Exploring the Rockies
By Jaimy de Vries
The Canadian Rockies, a place to wander… and (on my opinion) one of the most beautiful views in the world! After seeing a lot already, like Antarctica & Patagonia, it was still breathtaking for me! And I couldn’t get enough of it. First I took a road trip from Banff to Jasper, then three weekends to Kananaskis and after that another stay in waterton. I even visited the Rockies in Montana (U.S.). Underneath my “Rocky stories”. Sorry It’s a long article, but just like the long stretch of the Rockies.
Transportation
Renting a car in Canada is really expensive and let alone hard to get. You need to book it way in advance (at least more than 3 months) and still it costs around 250-350 CAD per day to rent a simple car. I was so lucky and blessed that I could borrow a car from one of the family members of my au pair family. I borrowed the Lila spark from grandpa & grandma. Thank you so much! This saved me so much money and it gave me a lot of freedom.
It’s almost a must to have a car in Canada. You can take public transportation, but then you’re restricted to the places where the transportation stops. Now I could go where ever I want, stop wherever I want and did some less popular (and not so touristy) hikes.
On my trip to Kananaskis & Waterton I drove together with aunt Tirzah in her car. Again very lucky to had these options.
Canmore & Banff
Beginning of July I met up with Justine who I met before in Peru. In “our” purple car we head out to our first destination: Canmore & Banff. Calgary is at a quite flat area with hills, but soon after a half hour drive we saw the beautiful mountain range of the Rockies. When we drove through the rocky mountains we said to each other: “This is Canada, this is what we always imagined it to be!”. We were stunned by the view.
First we went to Moraine lake. We heard lots of people talking fondly about this lake, because it’s maybe even more beautiful than the popular Lake Louise and less touristy. The lake has beautiful emerald colors…but when we arrived beginning of June it was all covered in ice and snow. Also a fun experience…. it was quite a culture shock for us. We just arrived from South-America where it’s warm, and the idea of being summer here in Canada and walking in such an amount of snow, is strange. As kids we were so happy walking through the snow.
After a fun small hike we went back and drove to our next hike: Moose Meadows trail. It was a lovely hike in the woods and nice & quiet!! After 1 hour we reached a 3-way trail crossing…we went towards Johnston Canyon with the Upper and Down waterfall. It was lovely!! After that we took another connecting trail to the Inkpots. We had no idea what this was, so a little adventure. When we arrived, we saw beautiful
little emerald ponds with clear blue water. The inkpots turned out to be mineral pools. It looked so pretty! It was worth the 4,5 hour hike. Lots of climbing though, but good for our butts and we got to see amazing sceneries.
Time flew by the first day! We had dinner in the cute town of Banff with lots of nice restaurants & cafe’s. We arrived late at the hostel and went straight to bed. We were so tired.
The next day we grabbed breakfast and lunch at the JK bakery. They are known for having the best sandwiches in this region. We left early because we wanted to visit the most popular place of the Rockies: Lake Louise. The parking lot can be closed quite early because all the parking spots are taken. We were lucky, still lots of parking spots available at 10 in the morning. The lake was beautiful, you can understand why this place is so popular. The lake was still a bit frozen, but you could see the emerald colors. We had a sunny day, a good day to walk to the tea house at lake Agnes. It was a great hike, with quite an elevation and still lots of snow. It was quite slippery at the beginning and later we were walking in snow of 30 cm deep. We saw another lake (mirror lake) along the way. At the tea house we drank a nice warm cup of hot choco. It started to rain when we were on the top and then it gets cold fast. We wanted to hike even further to the six glacier trail. Because of the snow you couldn’t see the trail and there was a danger of avalanches. We didn’t want to take that risk and later it turned out the trail was closed. So we walked back down. Actually we ran down, because for some reason the chance of slipping or falling is less when your run. And it is just so much fun!! We looked a little bit stupid, like two penguins running down. “But hey! We didn’t fall ones, and we saw people waking falling down“. After an hour running down we arrived back at Lake Louise. We tried to grab a coffee at the hotel, but it was so big we got lost. We asked 3 staff people to help us, eventually we found it.
