trip to banff, lake louise and jasper may 2018
May 26th, 2018, 11:22 AM
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trip to banff, lake louise and jasper may 2018
We just returned from going to the Banff area. A few things we learned.
1. there is a holiday (Victoria day) in May after which hotels get a lot more expensive.
2. lake louise has very poor grocery stores (therefore stock up in Banff).
3. the mosquitoes/bugs are pretty bad starting in june.
So we were lucky-going largely before Victoria day and the weather turned much warmer just as we arrived. We arrived in Calgary at around 1:30 and got out of town before any traffic. it is quite easy to get from the airport to the transcanada highway to Banff. the drive took about 90 minutes to Banff-maybe 45 minutes more to lake louise, our first stop. We stayed at the Baker Creek Chalets. It is located, as you might guess, at Baker Creek on the Bow river Parkway. it is normally about a 10-minute drive to lake louise, but the road was closed so it took about 35 minutes. (the road is supposed to reopen in june 2018). Lake louise is a tiny village, with one small shopping center.(with a good cafe, liquor store, small grocery and an outdoor equipment store). there is a gas station, another restaurant and a motel across the street. we liked the café in the shopping center a lot-good food (sandwiches mainly) and not very expensive.
Our hotel-Baker Creek-only had dinner and it was good but expensive. there is a gas grill and a few charcoal grills. We brought food from the café in lake louise for dinner. Our room was very large-frig and microwave, Jacuzzi, fireplace and balcony. The day after we arrived we hiked around lake louise at the fairmont and wandered around the Fairmont. this is a nice fun not very demanding hike-no elevation gain on the main trail. On the next day we hiked Johnson Canyon- a well-maintained very popular trail up to a few waterfalls.
our reservations at Baker Creek got mixed up so we moved to a motel in town called the Mountaineer for a night. It was ok-basically an average motel. We ate at the restaurant across the street, which was pretty good. We talked a lot with the waitress. it seems a lot of the people who work in the area are seasonal-they come from May until September of October and leave before winter. seems like fun-especially for younger people.
The next day we drove up the icefield parkway. It's pretty magnificent. there wasn't much traffic going upon a thursday. the park service has a good brochure about the parkway-showing where various things are, giving the mile (kilometer) number fro everything. During the stay we encountered lots of tourists= many from far away. we heard many languages and accents while in the area. The road for 200+ km is bounded on one or both sides by impressive mountains, with a number of glaciers. Stunning.
in Jasper we stayed at Becker's, which is a it out of town on a river. we had a cabin next to the river. it was cozy-small bedroom and small living room with a kitchen area with pots and pans and a frig and microwave. ...Jasper is more of a small town, but still was quite relaxed and not crowded, even though it's a holiday weekend. Jasper is set in the middle of very impressive mountains-so we could sit in a restaurant and see mountains all around. We find a restaurant named "Earl's" which has a great view and serves cheap breakfast from 11-12 every day. We went there every day. Saturday is the harry and Meaghan wedding and we spend some time watching the wedding and hear comments. I read a lot at the chairs by the river. The next day we went up on the gondola to see the town from above later in the day. it was a great view,-we got to see a rain storm coming into town. lots of photos. When we drove back to the hotel, we saw some elk..
The next day we drove back to Banff. It was the end of the holiday weekend and there was much more traffic. Along the way, we saw a black bear at one place and some goats at another.
Banff is a much larger town, substantially more congested that Jasper. We stay at a motel in town known as the Banff Aspen Lodge. It was ok. You could walk to most things. A nice hot tub. We enjoyed the Fairmont a lot. they served lunch on the outdoor patio-where there was a great view of the mountains and the golf course. We went to the cave and hiked around there, and around Bow falls.
anyway-a quite relaxing trip in very beautiful surroundings.. .
1. there is a holiday (Victoria day) in May after which hotels get a lot more expensive.
2. lake louise has very poor grocery stores (therefore stock up in Banff).
3. the mosquitoes/bugs are pretty bad starting in june.
So we were lucky-going largely before Victoria day and the weather turned much warmer just as we arrived. We arrived in Calgary at around 1:30 and got out of town before any traffic. it is quite easy to get from the airport to the transcanada highway to Banff. the drive took about 90 minutes to Banff-maybe 45 minutes more to lake louise, our first stop. We stayed at the Baker Creek Chalets. It is located, as you might guess, at Baker Creek on the Bow river Parkway. it is normally about a 10-minute drive to lake louise, but the road was closed so it took about 35 minutes. (the road is supposed to reopen in june 2018). Lake louise is a tiny village, with one small shopping center.(with a good cafe, liquor store, small grocery and an outdoor equipment store). there is a gas station, another restaurant and a motel across the street. we liked the café in the shopping center a lot-good food (sandwiches mainly) and not very expensive.
Our hotel-Baker Creek-only had dinner and it was good but expensive. there is a gas grill and a few charcoal grills. We brought food from the café in lake louise for dinner. Our room was very large-frig and microwave, Jacuzzi, fireplace and balcony. The day after we arrived we hiked around lake louise at the fairmont and wandered around the Fairmont. this is a nice fun not very demanding hike-no elevation gain on the main trail. On the next day we hiked Johnson Canyon- a well-maintained very popular trail up to a few waterfalls.
our reservations at Baker Creek got mixed up so we moved to a motel in town called the Mountaineer for a night. It was ok-basically an average motel. We ate at the restaurant across the street, which was pretty good. We talked a lot with the waitress. it seems a lot of the people who work in the area are seasonal-they come from May until September of October and leave before winter. seems like fun-especially for younger people.
The next day we drove up the icefield parkway. It's pretty magnificent. there wasn't much traffic going upon a thursday. the park service has a good brochure about the parkway-showing where various things are, giving the mile (kilometer) number fro everything. During the stay we encountered lots of tourists= many from far away. we heard many languages and accents while in the area. The road for 200+ km is bounded on one or both sides by impressive mountains, with a number of glaciers. Stunning.
in Jasper we stayed at Becker's, which is a it out of town on a river. we had a cabin next to the river. it was cozy-small bedroom and small living room with a kitchen area with pots and pans and a frig and microwave. ...Jasper is more of a small town, but still was quite relaxed and not crowded, even though it's a holiday weekend. Jasper is set in the middle of very impressive mountains-so we could sit in a restaurant and see mountains all around. We find a restaurant named "Earl's" which has a great view and serves cheap breakfast from 11-12 every day. We went there every day. Saturday is the harry and Meaghan wedding and we spend some time watching the wedding and hear comments. I read a lot at the chairs by the river. The next day we went up on the gondola to see the town from above later in the day. it was a great view,-we got to see a rain storm coming into town. lots of photos. When we drove back to the hotel, we saw some elk..
The next day we drove back to Banff. It was the end of the holiday weekend and there was much more traffic. Along the way, we saw a black bear at one place and some goats at another.
Banff is a much larger town, substantially more congested that Jasper. We stay at a motel in town known as the Banff Aspen Lodge. It was ok. You could walk to most things. A nice hot tub. We enjoyed the Fairmont a lot. they served lunch on the outdoor patio-where there was a great view of the mountains and the golf course. We went to the cave and hiked around there, and around Bow falls.
anyway-a quite relaxing trip in very beautiful surroundings.. .
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