I am currently writing this post whilst on the shuttle bus ride back from our day at Lake Louise and Lake Moraine so watch out for Si’s post on that soon as the scenery was stunning and we’ve got loads of photos to share.

It was hard to say goodbye to our unique cabin in the woods in Valemount after having such a comfortable stay there but Banff was calling which is the penultimate stop on the West.

To get there you take a really scenic drive up through the mountains known as the ‘Icefields Parkway’. It is known as one of the most scenic drives in the world and is the highway that runs from Jasper to Banff. Suffice to say that meant as well as taking in the scenery as you were driving there were also a lot of scenic spots to stop at for a view, photo and a short walk.

The first thing that struck me was how much busier these areas were than the previous places we’ve been, whether it was because it was a Sunday or we were now more in summer holidays I don’t know, but there was a definite shift in numbers. A lot of the stops we made were rammed with people and it’s safe to say I got pretty hacked off early on with having to jostle for space. Some people treat the stops as a photo shoot too and hog the best viewpoints for ages, meaning everyone else trying to get pictures has to wait, it was very annoying!

There were two things that we had planned to do en route but couldn’t because the queues were too big – one was the Jasper Skytram which is a tram ride up the side of a mountain with views out over Jasper, and the second was the Icefields Skywalk which is a glass floored platform that overlooks the valley when you’re on the route to Banff. Both pictured above (not our photos obviously).

The stops we did make in order were:

Athabasca Falls

Goats and Glacier Lookout

Sunwapta Falls

Some more pics from our drive in between

Columbia Icefields Visitor Centre and the Glacier

You had views of the glacier from here and you can even buy a ticket to board a snow mobile type thing which actually takes you out onto one of the glaciers. Again we didn’t partake but it did look fun. 

Peyto Lake

Bow lake

The colour of the lakes were stunning. The higher you were the more striking the colour!

All in all it was a long day, as we left at around 10am and by the time we made it to our apartment it was 8pm. We also added an hour as we moved provinces from British Columbia to Alberta.

We are staying in an apartment in a small area called ‘Dead Man’s Flats’ which is near the town of Canmore, which is 30 mins from Banff. Again we seem to have lucked out with our Airbnb selection as it is excellent.

Loads of updates and pics from our day at Lake Louise to follow soon.

Lucy