Canadian Rockies July 29, 2023 report

[Eastridge]

Day 3: Arrival at the Fairmont Banff Springs

Finally we arrived at Banff and saw our next hotel: the iconic Fairmont Banff Springs. This was easily the best hotel of the trip. The nickname is "the castle" and it does resemble a place where Dumbledore trains young wizards.





Beyond the main building is another complex to hold conferences, a theater, a kids center and bowling alleys. There are many shops and restaurants, a spa, and both an indoor and outdoor pool. We stumbled onto what looked like a ballroom. There is a small museum about the hotel itself. If you told me there was a throne room and dungeon, I would have believed you. It also has a golf course with amazing views.







And then we saw our rooms...

 

[Eastridge]

Day 3: Rooms at Fairmont Banff Springs

ABD put us in a room with great views. It was a corner room, with views in two directions. One looked toward the golf course, the Bow River and the falls. The room was large and comfortable. They really spoiled us.









Our other room was larger (with two beds) and had a less obstructed view that included the lower levels of the hotel:

 

[Eastridge]

Day 3: Mickey and Minnie at the Fairmont Banff Springs













Mickey and Minnie had a better vacation than I did.

 

[sayhello]

Here in the Midwest, we have the same thing as Beavertails, except they are called Elephant Ears (and shaped slightly different). But the same thing. Definitely enough to put me in a diabetic coma! And you didn't try poutine? Tsk, tsk!

I love Mickey & Minnie's vacation!

I really wanted to stay at the Banff Fairmont back in 2009. but the trip back then stayed at the Banff Park Lodge inside the National Park. I still have not been. I need to work on that!

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

And you didn't try poutine? Tsk, tsk!

There's a big hike coming up on Day 6. I didn't think eating poutine before that would have helped...

 

[Eastridge]

Day 3: Adult and Junior dinners

Tonight was the adult dinner night. But instead of all the adults eating dinner together at one spot, the guides made individual reservations for each family group. We had our choice of restaurants at the Fairmont Banff Springs. ABD covered an appetizer, entree and dessert. We chose Waldhaus, which serves German / Austrian / Swiss cuisine.



Waldhaus is in a separate building from the castle, actually a significant distance away. I think you can walk there but that involves 1) finding the path, which wasn't apparent to us and 2) climbing or descending a lot of stairs. So instead we asked the valets to drive us there and back on golf carts.

In the meantime the guides took the junior adventurers to a separate dinner and event. The itinerary said it was a movie and Smores. But you can do that anywhere. The guides had a better idea. I think they still stuffed the kids full of pizza and desserts. But then they went bowling in the bowling alley at the hotel.

And this isn't the 10 pin bowling that I'm familiar with in the US. This is 5 pin bowling, which is a Canadian invention. The pins are worth different values and are smaller and spaced apart further. You can bowl three times per frame, not twice. And the bowling ball itself is much smaller, something that fits in your palm and doesn't have any fingerholes.



This was a more unique experience and a better choice. The kids seemed to like it. There was also a game room nearby with a pool table and I think a foosball table.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 4: Banff Fun! (Breakfast at the Fairmont Banff Springs)

Breakfast was a buffet in the Vermillion restaurant, a French restaurant. I think this was the largest buffet and here are pictures of part of it, and of the dining room

 

[Eastridge]

Day 4: Bike ride along the Bow River (Bow Falls, Cave and Basin, Cascade of Time garden)

The first event today was a bike ride, with three stops. The bus took us on a short drive to a spot by the river to where the bikes were.

This bike ride event was thoughtfully done, and was different from the much more challenging one on the ABD New Zealand trip. When we arrived, each person who had signed up for bike riding had a bike with his/her name on it, properly sized. There was even one bike with a trailer so the parent could pull a child who was too young to bike. We biked on trails, some wide and some moderately wide. There was little oncoming traffic so almost all the time we could use the entire width. The route was basically flat and not strenuous. If you went off the trail, there weren't many places where that would be a serious problem. I'm not aware of anybody getting hurt. These were mountain bikes and I found it much easier to balance on them than during the NZ trip.






What if you started biking but had enough and wanted to quit after one of the stops? You could do that. The bike company collected your bike and you could ride in the bus. What if you didn't want to bike at all? You still got to visit all three stops. You just rode in the bus instead of doing the bike ride.

The funny thing about this activity is that it covered all the places I was planning to go during the "on your own" time later in the day.

The first stop was Bow Falls. This was an impressive sight. Bow Falls is higher than Niagara Falls.



Well, it's not that tall from top to bottom. But Bow Falls is about 4500 feet above sea level, while Niagara Falls is around 600 feet above sea level, so Bow Falls is higher.

