1. Don't go in August. (Peak season, read on to see why that was a problem.)
2. Plan ahead (more than 3 months ahead, and earlier is better).
3. Take at least 10 days (or don't try to cover as much ground as we did).
4. Pack lots of layers, including a waterproof layer. We ran into unusually cold and rainy weather.
5. Download the Gypsy guides! They are key.
Okay, now for the details.
We flew into Calgary on a Saturday and stayed there overnight. (We stayed in the Sheraton Cavalier Calgary hotel, which had a fun indoor pool slide--not key details, but things John and I will certainly forget). We left the next morning for Banff--took the scenic route from Calgary and sadly saw no wildlife (sort of the theme of the trip). We stopped at Johnston Canyon for a quick hike to the Lower Falls--the trail was fairly crowded and we actually had to stand in a line (!) for about 10 minutes to take a picture in front of the falls. We then drove further into the park and arrived at Lake Louise around 11:00 am and made our first sad discovery...everyone in the world had decided to visit Lake Louise that day.
Okay, maybe not everyone in the entire world, maybe just North America. It was enough of a crowd that the huge parking lot was closed (full, and they made us turn around at the entrance, so no circling) and there was no shoulder parking within a few miles of the lake. I'd planned an ambitious hike for the kids, so didn't think tacking on 2 miles of roadside walking was a good idea. So we bagged my entire plan for Sunday and decided to jump to Monday's itinerary, which involved driving on to Yoho National Park and visiting Emerald Lake. I'd planned a lakeside lunch at scenic Cilantro's as part of that visit, so we thought we could still make it there for a late lunch. We pulled up around 1:30 pm, circled the parking lot until someone finally left, then headed for the restaurant, only to discover that it was closed for a private event. There was a small window serving sandwiches, although they were out of everything except veggie and smoked salmon, which would have been frustrating except that we just beat a Japanese tour group to the window and got the last veggie sandwich, so we kinda felt like we'd won something. At this point, we were pretty much wishing we'd stayed home and gone to Disney World, where the crowds are similar but the food is plentiful.
Luckily, Emerald Lake is gorgeous and a 5k hike around the perimeter improved our moods. Anna and I waded in the cold water, and John and Will practiced skipping stones.
From Emerald Lake, we drove to Takkakaw Falls and took the short trail to the base of the falls. The falls are amazing and definitely worth a visit. We also stopped for a quick pic in a set of Parks Canada red chairs. (We only had to wait in line behind two families for the privilege, so we were thrilled.)
Afterwards, we drove back to Banff and checked into the Fairmont Banff Springs, also known as "The Castle of the Rockies." It is one of a few hotels built by the Canadian Pacific Railroad around the turn of the 20th century to attract tourists to the Rockies, and it is spectacular. It is also old, and we had to follow the most convoluted path to find our room--I love old hotels and thought it was fun, but can't imagine trying to get in or out of there in a hurry. We ate dinner at the Waldhaus Pub and watched the Olympics, which was a nice way to end a loooooong day.
On Monday, we did a much better job of getting out early and made it to Lake Louise in time to snag a first-level parking spot. We did the Lake Agnes Teahouse hike, which is approximately 2 miles of uphill hiking to a teahouse overlooking a small lake. The hike up was beautiful, with views of Lake Louise and Mirror Lake. The kids did a fantastic job--we discovered Anna's energy expands ten-fold when she has a hiking stick.
Mirror Lake and the Big Beehive (you can hike it, but we didn't due to bad weather):
The hike itself was not overly crowded at that time of the morning, but the teahouse was small and was almost full when we arrived. We snagged a porch table and waited to place our order...and waited. We ended up being there over 90 minutes total and got pretty chilled with the wind, plus it started raining. The tea, hot cocoa, and snacks were delicious when they arrived, and we took a Monster Bar (so good) for the road.
Then a miracle happened--I arrived at the lake, the clouds parted and the sun came out, and the entire scene was spectacular! As a bonus, I spotted a huge rockpile that I knew the kids would love. So I ran back to the car and began trying to convince the kids they should really come see it. It took awhile, but they eventually left the car and we had a fantastic visit--Anna says Moraine Lake was her favorite part of the trip!
See? Definitely worth leaving the car:
Almost there! Will was making me nervous here:
The camera and I found a less steep path to the top.
We drove back to Banff and spent the evening visiting the downtown shops. We stopped for a BeaverTail for snack, and ate dinner at Melissa's Missteak.