Later that day we took a hike at Minnewanka lake and the tunnel mountain. It was sunny during that time, we weren’t in a rush and just enjoyed the views and smell of the fresh woods. After hiking we went to Banff downtown and visited some shops. I bought a nice fluffy vest and souvenir pins. We weren’t really hungry and everything is so expensive in Banff….so we went to the Mac Donalds for dinner. A culinair disaster, I know!
Icefield parkway road
On our third day we drove from Canmore to Jasper and took the Icefield parkway road. This is definitely a must when you visit the Rockies. It’s one of the most beautiful drives in the world, so why skip it? The Icefield Parkway is a 232 km (144 miles) stretch of double-lane highway through soaring rocky mountain peaks, icefields and vast sweeping valleys. It’s dotted with more than 100 ancient glaciers, cascading waterfalls, dramatic rock spires, and emerald lakes set in sweeping valleys of thick pine and larch forests. The abundance of wildlife in Jasper and Banff National Park will have you peering around every turn. So take your time, stop for a hike to a breath-taking view point, capture that stunning photo and enjoy a roadside picnic amidst the amazing Canadian Rockies.
We drove twice on the Icefield Parkway, on our way to and from Jasper. On the way to Jasper we were driving later in the afternoon and haven’t seen many wildlife except some moose. Most of the wildlife are seen by dawn and dusk, so leaving early in the morning and you’ll have a bigger chance of spotting some wildlife. But it’s not necessary….on our way back around 12 pm we saw many moose, a black bear, deer’s and a big horn sheep. So you just need to have some luck on your side.
The best places of interest along the Icefields parkway are Peyto lake with a stunning view over a glacier emerald lake in a valley, bow lake and of course the Colombian Icefield. We also made an interesting stop at Saskatchewan river crossing where you have some restaurants and motels. We stopped at the restaurant and shop called the crossing. We had fun conversations with a sales clerk. We could even hold and make some pictures with guns & rifles. And he gave us lots of information and tips about the environment.
Jasper
We arrived around dinner time in Jasper. We took a little stroll downtown and had dinner. We asked the lady from our hotel in Jasper about the best hikes around this area. She told us there is a big chance of seeing a bear. This is because they had a harsh winter and it’s still cold in the mountains, in the city in the valley it’s warmer what attracts the bears who are looking for food. At her recommendation we went to Pyramid lake, this is an easy hike from the city (6 km). Wee had a car and wanted to do more hikes that day…so we took the car. Just after a 5 minute drive we saw our first bear!! A grizzly! So the lady from the hostel was right! He was just next to the road walking into the forest. Justine went out of the car to get a closer look. We left the door open just in case the bear would want to attack. She talked to him and called him but he just ignored us. “Maybe bears are not that scary after all? They’re just ignorant of our presence….”
We parked our car and wanted to walk to a smaller lake in the woods. We were a bit scared because we just saw a bear in this area. We talked loud and enjoyed the walk. But we stayed really focused on our surroundings, so focused we were walking the wrong way, so we walked back…when suddenly Justine stopped in front of me. “Bear bear! Grab your bear spray!” and she jumped back. The bear, that was just 2 meters away from us, got shocked by the sudden movement and started to charter us. Now he was very close, just 1 or 1,5 meter away!! I grabbed my bear spray and started talking “Hi bear, how are you?“. Then he just turend around and continued walking the other way like there was nothing going on. I grabbed my go pro and phone and filmed him walking away. We waited a bit…full of adrenaline. “Oh my gosh! We wanted to see a bear…well this is enough haha”.
