Columbia Ice Fields and Banff
Leaving Jasper, we headed straight to the Columbia Ice Field, (which is the largest ice field in the rockies) because we had morning tickets for their new Ice Field Odyssey. Unlike the Ice Field Adventure where you are on a large bus-type vehicle with forty other people, the Odyssey only accommodates 5 people in this super-cool SHERP vehicle:
It’s a beast of a machine that can climb up a 70 degree incline. There were four of us on the tour and we had a fantastic guide. It was interesting to learn that the ice field shifts about a foot each day because it’s constantly moving. Given what the SHERP can do, our guide didn’t always take the smoothest path in front of him, so this video can give you a sense of what it was like inside the vehicle:
From there, we continued our drive towards Banff. Along the way we saw the LED signs for Lake Louise telling everyone not to take the Lake Louise exits because there was no parking left for visitors. We hadn’t planned on stopping, but that gave us a sense of what it was going to be like in Banff.
We stayed in the Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court, which was about a 35 minute walk (downhill) into Banff. As foreshadowed by the Lake Louise signs, Banff tries to encourage everyone not to drive into downtown Banff. Instead they have created a fantastic transit system that goes to the campgrounds and to the parking lots on the edges of town. The bus was free from Tunnel Mountain into downtown, and was only $2.00 to take it back. Each stop has a QR code that you can scan, that gives you a live visual of where all the buses are.
Sticking with our lack-of-water theme for the trip, Tunnel Mountain Village II (not where we were staying) was without water to the shower building so they could complete “required capital improvements”.
There was a lovely walking trail along the Bow River that you could take starting across the road from the campground and would take you all the way into Banff. One of the days we took it, we were able to see a herd of elk grazing across the river. They are hard to see in the photo, but they are at the base of the tree line.
Adam hiked the trail all the way into Banff and was treated to this view, across the Bow River, of the iconic Banff Springs Hotel.
On one of our walks into Banff we went into the Banff Park Museum National Historic Site.
It’s a beautifully preserved building, with an extensive collection of animals on display, a fraction of the 5000 in their collection. We also went into the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, where I was quite transfixed with this photo that was in the bathroom of all places:
This was one of two photos, and they had this accreditation: “On the way to Lake Mesa, Miss [Mary] Jobe and Mrs. [A.H.] MacCarthy, A.C.C. Camp at Lake O'Hara, August 4, 1909, Frank Freeborn/photographer, Alpine Club of Canada fonds (V14/na66-1929)”. Fascinating.
We also stopped in at the Canada House Gallery, where we were quite taken with the work of both Floyd Elzinga and Peter McFarlane. The next day we walked the Banff “Art in Nature Trail” and saw one of Elzinga’s beautiful pinecone sculptures:
From the sign it appears that a lot of people have decided that it has fallen over, so they try and stand it up. From that trail we crossed the pedestrian bridge over the Bow River and were treated to a brief downpour followed by a double rainbow as we stood on the shore of the river below the Banff Springs Hotel.
Another day we walked to the Cave and Basin National Historical Site. One of the reasons I wanted to go was because I had seen mention of the temporary exhibit they have on First World War Internment. I did not realize that the internees were used as labourers to build our western national parks. Internment camps were opened in Banff, Jasper, Mount Revelstoke and Yoho, and the internees constructed roads and and cleared the land for the parks.
On another day we decided to go and check out the Disc Golf Course at the Canmore Nordic Center Provincial Park. The Nordic Center was originally constructed for the 1988 Winter Olympics.(The cross-country skiing, biathlon and cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined events were held there.) The 18-hole Disc Golf Course was constructed in 1995 and winds its way through the woods, adjacent to asphalt paths used by roller skiers and dirt paths filled with jumps and banked turns for mountain bikers.
But before we played, we first went to talk to someone at the information center and picked ourselves up a new disc golf accessory, Bear Spray.
She explained to us when to use it, why to use it, and how to use it. She also explained that it’s important to call out loudly, now and again, while walking through the woods so the bears can hear you coming, and will generally avoid you. (That’s easy enough for me to do while playing disc golf given the frequency with which I curse loudly.)
As pretty as Banff was, it’s quite packed with a sea of people, all day, every day. So, get to things early, and walk or take the transit to avoid the frustrations of trying to drive through town and finding parking.
On our last day before heading to Fernie, in part based on the advice of our SHERP driving guide, we went to Johnston Canyon. Again, we got there early, as by the time we had finished the lower and upper trails, the parking lots were full as we left. Near the beginning it was pretty packed with people, but it thinned out the further you went into the trail. It was quite beautiful.
Given the sea of humanity in Banff. we didn’t go to a lot of places in town, but we did have a lovely dinner one night at Block Kitchen and Bar, and a lovely breakfast at Sudden Sally, where they have amazing cinnamon buns that come with a dollop of cream cheese icing on top.