To Banff and back again…

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

My favorite road trip of all time was back in the summer of 2016 when I decided to take my two teenagers on a significant adventure. During the spring, we reviewed lots of options. We came up with Banff National Park in Canada as our midpoint destination. We would travel through British Columbia and then back through Montana and Idaho. We were deep into the national park rhythm and for the previous few years had been planning our vacations around the best sites in the country. Now, the kids were old enough and ready for serious hiking, camping, and seeing some new country. So I made reservations, and planned an epic trip.

We started from our home, west of Seattle, and traveled north on the I-5 entering Canada near Vancouver. Then we headed northeast on Highway One. This part of the trip was an all day drive but our anticipation was high and we were excited. First on our list of national parks was Glacier National Park, Canada.

Glacier National Park, British Columbia

We pulled into our campsite just off the highway, and set up our tent in the dark with flashlights. We studied our maps and picked a long day hike called Glacier Crest trail. This was the best choice for a hike I’ve ever made… literally in the dark.

The hike trecks up some steep swithbacks as you climb. Water flows down stream fast and is beautiful as it moves over the carved rock. The evergreens are thin and tall at the lower elevation and create a green back drop to everything you see.

This hike has significant elevation gain, and you climb up on a giant glacier carved rock in between two valleys with mountains rising literally all around you. The two valleys are carved significantly. The eastern valley is full of amazing glacial ice which you can view once you get high up in elevation on the ridge and put some serious distance behind you. The western valley is teeming with waterfalls and is immense.

The sheer size of the place just blows your mind, and the beauty is unmatched.

It’s exhilarating to reach the top of the ridge! The glacier and the blue ice are just below…

At this point, we had lunch and took in the panoramic views, mountains and glaciers all around. I think only a few places I’ve ever been have given me the sense of awe that I had on this hike.

Going down for me was much harder then going up, due to the strain it causes on the knees. By the time we made it back after 14–15 km, we were ready for some serious dinner. We talked for hours about our hike, it’s beauty, and the wondrous day we had.

A view as the sun traveled into the west from near our campsite.

And this was just the beginning of our trip! We enjoyed our evening and slept well. The next day we headed out on the same hiway heading east.

Banff National Park, Canada

We drove through the morning, passed some lovely valleys, and then enterred Coho National Park. We didn’t have time to check this out, so on to Banff we went. You really can’t visit Banff without dealing with Lake Louise. This is the most popular destination in the park, and the crowds are a testament to this fact. This is an old park and decades ago, a huge hotel was built right on the shores of the lake. But with some planning, you can quickly leave populated areas as you hike, farther and farther away. I’m not sure if my statistics are right, but I think you’ll lose 80% of the crowds at about 2 miles and maybe 90% at 4–5. We decided on the Plain of Six Glaciers trail and included the cool tea house in the mix. Yes, it’s true! There is a little hike-in-only tea house on the trail. It was a unique experience that made the hike truly a once in a lifetime experience. The first part of the trail travels along the north shore of the lake and with each mile, the crowds diminish.

Just after our lunch at the Tea House… notice there is literally no one out there.

It’s hard to capture the grander of these cliff faces, waterfalls, and snowbanks that hang far above the trail. Hopefully these pictures give you a little hint of what you can see in person.

Near the end of the trail and the turn around point, you can look all the way back at the hotel far in the distance, and relish some moments in complete silence with only the sounds of nature breaking in.

At the turnaround point, the views of the glaciated mountains are spectacular.

Then the afternoon was dragging on so we returned back the way we came. Back to camp and then on to the next leg of the adventure. We drove east and then south, crossing the border back into the United States just inside Waterton Lakes National Park. We spent a day driving and taking frequent stops to check out wild life. In this park we had quite the experience. We drove by a giant grizzly bear just hanging out on the side of the road. I drove a bit further up and passed a lone woman walking inadvertently down towards the bear, but she could not see it because of the curvy road. I turned around, insisted that she get in the vehicle with us, and I drove her down the hill, hopefully avoiding her possible demise. I figure that was my one good deed of that day. She was thankful and my kids made it easy for her to join us with their welcoming smiles, and descriptions of the huge bear!

Glacier National Park, USA

Back in the USA, we headed south along the eastern side of Glacier National park, and then did a day hike near the Many Glacier Campground past two lakes.

It was in the late afternoon and we were running out of light, so cut things short. It was worth it to get some walking in after a long day of being in the car.

The camped right in the national park boundary, and then headed out early for a drive across the Going-to-the-sun Road. We started really early, just as the sun was rising. There wasn’t much traffic and we made it up to Logan Pass just as the sun was hitting the peaks. We hiked along the Highline trail with an exertion to the side up the Garden Wall trail. It was absolutely amazing and we were lucky to have perfect weather.

The sun is so intense as it rises on the peaks to your left (south) as you hike west. We passed a mountain goat which did not even look up at us as it sauntered right on by.

We saw this grizzly mom with cub who is hidden in this picture down in the valley below us. We were just far enough away, but the experience still sent shivers up my spine. A crowd of folks formed on the other side of the valley from us and they were definitely a bit nervous, banging on their bear noise makers.

Lot’s of wild flowers cover the tree less landscape at this elevation. We wore layers, as they morning started off chilly in the 40’s and then warmed up significantly to the upper 70’s later in the afternoon. We brought lots of water!

The highlight of the hike was an excursion up to the continental divide, overlooking some remaining glaciers at the top of the Rockies.

Down we traveled all the way back to the main road, where a tram picked us up and brought us back to the top of Logan Pass. We filled up on more water and drank deeply, and checked out the visitor center. The last part of the hike was long and brutal, travelling through some burned out forest, which was just hot and dry. I would recommend at least two quarts of water per person, as well as sun screen. The hike, as we did it, was over 13 miles and took us over 6 hours with stops and picture taking. Leave some time for bears, mountain goats: if they make their way near you, then obviously you need to wait for them or risk your well being.

We finished up our road trip working our way down to I-90 and camping on a lake along the way, then driving all the way back home west. Massive memories and good times were had by all.

So, this was quite a vacation, with tons of hikes and camping, along with some significant driving time. We broke it up with stops and took our time. We plotted an entire week for this trip plus the weekends, and loved the amazing national park campgrounds in Canada. I do believe national parks are the best idea we ever had!