I felt more secure after our bear encounter…a bear won’t attack you just by walking by. And we acted calm and effective. Full of adrenaline we walked back to the lake where we parked our car. After calming down we headed out to the trail of the five lakes. It was a busy place…it didn’t look like we could see a bear here. We were calm. Before we arrived at one of the lakes a group came to us and said “There is a mother bear with two cubs at lake number five that’s charting to people. Don’t go there, but you can safely start at lake one!” “Oh my!! A mother with cubs, that’s dangerous!!” I thought. We followed their advice and asked people along the way if they have seen them. Some did…and they moved to four. We were walking to lake one…but these lakes are all connected to one trail. We were almost at lake one, when we heard the grizzlies were walking on the trail and headed out to number three. “Oh my!! And the grizzly mum was charting to people and she is huge (a guy showed us a picture)!” We decided to walk to lake one and two and head back as soon as possible. There were so many people taking the trail from one to five…and they weren’t carrying bear spray! We warned them, but still they were ignorant and headed forward to the other lakes…not so responsible. After we walked back we asked people who were coming from lake five if they’ve seen the grizzlies. Some did…but it’s not at lake 4 or five anymore and it turned out they walked away from the lakes. So we carefully walked to four & five. We were safe and saw no grizzlies. One encounter is enough for a day!
We took a drive to lake Annette & Beavort. We stopped at lake Annette and just sat down for a bit to relax. Afterwards we drove back, had an early dinner at jasper downtown, took a shower and packed all our stuff because we are going to see the sunrise the next morning. Besides that we were exhausted!
So we woke up very early (4 a.m) because we wanted to see the sunrise, what should be around 5:30. We were surprised when walking outside it was not dark anymore…there was some light coming through the clouds. We drove for an hour to reach Maligne lake. We had breakfast there and waited for the sunrise. But there was no sunrise, maybe it’s because we are in the mountains. You don’t really have sunrises up here. But it did got a bit lighter and after an hour the clouds were disappearing and then we saw the pink clouds we were expecting with sunrise.
We slowly drove back to Maligne Canyon for a morning hike, while slowly driving we were searching for wildlife. It felt like we were on a safari. We saw many deer: mule and white-tailed deer and some moose. It was suprisinly very quiet at Maligne Canyon (a very popular place). That’s the benefit of waking up so early. It was a beautiful hike across a large canyon. You can make the hike as long as you want from twenty minutes up to three hours, depending on how many bridges you want to see (there are seven). We took the longest hike and saw all seven bridges. After a coffee at the restaurant we headed back home, a drive of 6 hours. We saw again many wildlife along the way: a moose, black bear and a big-horn-sheep.
Kananaskis
On a separate trip I went with Tirzah (Sister of Lara) to Kananaskis. It’s located in the Rockies. Most of the locals prefer going up here, it’s more quiet and just as beautiful (maybe even more) as the popular Banff. We weren’t able to go on a backcountry trip, so we booked a stay in a wilderness hostel in Kananaskis village. We choose four of the best hikes in this area.
We started our trip on a hike to the Canyon Creek Ice Cave. After a 1,5 hour hike on a boring flat path we walked up the mountain and then we saw the cave, a big cave…and we where there alone!! Yes!!! We explored the cave and walked into as far as we could. It’s called the Ice cave, but it was not very icy…We did not see any ice. But when we walked farther into the cave we did saw a beautiful shivering coming from the walls, shinning like diamonds. It turned out there was a layer of ice on the wall. So even in the summer it still honors its name (the Ice Cave). There was a small narrow place in the cave where we could climb up to the top. We did that and it was so much fun!! We got quite dirty though…there were lots of chipmunk poopies. The hike was 14 km and took us 5 hours (because we stayed long at the cave). During the hike we saw a new animal, we’ve never seen before, a hoary marmot.
After the hike we went to Kananaskis falls, we knew the trail would be unmaintained and not well marked, but still we missed the turn to the waterfall and made a steep ascent. But we weren’t frustrated, it turned out to be a lovely hike. We walked down and ended our day with a nice dinner in Kananaskis hotel. I liked how many different people were eating there: Fancy rich people, a bachelorette party, families and hikers. After dinner and some people watching…we drove to the hostel and had a campfire outside, we talked to the other guests while having my first marshmallow campfire experience. My first one was actually quite good, but the second fell in the fire and the other one caught fire. Oeps! And my experience got even better, I had my first S’more! And it was actually really nice. A S’more is a marshmallow between two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate inside (best if it melts from the hot marshmallow).
