multiple interests in Canada
 

I looking for some advice here and any help that people can give would be great. This summer we are planning on going to Alberta and BC to celebrate me graduating from high school. I'm really enjoy hiking and just looking at the scenery but some people in my family get bored with that and enjoy more of the artsy and museum sorts of things. Are there some suggestions of spots to go where we could both have are interests met? We are looking specifically at Victoria, Banff, and Glacier National Park. Any other suggestions? We don't neccesarily need to do both the nature and art in the same place but it would be nice. Thanks for any suggestions.

Just east of Banff is Calgary, and the Glenbow Museum there is a great place. And in Drumheller, a couple of hours drive, is one of the world's best dinosaur museums.
If you go to Victoria, the provinciual museum is another wonderful spot. One of the best parts is a reproduction of an old ship, inside the museum.

There's a maritme museum in Vancouver, too. Calgary and Vancouver have sho[pping; Calgary's got a good zoo, plus heritage park, a reproductioon of a pioneer city. There's even a little museum in downtown Banff.

Vancouver's a creative city; lots of smaller commercial galleries, art exhibits in public places, etc.

Vancouver Island (where Victoria is) is more folk-art, hippie art, but there's lots to see there, too.

BAK

Hi Colo_hiker, just to supplement BAK's great suggestions, if you're driving northwards from Glacier National Park (on the U.S. side) and Waterton Lakes National Park (on the Canadian side) on up to Banff, a museum that's worth seeing is Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. It's a few miles outside the town of Fort Macleod, a bit north of Waterton Lakes National Park. It's an interesting interpretive centre that gives one a window into the traditional lifestyle of the First Nations people on the Prairies.

If you're an active, outdoorsy sort of person, you might want to do some white water rafting in the Rockies while other family members look at those museums. :)

At the University of British Columbia in Vancouver there is an outstanding anthropological museum that portrays the traditional lifestyle of the First Nations People of the west coast.

If one visits Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump as well as the Museum of Anthropolgy at UBC, one can see how two different natural environments led to two different lifestyles.

Vancouver is a large city, and has an enormous amount to offer the visitor. There are indoor things to do (museums, galleries, shopping, restaurants, etc.) as well as outdoor things (Stanley Park and many others).

Victoria's Butchart Gardens are gorgeous. Looking at gardens isn't to everyone's taste, but these gardens are not just any old garden.

Another thing that some people like to do from Vancouver Island (the island on which Victoria is situated) is fishing. One can go out on a boat with a guide.

You didn't mention the length of your trip. It's a significant distance nd there's a lot to see from Glacier National Park to Banff National Park and then from there to Victoria. I would consider the territory from Glacier National Park through to Banff National Park to be one natural group, and then Vancouver & Victoria to be another natural group. If you have, say, a week, then I would take on only one of those groups if I were you. If you have two weeks, you could do them both. If you have even more time, well then, you can afford to stop off at more places, and see things in more detail.

To give you some idea of distances, Glacier National Park to Calgary and then Banff is 230 miles. Banff to Vancouver is 530 miles. But when one is driving through mountains, the roads are windy in places, so you can't always just gun down the highway. Still, those numbers should give you an idea. Banff to Vancouver without stops for sight seeing is considered a 10 hour drive. The ferry crossing from Vancouver to Victoria is 1.5 hours.

Here's a website on the Canadian Rockies.

http://www.canadianrockies.net/

Hope this helps.

rThe "little museum" in Banff is the Whyte Museum, and quite often has displays of artwork. Banff also has numerous shops where one can purchase the work of local artists. (and you'll find local art in Lake Louise as well).

Canmore, a 20 minute drive east of Banff (and still in the mountains) is a small but rapidly-becoming-upscale town; just after it closed down all its coal mines it became a hot spot for artists (until it started becoming expensive), but there are still several art galleries there. There are several interesting hikes in the Canmore area (and if you are into long hikes, you can actually hike from Banff to Canmore, or vice versa, through the mountains).

Calgary is a one hour drive east of Banff townsite on the Trans Canada highway, and that's just to the city limits. Calgary is a big city with big city traffic, so getting around can be time consuming. If you are planning a trip into Calgary, I would recommend making it a whole day jaunt, rather than thinking that you could do it in a couple of hours, especially if you are thinking of visiting the Glenbow (which I recommend) or Heritage Park (which I don't recommend, especially if the "colo" in your name suggests Colorado, there's nothing there that you will find unique or particularly interesting, it is just a "history of the West" type village).

