Finally, a Holiday
Tuesday September 14, 2021
My badminton friends and I managed to snag some super cheap flights to Calgary a few months ago (Air Canada seemed desperate to get people back on planes, and were offering $254 return flights as well as free postponement in case COVID restrictions changed), and last week we spent Labour Day Weekend until the following Saturday covering Yoho, Banff and Jasper National Parks. It was my first time out of the province in over 18 months, and that alone was cause for celebration, but the scenery and wildlife that we saw was incredible. I've been to a few places in my travels, but this area in Canada, the Rocky Mountains, is a unique and absolutely stunning part of the world.
After arriving into Calgary on Saturday, we wandered around downtown and Chinatown - almost completely deserted - before walking down the Bow River. We stopped for some ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery before heading back to our carpark on the East Village. We went for dinner at my friend's uncle's Chinese restaurant before heading back to our Airbnb. A friend of mine was supposed to join us for the walk that afternoon but he was in Edmonton instead, and so we met up after he got back to grab some ice cream (second round of ice cream!) from Village Ice Cream.
On Sunday, we covered Takakkaw Falls, the second highest falls in Canada, and the nearby Emerald Lakes, in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. The falls were definitely the highest falls I've ever seen in my life, and the thundering roar of the water crashing into the rocks below and the force of the wind and spray in your face as your climbed up the rock face are something you have to experience yourself. You can't accurately depict the sheer size of the waterfall in a picture.
The next day, we were up early to get to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Easily the most famous lakes in Banff National Park, these two incredibly popular tourist destinations are busy with Instagrammers trying to get the perfect shot for the attention and the likes. It was raining when we got to Lake Louise, but it cleared up an hour or so later as we were climbing the Saddleback Pass Trail. We saw a marmot on the way up - I had never heard of such an animal before. We made it to the top of the trail but didn't get to climb any of the mountain peaks since people were pretty tired, so we headed back down to the lake. On the way, I dropped by the Fairview Lookout for a beautiful picture of the green waters of the lake, and then we headed to Moraine Lake. While Lake Louise is green in colour, Moraine is a vivid cerulean colour, and we spent a while on the rockpile taking photos before heading to the Consolation Lakes nearby (the name matches the experience of the view). On the way back to our Airbnb in Canmore, we saw a bear on the other side of the railroad tracks - another tick in my list of Canadian experiences!
On Tuesday, we were supposed to go to Johnston Canyon but the police had closed the entire section of highway due to suspicious activity at the canyon from Sunday. It later turned out to be non-criminal in nature, but instead we spent the day looking at the Vermilion Lakes, walking around Lake Minnewanka and Stewart Canyon, and hiking the Hoodoos Trail in Banff town itself. On Wednesday we headed out to Jasper National Park, a good three hour drive away, but we stopped by Crowfoot Glacier, Bow Lake, Athabasca Glacier and the Columbia Icefield Skywalk.
The next day, we saw a male elk on the way to our morning hike, who almost charged at us while we taking photos in the car. We explored the Valley of the Five Lakes before heading to the Edith Cavall Meadows to look at the Angel and Cavall Glaciers. While we were by the glacial lake, a part of the ice shelf of the Cavall Glacier fell into the lake - this is something that many people will not get to see in their lifetimes, and something I'll remember forever.
Our last full day started off with another elk sighting (and it almost charging at us again) between Hinton and Jasper. We spent an hour walking around Maligne Canyon and its beautiful blue rapids before starting the drive back to Banff. Our timing was perfect - we managed cover the Lower and Upper Falls of Johnston Canyon and have enough time to drive back to Calgary to meet my friend for dinner at Bolero, a Brazilian Steakhouse.
All in all, we were super lucky with the weather, as well as all the wildlife sightings - two elk, a marmot, a bear, several deer and countless chipmunks and squirrels. All the pictures we took were postcard quality. There was that magnificent aquamarines of the lakes, the yellows of autumn starting to emerge, the luscious deep greens of the forests in the area as well as that distinctive light blue of the glaciers. And of course, a week was not enough to cover everything that we wanted to cover. We'll definitely be back some day.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:26am on Tuesday September 14, 2021 :: 0 comments :: 