Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada! Eh! 🇨🇦
- laurenlcoon
- Sep 19, 2017
- 7 min read
For Brandon's 33rd birthday... wait whoa how did that happen? We decided to go to Alberta, Canada, more specifically Banff National Park. It was a park high up on our list as views of Lake Louise have been pictures we have saved for years!
We happen to catch a flash sale for skymiles members for Delta and flights into Calgary were too good to pass up. So very quickly we made plans to go back to Canada for the 2nd time this year!
We took a 9am flight from ATL to Toronto, then had a 2 hour layover and then Toronto to Calgary. We landed around 4 in the afternoon, grabbed our bags from luggage claim and headed over to National to grab a car.
We had a few hours before sunset and I had seen a quick hike we could do on our way into Banff at Grassi Lakes. We stopped for some coffee on the way and hit the road. Once we got to the trail head around 6pm, we quickly changed into some warmer clothes in the car and set off for the lakes!
When you get to this sign... do the More Difficult side... it takes you up to see some stunning views and take the easy way down, its a loop and would be easier on your knees! (Remember, Brandon is 33 now!)
The views on the way up are stunning, but once you get to the top, the lakes are so reflective and peaceful! We met some super nice (shocker) Canadians at the top and asked them to take our pic...
Overall the hike is super easy about a 2 mile loop with only 761 feet in elevation gain. After we made it back down while the sun was setting we drove about 30 minutes to check in at our hotel, The Elk & Avenue, before dinner. We changed again and walked down to the Park Distillery. One of my favorite travel bloggers had posted about how good it was and she wasn't lying... they had a great hearty menu and good gluten free options!
The next morning we were up early... we had plans to grab breakfast before hitting the road but were still so full from dinner so we opted for coffee instead and headed towards our next stop... Johnston Canyon! We'd heard about some beautiful falls but more specifically a hidden cave and it was my mission to find it!
We hiked the loop from Lower Falls to Upper Falls and then set off to find the hidden path. All we had to go on was, "About 20 minutes after the lower falls on the upper falls trail, keep looking for paths to your right that may take you down the the water bank. It’s hard to spot but look closely at every clearing you can and have this image in mind as it’s right off the trail leading to the water:- TheRoadLesTraveled" We tried down a couple paths that led to nowhere and then Brandon yelled, 'This way!' and I knew we had found it!
Ta Dah!...
I don't think pictures can do it justice but we easily spent almost an hour here just taking in the beauty of the waterfall to our left, this huge chunk of land in front, river to the right and cave behind us! We had left very early so we were lucky enough to be the first people there and get to enjoy it to ourselves for a bit! Once more people started to venture down we decided to check out the Ink Pots we'd heard a bit about!
The Ink Pots were about 4km (~2.5 miles for us Americans) further up the path and the hike had a decent bit of elevation. The path is wide and safe and good for all levels but we caught ourselves stopping a bit for some air on the way up. After about an hour, we arrived at the Ink Pots!
I wish the sun had been out a little more but these were truly stunning. There are 5 pots that have various aquamarine colors and are unlike anything we'd seen!
After leaving the Ink Pots & Johnston Canyon we drove towards Lake Louise and stopped for a quick bite at Baker Creek Bistro! This was the cutest little place and had some adorable cabins about 15 minutes outside of Lake Louise. This looked like a great place to stay if you're looking for accommodations!
After a few spiked chocolates and some food, we headed towards my favorite stop... Lake Louise!
We got to our hotel and checked in. I was so excited to explore the area and the hotel, it was so beautiful and they'd upgraded our room for Brandon's Birthday so we were thrilled! The upgrade came with a 'club level' with an unlimited food and drink bar, which Brandon took full advantage of! Nom!
That night we got an early dinner at the Lakeview Lounge which directly overlooks Lake Louise and is for hotel guests only which is nice because there is no wait and you can charge your meal to your room! They also had some great Gluten Free options like Crab Cakes, Poutine and more spiked hot chocolates!