On Tuesday, we left early to tackle the Icefields Parkway--this is the drive from Banff to Jasper, and it passes through the mountains with gorgeous views of multiple lakes and glaciers. I was expecting this to be the highlight of the trip, and it totally delivered. We drove through a little rain that kept us from making a few stops, but arrived to dry weather at Peyto Lake. We took the Bow Summit Lookout trail--it is not well-marked, but is an old fire road so easy to follow, and we basically had it to ourselves. On the way, we found a fun creek and waterfall, and made it up high enough to find an old patch of snow.
Will and I pressed on to the lookout point for a view of Bow Lake in the distance. Anna decided she was done prior to the last set of switchbacks, so John stayed with her while she built her own rock mountain.
Our next stop was the Parker Ridge trail--this is absolutely a must-do. It is pretty steep, but almost the entire trail is visible from the parking lot, which the kids found encouraging. From the trail, we emerged onto a ridge with a view of the entire valley below, including the Saskatchewan Glacier. The view was breathtaking! On the way down, we saw a marmot (and heard several of his buddies) and a herd of bighorn sheep.
We drove the rest of the way to Jasper, with a quick stop at Sunwapta Falls. We checked into the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, another historic CPR hotel. This hotel is rustic--there is a central lodge, and then lots of single-story buildings with cabin-like rooms. We had a junior suite (because that was the only thing left when I booked) and paid a ridiculous amount for it, but it came with a wood-burning fireplace that we fired up right away. The kids love room service, so we had dinner and read Harry Potter in front of the fire.
We began Wednesday with a whitewater rafting trip down the Athabasca River. It dawned on me the night before that they might not let a pregnant woman on the raft--John and I debated about what to do, then decided to feign ignorance. Luckily, our two college-age male guides didn't seem to notice (or care). (Note--I'm sure whitewater rafting while pregnant is not a great idea, but these were very mild Class II rapids and I had zero chance of coming out of the raft unless I jumped out. So don't worry, Nana!) We were worried about being chilly--weather was cloudy and about 45 degrees--but we were toasty in the wetsuits and rafting jackets. The kids had a ball--Will sat right up front with another kid and had fun setting the pace for paddling.
We drove into Jasper afterwards and had lunch at Famoso Pizzeria, then visited the visitor's center. We drove to Maligne Lake and did part of the Moose Lake trail--I was crossing my fingers for a moose-sighting, but we didn't luck out this time. We took the Maligne Lake cruise to Spirit Island--this was also billed as a must-do, but John and I agreed we could've skipped it. The boat goes to the island very quickly, so no chance for wildlife spotting, and we only spent 10-15 minutes on the island in a crowded viewpoint with about 30 other people. The view is undeniably gorgeous, we just thought the trip there was time-consuming and expensive--I think this would be a great trip for a tour group or for a family with mobility issues or children too young to hike, otherwise I think doing some of the other trails in the area would be a better use of time. (My two cents!)
We got caught in another rainstorm on the way back, so skipped Maligne Canyon (sad about that), but we took a quick hop out at Lake Annette to go searching for quicksand. We found it!
Thursday morning, we set out early and drove back down the Icefields Parkway. We stopped at the Columbia Icefields Center to take a ride onto the Athabasca Glacier via Snocoach. This was really neat--we scooped up cold glacier water and spotted a few bighorn sheep. It ended a little sadly when Anna stuck her foot in the glacier water--she didn't realize that getting your foot soaking wet in freezing temps is a bad idea, poor girl. So she and I spent some time thawing out back on the bus.
Anna in tears over her frozen foot:
This is the Athabasca Glacier from the Visitor's Center. Per Anna's Junior Xplorer Guide (the Canadian version of Junior Rangers), the glacier reached all the way to the road only 80 years ago. I told Anna she'll have to come back one day with her own kids and see how much further the glacier has receded.
We stopped at Saskatchewan Crossing intending to eat there for lunch, but the buffet did not look appetizing, so we grabbed picnic goods and drove onto Mistaya Canyon. We ate lunch on the side of the trail, then walked down to view the gorge and falls--they were beautiful!
Due to avoiding lunchmeat and convenience store tuna, I ended up eating a lot of these chips on the trip. They are delicious! I think they must be a Canadian thing:
We made a final swing by Lake Louise--the yucky weather on our previous visit prevented any good lake views, so we decided to see how it looked in sunshine. Much better! John's fomo is almost as bad as mine, so we briefly considered trying to squeeze in the Plain of Six Glaciers hike, but decided starting a 5 hour hike at 3 pm was a bad idea. Next trip!
We also made a quick swing through Banff to take a hotel picture from Surprise Corner.
