Banff & Jasper National Park

The Canadian Rockies have been on my bucket list for several years now and over labor day weekend we finally checked it off the list! Only to put it back on the list because there was so much to do and see that we didn’t get to do it all and want to go back as soon as we can.

moraine lake

We did Moraine lake very early on our first morning there and even at the end of our 5 days in the area it was still our favorite spot. It has become such a popular spot that in order to park in the lot by the lake vs being shuttled in you have to get there very early in the morning. We were staying in the town of Banff and got up around 4:30 am and were up to the Moraine Lake parking area by 5:45 am. It is crazy how much easier it is to get up that early when you are on vacation going to see a cool spot vs trying to make a early morning spin class before work! Honestly I thought it was kind of crazy that we were going that early in morning but later was so glad we did. We were soon greeted by the most gorgeous sunrise lighting up the mountain peaks and I quickly forgot about being tired and not having had any coffee yet.

We took sunrise photos at rockpile which is a very short walk to a great lookout area (wouldn’t really even call it a hike). And after landing after dark and driving up there in the dark that morning it was quite a stunning first view of the rockies!

After sunrise photos we headed to the trailhead for the Valley of the ten peaks, we started the trail around 7:30/7:45 when it was still very cool and only a handful of others hiking near us. It was a good bit of switchbacks heading up the mountain, not a ton of open views, but every once in awhile we would catch a glance of the lake and the surrounding mountains throughout the hike. Eventually you get further beyond the lake itself to an opening of a valley where there are unreal views of all 10 peaks and are surrounded by the larch trees. You can also continue this hike on to sentinel pass which has a small lake higher up in the peaks.

around the town of banff

While Moraine Lake and Lake Louise are both a little further north than the actual town of Banff there are still tons of cool things to check out in and around the town. After sunrise at Moraine Lake and hiking to Larch Valley, we spent the afternoon driving around and checking out the different lakes closer to Banff including Vermillion Lakes, Two Jack and Lake Minnewanka. All three were gorgeous and had different picnic areas you could hangout at, Vermillion also had a nice setup for canoeing or kayaking.

We also checked out plenty of good restaurants in town and these were some of our favorites

Banff Ave Brewing had both good beer and good food, perfect at the end of a long day of hiking!
Wild Flower Bakery is a great spot for breakfast or lunch, and make all of their own breads
Bear Street Tavern had the most amazing pizza! Their special sauce is to mix honey and red pepper infused oil to dip your pizza in while it may sound odd just trust me and give it a try :)
Juniper Bistro was a nicer dinner we did, the restaurant is part of a hotel but not necessary that you are staying at the hotel to dine there. They had a nice patio and while the weather didn’t cooperate for us to enjoy that it was cozy inside and the food was great
Trailhead Cafe is a small spot off the exit for Lake Louise and Moraine Lake where we picked up breakfast two different days. They have great specialty coffee drinks and breakfast sandwiches. They will also pack up lunch sandwiches for you to take on a hike if you want.
Other things to note… because it is such a cool spot it has become very popular and things book up fast! I would suggest booking hotels sooner rather than later as well as planning any specific dinners or activities. We rented a car and it really felt like the best/only way to get around and see everything. Not saying you couldn’t do it without a car but everything is pretty spread out. We went over labor day weekend and while the days were nice and it got up into the low 70’s it was very cool at nights and early morning so be prepared for that even in the summer months. And do be smart about and prepared for potential wildlife encounters. We purchased two cans of bear spray at Bass Pro Shops when we landed in Calgary and had it with us on all of our hikes. While fortunately we were glad we didn’t have to use it, do carry it, that is not a chance you want to take.

lake louise

Lake Louise is another can’t miss and very popular spot! Similar to Moraine lake we got to Lake Louise early in the morning around 6am and before sunrise. This lot also fills up, and if it does you just have to travel a ways back down the highway to take a shuttle in from another lot. We didn’t have a ton of time at Lake Louise so just walked around the lake but there are a couple of hikes up to Lake Agnes and the big and little beehive that we really want to do when we go back. They even have a tea house where you can enjoy tea and a bite to eat while overlooking mirror lake up in the mountains.

heli hike

Another super cool thing we did was a heli hike! The pilot helicoptered us out up into the mountain peaks, past the plain of the six glaciers and landed us next to a river where we then did a short hike to a waterfall. It was gorgeous views the whole time and so cool to get away from some of the crowds in the more popular areas and just enjoy the beauty of Alberta.

