mention the magnificent snow-covered peaks in the local area. The gondola can handle 650 people per hour and climbs the distance in about 10-15 minutes; pretty fast and stable. Lisa, who does not like heights, handled it with ease. There is also a walking trail up the mountain, but you have to be pretty active to make the two-hour trip. It would save you the $70 per person (Canadian) fee though. At the top of the lift you will find a state-of-the-art five story visitor center with information areas, restaurant (buffet for $38 each), gift shop, and all sorts of observation levels. The winds were also light and variable to non-existent making if enjoyable in the 45 degree temperatures. The highest point on Sulphur Mountain is an old, antiquated observation rock building that is about a quarter of a mile away from the visitor center. To get to this tower, the parks service has installed a huge metal and wooden walkway with numerous observation stations all the way to the building. It is extremely easy to navigate although it does force you to climb to the upper building. It is a construction marvel by itself. We took a ton of photos and videos at the visitor center and then began the walk to the old, antique observation building. We stopped numerous times to take photos and videos. The scenery cannot be adequately explained in words or captured in a photo. It was beautiful in all directions, and I took numerous photos in all directions. The city of Banff was right below us as was Tunnel Mountain and Lake Minnewanka. The Bow River Valley and Spray Valley were in full display. The weather was nice with the cloud level above the mountains and patches of sunshine dancing through the clouds. Be sure to check out the photo gallery and video of this excursion once I get it done (very limited WiFi here; even at Starbucks and Evelyn’s Coffee Shop). Our hotspots don’t work at all and the MiFI is on “Roaming” which can get expensive fast. Anyways, we returned to the visitor center and then enjoyed the ride back down the mountain. They actually schedule you a time to come down the mountain. Overall, this was well worth the money and a treasure-trove of excellent photos and videos.
After we left the Banff Gondola, we traveled to Banff to go to Starbucks to upload photos with their Wii. This Starbucks had very few tables and many of them were taken up by single users on their phones. Can you imagine? I ended having to wait for about 45 minutes to get a table for the computer. I got settled in with my coffee and began to upload. The Wifi was very slow. After uploading about ten photos, the barista came over to all the patrons and stated that the shop was closing at 3:00 pm; which was right now. That went over like a lead balloon. I uploaded my last two photos and then packed up to leave. The barista said that Evelyn’s just down the street (another coffee shop) stayed open until 8:00 pm and that they had WiFi too. We headed to Evelyn’s after moving our truck out of a restricted parking zone. Evelyn’s does have WiFi, if you want to check your mail. For photos, it would not work; only five megabytes per second download and two megabytes per second upload. This is not enough to load photos so we left to take a drive to Lake Minnewanka.
Lake Minniwanka is the largest man-made reservoir in the Province of Alberta. To us, it was not a very pretty lake with steep, rocky shorelines. We did take some photos and walked around some, but decided that our best option was to get some ice cream at the small snack bar located there. It was good and it was fun to sit there enjoying the ice cream and looking at the lake. We then drove to what is called Two Jacks Lake that is a short distance away. It is a prettier lake and we sat there in some chairs provided by the parks service to enjoy the views. After that, it was back to the RV to relax and make our plans for tomorrow when we leave Banff for Kicking Horse Campground near Golden in British Columbia.
Thursday, June 9, 2022 – We depart for Kicking Horse Campground.