The next day we left early because in the afternoon there was a bad weather forecast with thunder. But as always (something I’m lucky with in life), I always bring good weather with me. And even more luck: we saw a moose along the wat at some wetland with mountains on the background. A perfect shot for a picture!
We started our first hike early at 9 am. We hiked up with an elevation of 630 m from Kananaskis Upper Lake to Rawson lake. Half of the trek we walked in snow up to our knees. When we almost arrived at the lake we heard avalanches. Quite cool (if you stay out of it)! When we arrived at the lake it was still frozen. Still it feels so strange you’re in the summer and you can walk up in the snow and see frozen lakes. There was a curious bird that came very close, a Steller’s Jay. He was so jealous at us eating a granola bar. We gave him a little bite and he ate from our hand. Not a shy fellow.
After our hike we went to the black suspension bridge, an easy hike of just half an hour. Then we drove to Chester lake trail, but turned out te be closed. Well, we decided it was time for some coffee and just took a scenic drive and visited some lakes along the way. Later the afternoon it got a bit cloudy. We wanted to take a swim in one of the (cold) lakes. When the sun got through, we quickly ran to the lake for a plunge…and actually it was not that cold. Looking back at our day it had a funny contrast: walking in the snow in the morning and in the afternoon taking a plunge in a lake.
Waterton
Seeing the Northern-Rockies wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to see more! So we headed out to the Southern part of the Rockies of Canada in Waterton. Our first day was only half a day, and we needed to go on a three-hour drive too. So not much time left. While driving I was so happy! I saw my first skunk! And yes it was still alive and no I did not drove him over. He was walking beside the highway.
We arrived in Waterton at 4 pm and got welcomed by some big horn sheep in front of our door. So funny, our Rockies pets! It’s actually quite common that these sheep and deer take a visit in this town. You can spot them everywhere! We even saw a deer crossing the street on a pedestrian crossing.
That afternoon we wanted to do a point-to-point hike of seven hours: The Carthrew Alderson trail. But unfortunately the shuttle only departs in the morning and the trail is very difficult to access because of lots of snow. Quite sad, but we needed to go on another hike – luckily it was a very good one! A beautiful 4 hour hike up to the Bertha falls and Bertha lake. It was stunning! And everything was just so green and colorful. There were so many wildflowers! One looked really funny, like it has nipples’, and it’s called bearpaws. But we also saw many dead trees. There was a big forest fire in 2017, it takes a long time to recover. But there are lots of bushes crowing that makes it so green.
It was quite a climb and it turned colder (there was still snow!) the moment we went higher. Strangely we got attacked by lots and lots of mosquitos at the top where it’s cold… very weird. After walking down and 20 mosquito bites richer we decided to take a small stroll downtown, checking houses. It turns out to be a very touristy place, with lots of hotels, motels, cabins. There are actually just 20 main residents living here we heard from a local. All other houses are just recreational. We ended our day with a visit to a fancy Hotel at the top of a hill: The Prince of Wales Hotel, from where we enjoyed a glass of wine with a beautiful view over the Waterton lake at sunset.
The next morning we started with a horseback riding trip. A year ago I never drove a horse before..and now I did in almost every country I visited so far. Iceland, Peru, Canada. This time we went on a two hour ride through the Rockies & prairie. I got the horse that I liked the most out of the herd. Must be faith! His name was hairy because he has lots of hair, very creative name-giving. I did horseback riding like a real prairie cowgirl: with one hand! It’s way more relaxing like that. It was a fun trip. Our guide told us more about the environment, the big fire in 2017 and bears in this area. . When I stepped off I had so much muscle pain, worst I’d ever had…but it recovered quickly after some walking.
Montana (U.S.)