We drove onto Calgary and checked into another Sheraton there for our remaining two nights. Will was anticipating our final vacation day pretty much the entire trip--he is still pretty dinosaur-obsessed, so we couldn't resist a visit to Dinosaur Provincial Park. Now, for anyone thinking about making this trip--it is important to note that DPP is NOT the major dino attraction in Canada. That honor goes to Drumheller, a town about an hour from Calgary that houses the Royal Tyrell Museum (Canada's largest fossil museum), along with a giant dinosaur you can climb in, and something called Fossil World. Choosing to visit DPP over Drumheller is definitely not the popular choice, as evidenced by the conversations I had with multiple people that all went like this:
Canada native/park ranger, etc: "Where are you heading next?"
Me: "We're going to visit Dinosaur Provincial Park."
Native: "You mean Drumheller."
Me: "No."
Native, looking puzzled: "Huh...not sure what that is...wait, is that near Brooks?"
Me: "Maybe. It's about 2 hours from Calgary."
Native, looking dubious and a little concerned: "Huh....well, watch out for rattlesnakes. Maybe you should go to Drumheller."
So anyway, the park is in the badlands east of Calgary and serves as the field station for the Royal Tyrell Museum. Our (spoiled and well-traveled) kids have seen lots of dinosaur bones in museums, so we thought seeing actual bones in the actual dirt would be a really cool experience--so we passed up the wonders of Drumheller and pressed on to the park. We were becoming doubtful ourselves after driving 2.5 hours across Canadian prairie, but eventually ended up at the edge of these beautiful canyons.
We booked tickets for the Centrosaurus Quarry Hike, a walking tour that took us to a Centrosaurus bone bed. Will was thrilled to be surrounded by dinosaur bones, and Anna loved climbing on the rocks. We were spoiled with good weather--I think this hike could have been really hot due to lack of shade, but temps were 70's and breezy. The mosquitoes were a big issue, numerous and aggressive--we all left with lots of bites despite spraying ourselves multiple times with Off, so I was thankful that Canada does not have Zika-carrying mosquitoes.
We ate lunch at the campground cafe, and then went to a program called "Cast from the Past", in which we made our own casts of a fossil. The kids really enjoyed this, and we all learned a lot about the dinosaurs found in the park. I also have to say that the amount of dinosaur knowledge in this group of kids (including Will) was pretty impressive. The girl to Will's left stumped the guide a few times.
The kids had saved their souvenir funds for this part of the trip, so Will bought a real spinosaurus tooth and Anna bought a hiking stick. She had been scouting all the gift shops for a kid-sized stick and finally found one, a cute hand-carved one to boot.
We traveled home on Saturday morning. We did create a minor disturbance in security with Anna's hiking stick--it was fairly inexpensive and I had prepared Anna that it might have to stay in Canada, but the first few officials let us through so we thought maybe it was okay. We finally hit a wall at the TSA checkpoint but a super-nice airline employee made it her mission to get Anna's stick home, and John accompanied her back through the airport (twice)--anyway, it ended up getting checked, but made it to Orlando. I also realized midway through our second flight that I had left our bag of dino souvenirs (including our casts) in the hotel room--so those got mailed home a week later. I blamed pregnancy brain. :-)
So that was our trip! We really had a great time, despite the weather and crowds, and I definitely want to return. In retrospect, we probably should have tackled a smaller area--we skipped much of the Banff area, which has lots of great sights and trails. On the other hand, I am so glad we got to go to Jasper--it was much less crowded and I think it has the better half of the Icefields Parkway. This is why I think you need at least 10 days for this trip! Or just plan to return to see the rest. :-)
PS...I mentioned the Gypsy guides in the beginning. They are apps that you can download onto your phone and they only use GPS (ie, no cellular data) and they are really all you need for this trip--well, that and some trail guides. We listened to all 5 of the Canadian Rockies guides, although we did not stop at all the recommended stops. I also used the Lonely Planet Canadian Rockies guide, and heavily utilized TripAdvisor.
For accommodations, we would recommend the Fairmont Banff Springs, and it is worth a visit even if you don't stay there. However, based on our experience, I think staying in Lake Louise might be a better idea--it is the most crowded area and I would have preferred to be there early in the morning and late in the evening, and then traveled elsewhere during the day. The Fairmont in Jasper is a perfectly nice place to stay, but it was waaaaaaaaayyyyyy too expensive--Jasper lodging is very limited, but I think you could find better options by planning ahead. I made our reservations about 10 weeks in advance and could not find anything else, but I have heard other people have had luck using VRBO or AirBnB. Banff has a funny rule about owning property in town, so most condo-type lodging is available in nearby Canmore, and after being in the area, that would have also been a perfectly fine option.
