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Trip Report - Banff & Jasper - Early Agust 2014

Trip Report - Banff & Jasper - Early Agust 2014

Old Sep 16th, 2014, 07:15 AM
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Trip Report - Banff & Jasper - Early Agust 2014

Very soon after returning from a trip to Yellowstone with my daughter and granddaughter, I left for Banff & Jasper with my daughter.

One of the attractions for the casual visitor to Banff & Jasper is the amount of roadside scenery available to those not interested in venturing too far from the car.

I'd been to Banff and Jasper twice before. I expected to see a little more wildlife. Maybe it's because I brought the wrong horseshoe. No bears or bighorn. Maybe the result of the wildfire.

I'll list some of the sights and comments.

Lake Minnewanka Road. Cascade Ponds near the start of this road provided it's usual beautiful views though the first morning was a little too hazy. On previous trips I had always seen bighorn and/or ewes along this road. Tried several times but no luck.

I drove up and down Mt Norquay several times. Once we saw a coyote jog past us, a short view of a couple of deer before they scampered off and a goat who cooperated and did a few minutes of posing.

Our first morning at Moraine Lake provided us a crystal clear view of why this is among the premier sights in the area. However, our hike to Consolation Lakes was a bit of a disappointment. Pretty much the whole hike was in the woods and at the end we were presented a valley full of large boulders. I assume that had we traversed the boulders, eventually we would have seen the lake.

I finally got nice views of Lake Louise. Very nice but not nearly the views of Moraine Lake.

We did the Plain of Six Glaciers hike. Most of the trail is out in the open providing excellent views of the scenery. I think I'm getting a bit old for elevation hikes. I made it to the tea house but it took a while. A hike well worth the effort.

We drove to Yoho N.P. for part of an afternoon. Takakkaw Falls are definitely worth the drive. I find that too many water falls in the area have viewing stands or bridges built blocking the view of the falls. Not this one. There are several places giving excellent views.

Emerald Lake. A very nice lake with surrounding mountains. A classic national park view. No large crowds but also not void of visitors. A good mix.

The only rain we encountered on the trip was on and off rain the day we drove from Banff to Jasper. The negative was that we had a lot planned for this drive. The positive was that we had the return drive to do some catching up. We never got to hike any of Wilcox Pass or Parker Ridge.

On the way up we hiked to Mistaya Canyon. Very nice and definitely worth the time and minimal effort.

We made a quick stop at the Icefields visitor center but continued up.

We hiked Beauty Creek. A very nice hike along the canyon with multiple waterfalls. It started to thunder and rain before we got to Stanley Falls.

Maligne Road. Last year I was able to photograph a mother black bear and 3 cubs. No bears this year. I drove down this road a few times. On my last attempt I came across a female deer beside the road. She cooperated and posed for a few minutes until she decided she wasn't being paid enough.

Maligne Canyon was ok. Not more since the views just aren't there.

Angel Glacier is beautiful. The trail down to the lake is posted as closed. The sign is largely ignored. I think if the viewpoint was move a couple of hundred yards further (not necessarily down) more people would pay attention and obey it.

Old Fort Point. I expected this hike to provide more open scenery. Had I realized that it didn't I would have taken the short, steep climb up to the top of the Point rather than the much longer hike. Still, great views from the top.

In Jasper we did manage to see a group of elk and some deer.

On the way back to Banff we hiked Beauty Creek again but still couldn't find Stanley Falls (I don't think). We were time-restricted so eventually stopped.

We spent some time at Athabasca Glacier. Far from the most beautiful but very accessible.

Peyto Lake overlook. Popular for a reason. Spectacular views of the lake below and its color.

Photos of the trip can be seen at:
www.travelwalks.com
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Old Sep 17th, 2014, 09:42 AM
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Myer: Love your pictures. For some reason I don’t think the marked trail head for Beauty Creek is where you find Stanley Falls. When we hiked to Stanley Falls years ago we parked just off the road and walked along an old road bed before it turned up the creek to the falls. It wasn't very far. Where we parked previous wasn’t marked for Beauty Creek.

We just did Banff/Lake Louise/Jasper around the same time as you arriving 8/2 departing 8/10/14. It rained almost every day we were there except the day before we left (Saturday 8/9) when we hiked to Sentinel Pass. It appears from your pictures you made out better with the weather. Our only total washout day was our hike to Plain of Six Glaciers on 8/8, it rained the entire hike. The stone path in your picture at the end of Lake Louise was almost completely covered on our return by rising water. At least the rain put the fire out near the Crossing. Other hikes we did were Iceline in Yoho, Parker Ridge, Stanley Glacier (bridge out officially, but we went on weekend day and workers not there), Johnson Canyon, and meadows above Edith Cavell.
Did you see what happened a few days after we visited Angel Glacier: http://www.examiner.com/article/ghos...-national-park
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Old Sep 17th, 2014, 12:38 PM
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That article is from 2 years ago when Ghost fell apart. Not a few days after you were there. I knew about that.

The only rain we had was on and off on the day we drove from Banff to the town of Jasper.

What you describe as the Beauty Creek hike is exactly the same as what we did.

I believe there was a small sign in the small parking area. You couldn't see it from the road. There are two open large pipes and that was the description of what we were looking for. We also walked along this old road and just before getting to the creek we turned left, up a little hill and on a trail. We saw many waterfalls but I don't think anything that looked like the pictures.

On the way up we had to stop when it thundered and started to rain. We tried again on the way back and went about 20 minutes further. We had limited time and wanted to get back to Calgary, have Swiss Chalet BBQ chicken and get to the hotel by 9:30. We wanted to spend some time on Athabasca Glacier and go to Peyto Lake overlook.

The only thing we didn't do because of the rain on the way up was part of Parker Ridge and/or Wilcox Pass.

We had hoped to see some wildlife on Maligne Road. I did spend some time with a female deer who cooperated and posed. Last year I saw a mother black bear and her 3 cubs.
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Old Sep 18th, 2014, 09:31 AM
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Wrong link, it flooded and closed again on 8/15/14, but has since reopened:
http://www.acmg.ca/absolutenm/templa...=2014&zoneid=6
https://www.facebook.com/rockiesice/...88595971190682

We saw one brown and one black bear near Jasper, a moose (in Maligne Lake) several bighorn sheep and elk, but not as many animals as in previous trips. We were thinking it because we visited later than other years and animals had moved up further. I have yet to see a caribou in all of our visits.
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Old Sep 19th, 2014, 04:59 AM
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We saw some elk and deer in Jasper and a coyote, goat and ewes in Banff.

On previous visits I always saw ewes and/or bighorn on Lake Minnewanka road. Not this year.

Angel Glacier.
Many people ignore the closed sign and go down to the lake. That may or may not be dangerous. I don't know.

If they're going to permanently close that path down, it would be an idea to move the viewpoint between 100 and 100 yards further over so that the glacier and lake line up.

That may stop people from feeling that to get a better view they have to go down.
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Old Oct 4th, 2014, 06:55 AM
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Beautiful pictures, Myer. I just got back last week and am still sorting through my thousands of photos.

The Canadian Rockies are one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.
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Old Oct 5th, 2014, 01:48 PM
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I found there was less wildlife around than the previous year at the same time. I thought the wildfire might have had something to do with it but others appear to have seen more.

You?
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Old Oct 13th, 2014, 11:51 AM
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Just saw this.

No, not much wildlife but I did see a black bear the first day on the Bow Valley Pkwy., and a herd of elk along the road in Jasper. A few other random sightings which I mention in my about to be posted trip report.
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