After our horseback trip and reloading with some coffee from downtown, we drove to Carway to cross the border into the U.S. to explore the Glacier National park of Montana. It was a spontaneous idea of us, that we thought of a day before. We both had our visa for the U.S, so why not go? When we just crossed the Canadian border I thought about how stupid it was…it was so difficult entering Canada.. and now again I’m leaving Canada what means that I need to re-enter again!. While I thought of that I was already in the queue at the US immigration and just drove past the Canadian border…no turning back now. Fingers crossed!
In Montana we drove to the road-to-the-sun. One of the most scenic drives in the U.S. A must to do in Montana and why not if you’re in Waterton…so close at the border? When we entered the National park, and paid $ 30, we heard that the road is only half-open due to snow on the road by Avalanches. “This is North-America! I learned by now, even in summer lots of parks are closed because of bad road conditions and weather in the mountains…even though it’s more than 20 degrees down the mountains. But hey! We drove all the way into Montana and crossed the border, we can’t turn back now. Then it’s just half the road. It was still incredible”. It is what they say, an amazing drive on the road-to-the-sun. While driving we saw a black bear (actually brown) just casually walking on the road one meter next to our car. After driving all the way to the end (in our case that was Jackson Glacier overlook) we turned back and went on the three-waterfall-trail up to Baring falls, St. Mary falls and Virginia falls. Again a beautiful hike. It was really warm that day, so arriving at a refreshing waterfall was a treat!
It was evening very soon, so at 6:30 pm we decided to head back home. We had a long drive ahead…because we needed to go to another border crossing (the one close-bye closes at 6 pm). It was an additional 2 hour drive in Montana plus a three hour drive from the South Alberta border to Calgary. But that was not the hardest part for me, I was quite stressed about the border crossing. I made up different scenarios in my head… what if they ask this…or this. It was good that I did, because they asked me to come inside their office because I haven’t filled out the AriveCan (for COVID-19). Stupid! While I was inside they asked me some additional questions about my stay and they did read my file about my enter-refusal in Toronto. He didn’t make a fuss about it and let me in. “Phiew!!”. There was an exciting drive a head: lots of thunder, rainstorm and bad sight because of our dirty car window with dead mosquitos and people using there big lights. Thankfully we arrived back home safely.
My guide for your Rockies trip
To make your Rockies trip one of the best, here are my tips for an awesome adventurous experience.
- Clothing: we experienced different seasons in just one day! Winter (snow), rain (fall) and sun (spring/summer). We wore lots of layers at the beginning and we were walking in a t shirt the end of the day. So bring lots of layers with you when you go the Rockies.
- Book hostels: because accommodation is expensive in Canada, and even more in the Rockies, I stayed at hostels. The hostels were great! Clean, good service and privacy (curtains in dorms). I stayed at the Canmore downtown hostel (50 CAD per night) close to Banff, Jasper downtown hostel (60 CAD per night) and wildlife hostel in Kananaskis village (36 CAD per night).
- Icefield parkway: one of the best things to do is take a road trip on the Icefield road from Banff to Jasper. Make sure to take enough time to make stops along the way. There are many people stopping along side the road if they see wildlife.
- My favorite hikes (from small to longer hikes):
- Banff: 1. Tunnel mountain. 2. Moraine lake loop. 3. Minnewonka lakeside trail. 3. Lake Louise up to Lake Agnes. 3. Moose meadows - Johnston canyon - Inkpots.
- Jasper: 1. Lake Annette loop. 2. Maligne Canyon. 3. Pyramid lake from Jasper Downtown. 4. Valley of the five lakes. 5. Edith Cavell Meadows trail.
- Kananaskis: 1. Blackshale Suspension bridge. 2. Troll falls. 3. Ribbon creek. 4. Rawson lake trail. 5. Chester lake trail. 6. Canyon Creek Ice Cave.
- Waterton: 1. Bears hump. 2. Bertha falls & lake. 3. Crypt lake. 4. Carthew Alderson trail
- Nordic Spa: There are not many Spa's in Alberta, that makes that this spa is quite expensive (more than 100 dollar). But it's a nice spa in a valley surrounded by mountains.
- Road-to-the-sun: one of the most scenic drives in the U.S. and an easy day trip from Waterton. Make sure you're well prepared and leave early!