Icefields Parkway

The icefields parkway is considered to be one of the most scenic drives in the world. It is the drive that connects Banff up to Jasper National park. In addition to being gorgeous mountain views as you drive there are also tons of cool places to stop off along the way. While the drive is only about 3 and half hours, you can easily make a full day out of the drive if you take advantage of all of the stops along the way. Our original plan was to hit up the tea house at Lake Agnes (Lake Louise hike) and then do the parkway the afternoon. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate and it was very rainy to the point that the “scenic drive” wasn’t so scenic. But the good news about going up to Jasper is we also had to go back so were able to enjoy more of the views and stops along our way back.

A few of our favorite stop offs include:

Peyto Lake was unreal, you see photos of it and think it must have had major editing done for the water to be that blue but wow is really is that blue. It is an absolute can’t miss along the parkway!

Waterfowl Lake was one that we didn’t do a ton of research on ahead of time and more so just happened to stop off there for a few minutes and it turned out to be one of our favorites.

Mistaya Canyon is a short hike down from the parking lot along the icefields parkway and a cool view of the river rushing through a steep and deep canyon

Waterfowl Lake along the Icefields parkway

Mistaya Canyon along the Icefields Parkway

Jasper National Park

Unfortunately we didn’t have as great of weather for our time in Jasper as we did in Banff so didn’t end up doing all of the hikes we had initially planned. Jasper is a different experience from Banff, it is not nearly as crowded as Banff which we really enjoyed. It may have been somewhat related to the weather but we found the lakes to not be quite as bright of shades of blues as the Banff area but saw so much more wildlife in Jasper - we saw SIX bears! Also had the weather cooperated a little better I think we would have seen some awesome stars at night. We actually just missed sightings of the northern lights in Jasper by one night! Medicine Lake was a cool spot we stopped at on the way to Maligne Lake, we also enjoyed hanging out at Pyramid and Patricia Lakes and having a beer at Annette Lake.

restaurants in jasper

Raven Bistro - was a small upscale Bistro featuring mediterranean fusion food with a nice bar setup and good service.
Fiddle River Restaurant - is cozy spot in downtown Jasper. Both of our meals were good but my husband definitely won the dinner order with the Fiddle Fish Pot! It was salmon, halibut, snapper, prawns, mussels and clams all simmered in a tomato, saffron and fennel coconut broth topped with a scoop of rice. It was the perfect mix of flavors and I couldn’t keep my spoon of out of his bowl!
Jasper Brewing Co - owned by the same people that own Banff Avenue Brewing we also enjoyed Jasper Brewing Company for post hike beer and appetizers.

Jasper Brewing Company Beer at Annette Lake

maligne lake & Spirit Island

Our favorite thing we did in Jasper was the boat tour at Maligne Lake over to Spirit Island. Now hear me out, we are not typically tour people… we enjoy doing the research ahead of time and hiking and exploring new areas mostly on our own. But I am open to doing a tour if they can take me somewhere that I wouldn’t normally be able to go on my own. We did the boat cruise that takes you across Maligne Lake, they tell you a good bit of history about the lake and surrounding mountain ranges and are the only motorized boats that are allowed on the lake. They do a stop at Spirit Island where you can walk around and take photos of this iconic spot. The only other way to get to Spirit Island would be to canoe or kayak and it would take you a full day to paddle there.

Yoho National Forest/Park - Emerald Lake

On our last day as we were heading back towards Calgary we decided to make a quick stop at Emerald Lake in Yoho National park. Emerald Lake wasn’t part of our original itinerary but we were so glad we decided to stop. While all of the lakes in the area are gorgeous Emerald is cool because it is a different shade of blue/green from all the other lakes we visited. We opted to canoe at Emerald lake, we had seen people doing it at many of the other lakes and it was our last day so felt like we didn’t want to miss out. And I have to say it was awesome to cruise through the emerald green waters while looking up at the mountains.

While we didn’t get to spend a ton of time at Yoho National we really enjoyed what we did get to see. Yoho National park is the area I think we will spend a lot more time exploring when we make the trip back to the area. I would love to hike around Emerald Lake and also spend some time checking out other lakes in the area like Lake O’Hara, Opabin Lake and Oesa Lake.

All in all you can’t go wrong with a trip to the Canadian Rockies, it is a stunning part of this amazing world we live in and there are so many amazing sights to see! Even after 5 full days there I keep catching myself looking up the place we want to go when we do another trip.

And finally I have to give a shout out to my super talented husband for most all of the photos used in this post (and a lot of my blog posts). He takes all of the really good photos and I have a tendency to just take photos of him taking photos :)

Michelle OwensNovember 20, 20191 Comment