The next morning we got up before the sun, changed and drove over to Lake Moraine to catch the sunrise. A friend of mine had commented that we should do this and while it was on our list, it wasn't at sunrise so I am glad we edited our plans! The sun was up at 7:19 but we got there around 6:45am and the parking lot was half full.. we weren't the only people with this idea. So we climbed over some fallen trees and literally rock climbed half way up a hill to watch the sunrise and it was beautiful!
It was fuh-reezing so we stuck around until 8:30am or so and headed back to the hotel to eat breakfast! The club cafe had free breakfast until 10am so we got our fill of coffee, eggs and fruits and headed over to the canoe rentals!
Renting a canoe was high on my list of touristy things to do in Banff and I made sure we were first in line that morning! They limit their canoe rentals to 11am to 6pm in the Fall. I'd recommend doing an hour since it takes about 25-30 minutes to paddle to one end and almost as long to paddle back. If you go over in time, they charge you for the next 30 minutes, so may as well pay for it and not rush! (Unless you just want 30 minutes for the pic! ;))
If our day hadn't been amazing enough, we decided to go on a hike up to Lake Agnes Tea house. This was about 4.5 miles round trip and was fairly crowded. We went mid day so we had to dodge a lot of crowds, so I'd recommend going early in the morning or before they close at 5 if you're crowd averse.
We saw a chipmunk and porcupine at the top and got some hot chocolate and veggie soup! The line was very long and it was pretty chilly with the wind! We met a nice couple at the top and shared a table with them before heading up to Little Beehive overlook.
We made it back down by around 4pm or so walked around and did a little shopping in the hotel before heading to the Happy Hour in the club level so Brandon could have some more snacks! He loved this place! That evening, we went back to the Lakeview Lounge, watched the sunset, had some wine and ordered more crab cakes. When we like something, we tend to repeat it a lot! :)
Day 4 was already upon us and Jasper National Park was calling our name. Up early again for breakfast, checking out of the hotel :( and hitting the road towards Jasper! The drive was absolutely beautiful and we passed so many amazing views of mountains and lakes. You can take Icefield Parkway the whole way from Banff to Jasper and there are tons of stops to make on the way! We pulled off several times for lake pictures, waterfalls, some rams we saw, a bear and 2 road closures due to rock slides... make sure to plan for this as it will slow you down!
We drove past several glaciers and read about one you can hike right up to. You can also take a bus around the mountain to the top of the glacier but we decided to DIY!
I can't describe how windy this was! Hiking up the wind was blowing so hard, we had to wear sunglasses, hoodies and a scarf to protect our faces! Sadly the glacier has melted more than usual in recent years so its no longer safe to walk ON the glacier so we walked right up to it and took some pics!
The town of Jasper wasn't too much further so we stopped there for some lunch at Coco's Cafe! They have all day breakfast and a gluten free menu (celiac safe!!) Afterwards we explored the little town and checked out all of the shops. We had plans to go to Mount Edith Cavell... unfortunately for us, they only give our a certain amount of passes per day and were out at the time. We were bummed out but it was probably for the best since we had a long drive back, the couple road closures from rock slides had added a lot of time to our trip!
We stopped by the Athabasca Falls on our way back to Calgary! We had dinner that night at Tooloulou's in Banff to help break up the long drive. We'd made reservations at the Marriott IN the airport in Calgary and I have to say this was the absolutely most convenient thing ever! We dropped our rental car at the airport, walked up to the Marriott and checked in. The next morning, we rolled out of bed and rolled our luggage to security an hour before our flight... no commute or traffic! SO nice! Why doesn't every airport have this option?
We flew out at 9am from Calgary and landed in Montreal around 3pm. They had US Customs here so when we caught our next flight at 6pm, we were done with airport security for the day! We landed around 9:45pm, grabbed our bags from gate 7 and took a Lyft home! I'd say we had a successful birthday trip! :)
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