My wife and kids and I are planning a trip to Banff, Jasper and surrounding areas, possibly dropping down to Yellowstone. Our tentative dates are June 1 - June 15. My question is whether we are going early enough to avoid the huge crowds in Banff and Jasper. We will book lodging early but would certainly prefer to go at a time that the crowds aren't too overwhelming. Do you think this is a good time to go?

Thanks.

Steve

Any time of the year is a good time to go to the Rocky Mountains!! July and August are normally the busiest months, but there are tourists in Banff and Jasper year round (just a guess, but it seems to me that November is the slowest month).
Just be prepared for any type of weather in early June - it could be hot, or it could be quite cold. There may be a few tourist spots (by that I mean - access roads to viewpoints, and some campgrounds) that are still closed for the season.
We have been in the Rockies during every month of the year, and have always found it wonderful despite varying weather conditions.
Always have a "plan B" !!

We were there in mid June a couple of years ago. Lake Louise still had some ice and a surprising number of tourists in the area. I guess it would be worse in July and August though.

Hello Steve,

Although, as Borealis said, the Rockies are beautiful any time, I think there are advantages to visiting in the second half of June compared with the first half of June.

In some cases arriving later in June will give you a better "guarantee" of seeing some of the lakes, like Moraine Lake, when they are thawed and looking their turquoise best.

I guess it depends on what your idea of "crowded" is. But, in my experience, the Canadian Rockies are not yet crowded in June, even late in June. (I take April's point that there are tourists in the area in June, and that applies even to early June, but the crowds are not the way they are in July and August.) For example, we went on a day's outing to Moraine Lake and Takakkaw Falls on Saturday, June 26th this year. The Moraine Lake parking lot, which is notorious for being packed like a sardine can in July and August, had quite a bit of room to spare.

To my taste, the best compromise between the number of fellow tourists and the ability to see the lakes at their best is the second half of June.

Thanks for your responses! Unfortunately, we need to be back home for an event in the middle of June and then have work-related events which will prevent us from traveling the second half of the month, so we will have to go early in June. Will we be too early to do some horseback riding or white water rafting? We went to England and Scotland in early June this summer so we know all about taking clothes for every possible weather condition.

Thanks.

Steve

i'm sure you'll have a great time. the start of june is a great time for whitewater rafting. you don't say how old your kids are but the rivers should be running very fast at that time of year. you'll be able to do horseback riding too. just some of the larger lakes and high altitute locations may still be in ice and snow.

Hello Steve, just thought I'd let you know that we were just in Jasper last weekend. Normally, July is quite a busy time of year there but we were very surprised at the lack of tourists this year. I am sure there are several factors contributing to this such as world affairs and terrorism, mad cow, SARS and the fact that more Americans seem to be travelling within their own country. We saw very few American licence plates this trip.

Of course by next June, things may have changed and more people may start to travel outside their countries again, but for now anyway, the tourism in Jasper is definitely down.

Hope you have a great trip!