For those who may not know we are currently in a contract in Northwestern Montana. A gorgeous part of the state and only 2.5 hours from the Canada border. So of course I suckered Matt into us taking a trip to the Canadian Rockies. An area that has been on my bucket list for years! So we headed up towards Canada on a Thursday evening and camped at Tobacco River Campground just outside of Eureka, MT which was only about 15 minutes from crossing the border. That Friday morning we woke up around 5:30 A.M. and packed up our camping supplies and headed towards the Canada border. Due to us crossing the border at 6:30 A.M. there was no line to wait in but when we came back through during the middle of the day we had to wait about 30 minutes in line so go early when crossing the border and you will have no wait time. A few things to note, I bought our park pass in advance online but you can also pay when you enter the park. The park pass is a daily fee that covers all of the national parks. You also have to pay for a fire permit every day if you choose to have a fire at your campsite. In Canada the National Parks do not allow you to pull off and sleep in your vehicle or set up tent anywhere you have to be at a designated campground or have a back country permit.
We arrived in Banff National Park around 10:30 A.M. We had came in through Kootenay National Park along Highway 93 so we came into Banff National Park at the northern end of the park. This was perfect for us because we had no reservations due to a last minute planned trip all of the reservable camping spots are booked far out in advance, so we had to camp at a first come first serve campground. Our first stop was at Castle Mountain Campground and all of there spots were occupied so we went on down the road to Protection Mountain Campground and was able to find a camping spot here. It was an open campground with beautiful mountain views, not very many trees for shade cover though. They did have flush toilets and running water, no showers though.
Once we registered our campsite for the next three days we set up our tent and then headed out to our first hike Johnston Canyon to Ink Pots trail. It was about 11:30 A.M. when we arrived at the parking lot for this trail and the lot was completely full with about a half mile of cars parked along side the road. We learned our lesson right then that tomorrow we would start very early for our hiking. What was nice about Canada’s National Parks was that all of there trails are dog friendly and we LOVED that because that saved us from having to board Chaca (our pup) and leave her behind. The beginning of this trail was through the Johnston Canyon, which was beautiful. Then the trail headed up to the ink pots which were natural springs. The water was crystal clear and you could see the springs bubbling up from the bottom.
This trail was about 7.5 miles long and very crowded through the canyon but once you got past the canyon headed to the ink pots it was a lot less crowded. Afterwards, we headed to Vermilion Lake and relaxed by the water that evening before heading back to the campground. We went to bed early that night before it was even dark around 10:00 P.M. because we wanted to get up early the next morning to head to Moraine Lake. Out of all the articles and blogs I read about the Canadian Rockies in the summer time was to get up as early as you can to get parking at your planned hike for the day or you will have to park far away and be shuttled into your designated area. So we woke up on Saturday around 5:00 A.M. and arrived at Moraine Lake around 6:00 A.M. and the parking lot was already full! So we ended up parking in a little pull off about .25 mile from the parking lot and walked to Moraine Lake onto the famous rock pile to get sunrise pictures of the lake.
That morning was a little overcast but the lake was still beautiful and so blue from the glacier melt and with the snow topped mountains reflecting in the water was just breathtaking. After we spent a little time at Moraine Lake we headed on to Lake Louise to do our hike for the day. It was about 7:45 A.M. when we arrived and we were probably 15 minutes from not getting a parking spot at the lake parking lot. We packed some lunches for the top of our hike and headed on to the lake. Lake Louise also had a gorgeous blue color from the glacier melt as well.
We started on the Pain of Six Glacier trail which was an 8 mile trail that took you to six glaciers. On this trail about 0.5 mile from the end of the trail up top was a cute little tea house called Plain of Six Glaciers Tea House.
This tea house was built in 1927 and has been privately owned and operated by the same family since 1959. The workers either hike up or ride horses and stay at the tea house for 5 days at a time. Supplies are horse backed in, back packed in by the workers, or flown in by helicopter. They mostly serve tea, other beverages, and light food and it is cash only due to no electricity. The tea house was a really cool experience and we definitely recommend stopping by and having a cup of tea if you are ever on this trail.
After we sipped our tea, we headed on up to the end of the trail to view all of the glaciers. It was a super cool experience and one glacier was calving about every 10-15 minutes and would sound like thunder every time it happened.
We ate our lunch while admiring all the glaciers and then headed back down to Lake Louise. By the time we got back down it was about 1:00 P.M. and the bottom of the lake was packed!
We left the lake and rode towards Banff the town to fill up gas because there are not that many gas stations in this area and we were heading to Jasper National Park the next day. After we got gas, we rode around to some of the lakes until the weather got bad and it started to rain, so we headed back to our tent and had a relaxing evening of book reading. The weather cleared up just in time to cook supper before bed. On Sunday, we rose early again around 6:00 A.M. and was on the road just before 7 heading towards Jasper National Park for the day. The weather was supposed to be rainy that day but we trekked on anyways and somehow dodged the rain most of the day. Our first stop was at Peyto Lake.
This trail was very short about 0.5 mile in and out but with a gorgeous viewing. Once again we just did beat the crowds for this view! Then we headed on up the Icefields Parkway into Jasper National Park. This highway is so gorgeous, full of glacier topped mountains and the road runs along the river the entire way to Jasper the town. We stopped to hike Wilcox Pass that took you to some amazing views of some glaciers and the Columbia Icefield. The beginning of the hike started in the trees then came to an opening into a meadow of rocky green grass all the way to the top.
When we arrived at the top of the pass the views were outstanding.
We enjoyed a snack and soaked up all the views before heading back down the trail. Once we made it to the car, we headed on up the highway stopping along the road for picturesque views. We also stopped and viewed the Athabasca Falls.
At this point we decided to turn around and head back to our campground because we were about 2.5 hours away and it was getting dark and about to storm. The dark clouds followed behind us all the way to our campground. Once we got there, we made a fire before it rained and had dinner. We had originally planned to stay till Tuesday but we had hit all of the major things we wanted to see and the weather was supposed to be rainy the rest of the week so we slept in a little on Monday morning before packing up and heading back to Montana. Canada was gorgeous and was a big check off of my bucket list!