Banff National Park - Part I

After almost two years, Alex and I recently returned from our first international trip since the global pandemic began! We traveled to Canada where we explored and hiked Banff National Park. This was especially exciting as we were supposed to go in 2020, but it got postponed due to travel restrictions. Getting to Canada was a bit more time-consuming this time around as we did have to submit a negative Covid-19 test (nasal swabs are not my favorite thing!), provide proof of vaccination, and complete additional paperwork through ArriveCAN. Thankfully, we did not have too many issues with the requirements (although, there was a bit of a scare when we did not think my Covid-19 test was going to be processed in time and I was freaking out I’d have to do two nasal swabs in 24-hours!!). Luckily all worked out well and we flew to Calgary on a Saturday where we picked up our rental car and drove the hour and a half to Banff.

Our first impression was this area is BEAUTIFUL! As you drive into the park, the Canadian Rockies straddle both sides of the road and it is such a spectacular sight. We didn’t get a chance to explore too much the first day as we arrived later in the evening, so after checking into our hotel, we grabbed a late dinner and went to bed.

The time difference really worked in our favor as we were two hours behind New York, which allowed us to wake early without being tired. The following morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast and then set out on our first hike: Healy Pass. This 11-mile hike had a little bit of everything including: forests, alpine fields, and amazing views of the mountains surrounding the area.

Once we summited to the top of Healy Pass, we were feeling good and decided to continue on to Egypt Lake which added an additional 4-miles round trip. In hindsight, this was definitely not the best idea to do such a lengthy hike on the first day, but excitement and the fact there were so few people on the trail, had us moving forward! It was a bit more of a downward incline to get to the lake than the rest of the hiking trail at this point, but we had committed and were going to go! The lake itself was beautiful and we lucked out with a little bit of sunshine which really made the glacier water sparkle blue.

For our second day in Banff, we drove to Kananaskis Country which is not far from Banff. You do need a separate park pass for this area which Alex was able to purchase online. Per the recommendation of two people at our hotel, we hiked Ha Ling Peak. Although this trail is only 4.5-miles, it is very steep and takes a lot of stamina to reach the top! According to blogs and articles we read, they recently added stairs to the trail whereas before you had to scramble the last bit to the top!

Nearby is Grassi Lakes. There are two routes to take, the easier one follows an old road (better for families and young children) and the more difficult one climbs through the forest where you get views of the nearby town, Canmore, and a waterfall. We opted to do the more difficult route up and the easier one back to the carpark. Both trails lead to the shallow, blue-green Grassi Lakes. Although the views were pretty, I would not recommend this hike as it was EXTREMELY busy with lots of people everywhere.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon in Canmore, a cute alpine town about 25-minutes from Banff National Park. Just outside the town is a viewpoint of the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters are three peaks in the Canadian Rockies and are named Faith (big sister), Charity (middle sister), and Hope (little sister). The viewpoint is a bit obscure and there were only a couple other people enjoying the lookout.

Unfortunately, we were too ambitious the first two days and ended up hiking/walking 27-miles total which led me to overextending my right knee. This resulted in quite a bit of pain each time I took a step. When I mentioned this to my mother and stated, “I don’t feel like I’m old enough to feel this way”, her response was “Wellll…..”. Ooooff, the truth hurts! 😐It certainly was a hard lesson learned I need to ease into longer/more difficult hikes moving forward.

We originally had planned for a 12-mile hike on our third day, but I knew my body was not going to make that, so instead we decided to hike the Chephren Lake Trail. This is a 5-mile, relatively flat trail which ends at the beautiful Chephren Lake. Despite having to pivot from our original plans, this turned out to be one of Alex and my favorite hikes as we had the entire trail and lake to ourselves. As we were leaving the lake (where we spent a hour!), a couple was just coming. The turquoise color of the alpine lakes come from rock flour carried into the lakes by melting water from the glaciers above.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring several sights along the Icefields Parkway. The Icefields Parkway follows along Highway 93 and connects Lake Louise in Banff National Park with Jasper National Park. Once you leave the Lake Louise area, the people and traffic reduce significantly, and it is much quieter. The drive is incredible with huge mountains on either side of the road and pretty alpine lakes in the distance. We both commented we’d really love to explore this region more on another trip.

I should also mention we REALLY lucked out with good weather. I spoke to a woman who has lived in Banff for many years and she mentioned the week after Labor Day is usually a “transitional period” and the area typically sees colder temps, rain, and even snow!! We had mild temps and mostly sunny weather every day. As there are very few things in a global pandemic which are positive, we looked at this as a sign we were meant to come a year later!

Yes, that is a crazy person getting into the glacier lake! Brrr!!

Accommodations: Fairmont Banff Springs

Restaurants: Three Bears Brewery, Rocket Pie Pizza, Grizzly Paw Brewery, and Farm & Fire

Bear Spray Rental (a must for hiking!): Snowtips-Bactrax