6 nights; how many Canmore, how many Jasper???
 

We are spending 6 nights total in Canmore / Lake Louise / Japer area. We found accomodations in Canmore and Jasper. Now the question is, how many days at each location for hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, canoeing etc. We are hoping to be able to see all of the Lake Louise area from Canmore. Any suggestions?

Four in Canmore, two in jasper. From Canmore, head south into the foothills, in addition to heading west and north west into the mountains.

And staying in Canmore allows you to spend a full day in Calgary and then return to your Canmore hotel that night.

And yes, Canmore is close enough to lake Louise to allow you to visit LL from Canmore and return to Canmore in the evenings.

BAK

Hello kwick58,

I concur with BAK's suggestion of 4 nights in Canmore and 2 nights in Jasper.

Here's a suggested itinerary.

Day 1 - From your base in Canmore, go to Johnston Canyon first thing in the morning, as the parking lot fills up fast. Walk into the canyon. If you like hiking, you should go past the Lower Falls to the Upper Falls at a minimum. However, it would be nice to make a real hike of it, and go even further, to the Ink Pots. If you do this, take a picnic lunch with you. Spend whatever time you have left that day looking around Banff townsite, maybe taking the gondola up Sulphur Mountain, and looking at Lake Minnewanka and Two Jack Lake.

Day 2 - From Canmore, drive to Moraine Lake first thing. Again, this is a parking lot that fills up fast. You can rent a canoe at Moraine Lake. If you like, you can hike to Larch Valley from there.

Then go to Lake Louise. At Lake Louise you can go horseback riding to the Lake Agnes Teahouse.

There are canoes for rent at Lake Louise as well.

Day 3 - From Canmore, visit Yoho National Park. At a minimum see Takakkaw Falls and Emerald Lake. You can do a short or long version of the walk along the Emerald Lake shoreline. If you like, you can hike the Iceline Trail above Takakkaw Falls. I've never done it myself, but Bob Brown -- who posts here regularly -- has. The basic Iceline Trail hike is 4 miles long, and gains 2,263 feet in elevation. There are various extensions of that hike, which strong hikers undertake. However, from what I've read, even the basic hike involves steep ascents, and many hikers are content to do just the Iceline Trail.

Day 4 - Drive the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. The most common stops on this drive are the Peyto Lake Lookout, Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls. Many people like to ride a Snocoach on the Athabasca Glacier at the Columbia Icefields. If you like, you can hike the 3 miles from Num-Ti-Jah Lodge at Bow Lake to the base of Bow Falls (formed by the run-off from Bow Glacier).

Day 5 - Do the Angel Glacier / Cavell Meadows hike, and walk in Maligne Canyon. These two activities, between them, will occupy a day.

Of course you can switch the order of Jasper and Canmore if you like.

These basic activities, which many people would consider to be the basic "must see" and "must do" things in the area, will take up all of your time. I honestly don't know how you'll squeeze cycling into that mix.

Also, in another thread people have recommended that you visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, to the east of Calgary. I'm a huge fan of the Tyrrell, and I recommend it all the time, but I just don't see how you can fit it into 6 nights in the Canadian Rockies.

Since you have so little time in the mountains and in light of your stated interests, I would not recommend that you spend any time in Calgary, other than what is necessary to land and take off.

Thanks so much for the info. It is invaluable!!!

We took 10 days and looped from Calgary to Waterton, Banff, Lake Louise, Ice Field Parkway, Jasper, Edmonton, and back to Calgary. While in Calgary we ventured out to Drumheller to see the dinasour field. The landscape there was interesting (very flat, a few canyons), a total surprise for this US east coaster. Waterton was a quaint little town with some nice hiking trails for even the weekend walker. Lake Louise and Moraine Lake were georgous. My most memorable part of Lake Louise was hearing the alpine horn player. The Ice Field parkway was awesome. Taking the snowcoach onto the Anthabascar glacier was fun. By the time we got to Jasper we were pooped and enjoyed our stay in the little cottages at Becker Chalets, sitting by the river enjoying the fresh air and scenery. On to Edmonton where we stopped by the Edmonton Mall with its vast indoor amusement park, complete with submarines. (Add it to my list of been-there-done-that sites, but I wouldn't go out of my way). I've travelled to 35 states and 5 provinces. If I were to repeat any of my vacation locations I would definitely go back to the Canadian Rockies.