The second stop is the Cave and Basin site. This is the site of the original hot springs. The government protected this area and this led to the creation of the first national park, which eventually became Banff National Park.



Some tourist sites have these pairs of red chairs, I guess to encourage people to want to visit many sites and find all of them.



The hot springs



There was also an area where endangered snails live. Doing anything to disturb the pond where they are means a huge fine. So be very careful to not drop your phone, sunglasses, hat or children into the pond

The black things are the endangered snails. I think.​

Finally, the last stop is at the Cascade of Time garden, close to the Banff National Park administration building and also very close to where we started the bike activity. The gardens weren't huge but they were pretty. There are views across the river and bridge, into downtown Banff and the mountains behind that.

Looking towards downtown Banff​

After this it was a short drive to the Banff Gondola.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 4: Banff Gondola

We took the Banff Gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain:





At the top you get spectacular views:


Looking toward downtown Banff (on the far side of Bow River)


Fairmont Banff Springs is in the lower left. Bow Falls is directly behind the hotel. The golf course is to the right of Bow River.

There were bighorn sheep below the building at the top:



We had a buffet lunch in the restaurant at the top. After lunch, Lauren led a group to hike to the nearby weather tower:



Since I ate too much at lunch, I declined to do the ~300 foot climb to the top. But my son went and took this photo (looking back towards the main building):

 

[Eastridge]

Day 4: On your own time and dinner

After the gondola, we returned to the hotel and had the rest of the day and night on our own.

You could use the amenities in the hotel that I previously mentioned. Downtown Banff has many restaurants and specialty shops. It is much larger than Canmore. You can spend quite a while there, depending on your interests. While you can walk there from the Fairmont, you can also catch a bus (route 2). The front desk at the hotel gives you free bus passes.

We ended up playing 5 pin bowling since my son wanted to play again and beat his parents. He did, but just by one point. I can't control where the bowling ball goes in 5 pin bowling any better than in 10 pin, but I did get lucky at one point and got a strike which made the game close.

We took the bus to downtown Banff for dinner and shopping. We ate at a restaurant called The Maple Leaf, which had maple flavored salmon:

 

[sayhello]

That view from the top of the gondola!!!

And that salmon looks delicious!

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

Day 5: Goodness Glaciers

This day, we left Banff and headed towards Lake Louise. This was the earliest start during the entire trip. There was construction on the highway and the guides wanted to ensure we made it to the icefields on time. Luggage was collected at 5:30am. Breakfast opened at 6am and we met in the lobby at 6:45am.

As we headed out in the bus, we saw more of the Rockies and I noticed the wildlife bridges. The sides of the highway were fenced off to prevent animals from crossing the highway. Instead, there were several bridges built just for wildlife to cross the highway safely. Except for the predators who learned that the bridges made good spots for ambushes.

Wildlife bridge​

Today was built around a single activity, the Columbia Icefields experience. It had the most bus time, since we had to go beyond Lake Louise to get to the glaciers, then turn around and come back to Lake Louise.

We had a pit stop on the way out, at Saskatchewan Crossing. All rest stops should have scenery like this:

 

[Eastridge]

Day 5: Columbia Icefield Experience (Athabasca glacier walk)

We reached the icefields center, which is a large building with huge parking lots. The building has a restaurant and many facilities. From here, we left the ABD bus and all the activities here were handled by this company and its equipment. The steps were:

• Get on a bus that takes you to a staging area close to the glacier
• At this staging area, transfer to a special vehicle with huge wheels that takes you to the glacier
• Walk around on the the glacier, within the designated boundary, unless you wanted to end up a frozen corpse after falling through the ice
• Get back onto the special vehicle, which returns to the staging area
• Take a different bus to the skywalk area
• Walk around the skywalk area
• Catch a different bus that returns to the icefields center building
• Run like hell to the bathroom

Because this entire sequence takes about 2.5 hours and there is no toilet available anywhere. This is not ABD's fault since everything is run by the icefields company. But the guides made sure we knew this in advance and told us before boarding the first bus "Even if you don't have to go, go."

View of the glaciers from the icefields center​

Boarding the special vehicles​

Walking on Athabasca glacier​

We saw two avalanches in the distance (on the right side). Walking on top of the glacier was like walking on a huge pile of ice cubes.

Glacier melt water. It was nearly freezing​

Traveling between the staging area and the glacier required the special vehicles to survive a 32 degree slope. During that section, the driver had to remain silent and focus all his attention on the gauges.



This was a cool experience. Actually, it was cold. Bring warm clothes.

