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Banff National Park Travel Blogs

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By Varsity Tyler
October 27th 2009

Alberta! (all over) North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

Sunset nearing Westlock

Soooo a few days and no updates. But fear not! Now we're back on track. There has been lots of visiting this past little while. First we went from Saskatoon to visit Al in Westlock, Alberta. Though we were only there for a handful of hours we still had a fantastic little trip up. Dan - Al's boyfriend whom I haven't seen since my Ottawa days - was also in town visiting, so it was a good-sized reunion all around. That night we had a fantastic salmon fillet for dinner, alongside some risotto and stir-fried vegetables. Come morning Val and I [View Full Entry]

By Martha Van Mollison
October 3rd 2009

Johnston Canyon and Moraine lake North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park » Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon and Moraine Lake Twinning The National Parks people and the government of Canada know that one of the major draws to the Canadian Rockies and the national parklands is the chance for people to see wildlife. So it's a worry that the reproduction rate of some of the big animals has been dropping. In response, there are efforts to buttress up the wildlife habitats and educate people on staying away from critical areas during spring calving and the autumn rutting season. On the highway between the townships of Banff and Lake Louise, the policy of “twinning” is [View Full Entry]

By Martha Van Mollison
October 2nd 2009

Why Lake Louise? North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

Lake Louise in the early morning

Why Lake Louise? Once upon a time, a newly married couple were having breakfast in a tiny motel dining room overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Diamond Head—in AUSTRALIA, a bit north of Myall Lakes. Though the view out the large picture window was the main attention getter, on one small patch of wall there was a gorgeous poster of Lake Louise in British Columbia, Canada. “I was there once -- it's so beautiful,” she gushed. Then, airily, “One day I'll take you there.” That was 35 years ago, and Martha is FINALLY able to keep that promise to Phil. The newlywe [View Full Entry]

By Sparkling Earrings
October 1st 2009

Day 19 North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

The Road to Banff

October 1, 2009 A quiet day that began with a ride to the town of Banff; another beautiful trip with mountain views that left us breathless. The town reminded us of Europe…quaint shops lining streets that sit at the base of mountains that stand like giant sentries…but my goodness how expensive things were. Donna and I had an interesting experience in the grocery store. We were trying to buy a pound of ham to make sandwiches for our lunch on the road tomorrow… (Being frugal) but everything here is in metric and being the ugly Americans that we are…we don’t kno [View Full Entry]

By Sparkling Earrings
September 29th 2009

Day17 North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

Views of Canadian Rockies

September 29, 2009 From The Bloggers Without Borders!!!!!! “Rocky Mountain High”! After driving all day we arrived at our destination in Banff National Park. The ride from Shelby to the border was about 40 miles. The Canadian border guard looked like a 6 year old with a pony tail but she was a feisty one…not at all funny like our friend from the U.S. border who called us hippies. I don’t know why but as soon as we approach these border crossings, I immediately feel like some sort of criminal…guilty of some infraction. Maybe we ARE carrying weapons or illegal d [View Full Entry]

By DontPanic
September 27th 2009

Banff National Park North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

Banff Avenue

Having left the farm in the Kootenays, I headed for Banff. But lifts were harder to get than I'd found previously, and I only made it as far as Revelstoke on the first day. This was a fairly small town that looked like it came alive in the winter, and was a big ski/snowboard destination. My experience of it was a hostel full of young australians, and a sports bar where I had dinner and watched Liverpool beat Leeds without any commentary. The next day wasn't much better in terms of lifts, but I did manage to get to Banff, and [View Full Entry]

By teamnut
September 10th 2009

Moraine Lake North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

Moraine Lake

Today we set off for Lake Louise, but our first stop would be Moraine Lake, this is a glacially fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres outside the Village of Lake Louise. We'd visited the lake before, maybe 10 years or more ago, but we knew it would be worth another look. This lake is a brilliant blue / green colour that can only really be appreicted by a visit. The colour is caused by "rock flour" Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of clay-sized particles of rock, generated by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. [View Full Entry]

By teamnut
September 10th 2009

The Plain of the Six Glaciers North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

View of Lake Louise

This is a walk that starts from the shores of Lake Louise, the trail ascends to the "Plain of Six Glaciers Teahouse" Apparently you can see six glaciers from the top, not something you can do everyday, certainly not where we live anyway. Starting nice and easy with a stretch along the shore of the lake, the trail eventually starts to climb and climb but with the promise of the teahouse as our goal. The trail is about 5.5 km long, it reaches just under 7000ft and took us around 1.5 hrs to reach the teahouse. With all the views behind [View Full Entry]

By teamnut
September 9th 2009

Bankhead Ghost Town North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

Bankhead Locomotive.

Today we visited a deserted coal mining town near Banff called Bankhead. The town was born supply coal for the locomotives of the Canadian Pacific Railway and at one point had over 1500 residents, that's hard to believe when you see it today. Apparently Bankhead was geographically split between the massive mine site and the residential area, it included a hotel, school facilities, pool hall, a restaurant, stores, several saloons, about 100 residential homes, a boarding house for single men and a church. After the closure of the mine many of the buidlings were removed or demolished but t [View Full Entry]

By teamnut
September 9th 2009

Sundance Canyon Trail North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park

Sundance Canyon Trail

We starting our cycle ride at the Cave and Basin (hot spring) in Banff, which incidentaly is where the Canadian National Parks were founded by a couple of railway workers. The trail to Sundance Canyon is an 8.6km round trip. This paved route seems to be very popular with all types of people, horse riders, cyclists, walkers and even skateboarders. This is a fairly flat trail and runs along side a the Bow river for a little while, the river was paticularly blue today. After about 2 km the trail moves away from the river and heads into the forest. At [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park