Drumheller, in the middle of the Badlands and home of the world famous Royal Tyrrell Museum (paleontology and dinosaurs, awesome displays), is "approximately" a one hour drive (east and north) of Calgary city limits. If you plan on seeing both Calgary and the Tyrrell Museum, it may be easier if you spend one night in Calgary, otherwise you will have a very long day that consists of a lot of driving.

There are walking trails onto the badlands at the Tyrell Museum; when raining they tend to be a bit slippery, but the colours of the striations (layers of earth) become very vivid when wet. The weather in that part of Alberta is usually very dry and hot (except for thunderstorms in late afternoon), so it's more usual that it is dusty.

The best hiking on Vancouver Island is the West Coast Trail (reservations required), followed by shorter trails in East Sooke Regional Park (SW of Victoria, approx 45 minute drive) and on the beaches at Pacific Rim National Park. However, none of these are particularly close to museums or art galleries (although there is at least one art gallery in Tofino, and there used to be an oceanografic museum at Wickanninish on Long Beach in the Park, don't know if it is still there?).
Tofino and Pacific Rim National Park is about 5 to 6 hours driving from Victoria (although we have done it in less than that).

Hope this gives you some extra info to help you plan your trip. Most of the places mentioned in my post and those of others can be readily "explored" on the internet. Just do a Google search for any name or place that interests you.

Good luck in planning your graduation trip!! (and what a lovely idea!!!!)

Sounds great thanks for your suggestions

By the way, I think I can speak on behalf of lots of us who offer info here in saying we think it is cool that your family thinks coming to Canda to celebrate your graduation is a good idea.

Welcome.

BAK

I a curious if colo hiker meant the Glacier National park in BC. It is a park of extremely steep trails and some rugged country. I have been there several times, but never for an extended stay. The park is often in the fog, so on my 4 visits there, we have been able to walk the trails only twice.

If you want a real hike, let me make two suggestions:
In Kootney NP there is the Rockwall Trail. It is an overnighter or even 2.

In Yoho, take the Iceline to the Stanley Mitchell hut, stay overnight, then hike over the Whaleback to Twin Falls, and back to the parking lot at Takkakaw Falls.

Another one is to try and get in at the Lake O'Hara campground and take the trails around there. The Lake McArthur trail is a classic, as is the Yuckness Ledge, or even Sleeping Poet pool.

There are some good ones that lead up into the hills around Lake Louise as well where you leave the mobs on the lakeshore way behind.

Then around Emerald lake there are some good ones.
If you had someone to pick you up, hike from Takkakaw Falls over to Emerald Lake via Yoho Lake. It is a good one, too.

My favorite is the All Souls alpine route around Lake O'Hara with a traverse of the Yuckness ledge thrown in. You will be up high with incredible views.

If you have done any rock climbing, contact the superintendent at Yoho NP and find out the restrictions for climbing on the face of the Goodsir Towers. They are several thousand feet of smooth rock face. I never tried them, but I have talked with people who have. They are remote, and somewhat dangerous for the novice.
Perhaps you could find a tour group out of Calgary that is going there.

Hey Colo hiker, In my last summer of university I had the pleasure of working in Waterton Lakes National Park for the summer. It is in Alberta and is twinned with Glacier National Park in Montana. You really don't want to miss it. There are great trails a small village and as previously mentioned the Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump musuem which is really cool. If you do go to Waterton lakes, your artsy companions will like having tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel. It has a fantastic vista and is world renowned (2nd most photographed hotel after the Banff Springs). One more thing is if you are in that area and can spare a day go to Montana and take the "going to the sun" highway. It is spectacular.

The drive from Waterton Lakes to Calgary can be done in 3 hours easy (if memory serves)

Have a great trip

We just came back from Banff.It was wonderful.There are so many things to see.Even if one does not hike the natural beauty is enough.Check out a glacier tour,Lake Minewanka is beautiful and nicer than Lake Louise although both are beautiful.There are museums in Banff as well.Dont forget about canoeing,rafting.Also the hotels all have spas so when you are hiking they can enjoy.This area is so beautifu it ia almost impossible to get bored

A mixture of Culture and hiking is easy in Alberta and BC.

If you are starting in Vancouver you can go to Victoria. Then back over to the mainland. From Vancouver to Whistler and then to Clearwater to visit Wells Gray park (beautiful waterfalls and hiking) Then on to Jasper, Banff and Calgary. I Also Highly recommend the Dinasour Museum in Drumheller. If you have to return to Vancouver then back via Lake Louise, Revelstoke and vancouver. There are museums at almost all the locations. I think this would take about 2 weeks