The driver said that with global warming, this glacier may be gone within 50 years.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 5: Columbia Icefield experience (Skywalk)

If @sayhello was on this trip, this would be her favorite activity. Ok, not really. The skywalk is a big parabola that extends out over a valley, where the floor and walls are all glass so you can see the ground below.



You walk along a path to the skywalk. You don't have to go on the skywalk itself since there is a bypass that stays on the cliff. Then you take a different path back to the bus stop.







After returning to the icefields center, we had a buffet lunch, had a bit of time for the gift shop, then boarded the ABD bus to go to Lake Loiuse

 

[Eastridge]

Day 5: A word about safety

I've been impressed by the steps ABD takes for safety. I'll mention two things that were specific to this trip

First, on the drive back, we ran into a traffic jam. Cars were pulled over and people were getting out. Turned out there was a black bear in the bushes. Families were getting within 15 feet of the bear and taking selfies. No, I'm not going to include a photo of this. No, our bus did not stop and nobody got off. For good reason: earlier in the trip, Josh had listed the distances we needed to maintain from wildlife. For a bear it was a couple of hundred feet.

Before our hike on Day 6, Josh briefed us about bear safety. He asked what kind of bears we needed to be concerned about. My answer of gummy bears was incorrect. The two in this area are black and grizzly bears. He showed us the size of the claw of a grizzly bear:



During the hike, Josh escorted us and had bear spray available. The particular trail was popular and it was rare that there weren't other people around, so a bear encounter was unlikely, but Josh was still prepared. Apparently you must be very close to the bear to employ the bear spray so your best move is to not run into one. However, if guests wanted to do their own separate hike, they were asked to get bear spray from the hotel, which was free as long as you didn't use it.



Second, once we drove past Banff, cell reception was spotty. There were many areas that had no coverage. I saw Josh had a satellite phone. This was to guarantee that they could call ABD in case of emergency. This is something I wouldn't have thought of or brought if I were driving on my own. It wouldn't surprise me if they used that phone just to update the command center on the trip's status.

Since it was a long drive to Lake Louise, the guides played a movie on the bus. It was... Brother Bear.

 

[sayhello]

As we headed out in the bus, we saw more of the Rockies and I noticed the wildlife bridges. The sides of the highway were fenced off to prevent animals from crossing the highway. Instead, there were several bridges built just for wildlife to cross the highway safely. Except for the predators who learned that the bridges made good spots for ambushes.

OK, that's just sad about the predators. I mean, it's great for the predators, but really sad for the rest of the wildlife this was meant to help!

If @sayhello was on this trip, this would be her favorite activity.

Funny!

Ok, not really. The skywalk is a big parabola that extends out over a valley, where the floor and walls are all glass so you can see the ground below.

View attachment 792501

You walk along a path to the skywalk. You don't have to go on the skywalk itself since there is a bypass that stays on the cliff. Then you take a different path back to the bus stop.

View attachment 792502

View attachment 792503

View attachment 792504

Nope. Just nope! I'll do the bypass part, but not that skywalk. Nope!

Gorgeous views, though!

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

Day 5: Peyto Lake

Since there was time available, the guides took us to Peyto Lake en route to Lake Louise. There is a walk from the parking lot to the overlook. It felt like half a kilometer and less than a 100 foot elevation change. So it was a short walk but it does take a bit to get to the overlook.

Once you get there, you see these views. Apparently Peyto Lake looks like a wolf, but I thought it was shaped like a fox.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 5: Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

We arrived at Lake Louise and our third and final hotel: the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.





This hotel was not as big and impressive as the Fairmont Banff Springs. The rooms had not been remodeled as recently. And service overall was slower. Maybe there were staffing shortages. But this hotel has an ace that Banff can't match. It is adjacent to Lake Louise.

Looking towards the canoe facilities​

This evening had the worst air quality of the entire trip. You can see the haze in the pictures above. The smell was a bit irritating.

Lauren and Josh put us in a corner room! It had two views, one looking towards the canoe building and the other directly of the lake itself. The only downside is that it did not have central air conditioning. It did have a small built in AC unit and at night we could open the window to cool the room down, but that also meant letting the smoke in. There was a ceiling fan that we made good use of. Our other hotel room did have central AC.










Dinner was at the hotel. It was served family style, so everyone got everything listed on the menu:

 

[Eastridge]

Day 5: Swimming in Lake Louise?!?

It is now early August. The lake is probably as warm as it ever gets. Which since it collects melted water from glaciers, is still really cold. I'm guessing it was 40 degrees F.

So nobody would go swimming in the lake, right? That would be a little crazy, right?

Well...

Part of your world​

 

[sayhello]

OMG, that last photo of Josh is *hilarious*!!

Sayhello