Banff, Alberta

July 27, 2025

The last time we were in this part of the Canadian Rockies (over 30 years ago-yikes!), we coined the phrase, "A day without rain is not a day on vacation." While we don't consider ourselves quite "on vacation" anymore, the rain part of the adage seems to have held true for this leg of our travels.

Fortunately, three of the days were partly-to-mostly nice with only a few sprinkles of rain here and there. And the best part was that we had house camper guests during these days 🙂. Audrey and Alan and three of their friends flew in from St. Paul, Minnesota and stayed with us from Monday night (actually, it was in the wee hours of Tuesday morning when they finally made it to the campsite) through very early Saturday morning.

Our campsite before our guests arrived (and after they left)

We had a delightful time with the "kids", and it sure made for a more eventful week than we usually have. Due to a flight delay, they arrived at our campsite sometime after midnight Tuesday morning. The three boys then had to set up their tent and sleep on the hard ground. The two girls, being the minority, were accommodated in the warm, dry camper with a real mattress to sleep on. Life is just unfair that way.

Tuesday was a cool day (mid-50s) with on-again-off-again sprinkles. The kids took the free shuttle from the campground into Banff while we hung out in the warm camper (because we are not on vacation and therefore do not have to maximize our touristy activity). Despite the relatively unpleasant weather, the kids enjoyed doing some souvenir shopping, having lunch at a Korean restaurant (their first choice fondue place was closed on Tuesdays), and walking back to the campground along a very scenic trail.

By evening, the skies had cleared and we enjoyed our first campfire of the week. Banff National Park campgrounds have a mandatory campfire permit fee that is collected for each night's stay, whether you have a fire or not. The good news is that all firewood is free and you can take all you can burn from the wood lot. The only downside is that you have to split it yourself. Fortunately, we had free labor for that 😉.

No log was too big for Michael to split

Don't need no stinking log splitter for this one--Michael can just use his bare hands

A leaf blower quickly got the fire started

Dinner time!

Piling on heaps of micro-split wood for a grand finale bonfire

Wednesday was a mostly clear day (with a couple of sprinkles in the early evening), and we all got to see the tops of the mountains for the first time. The kids hiked the challenging Bourgeau Lake/Harvey Pass trail, while we biked around Banff--definitely the more relaxing activity for those pushing 60.

Rick shuttled the kids to the trailhead because parking is often difficult to score in these parts

We were able to ride a trail from our campground into Banff

We made good use of the electric on this ride

Overlooking the town of Banff

Banff has changed a lot since we were here 30+ years ago --more development and more people!

There was special parking for getting your selfie in front of the Banff sign. We didn't feel like standing in line, so no Banff selfie shot for us.

Soon we were away from the crowds and into nature

On this road, you will be thrown from your bike...

...You will be crushed by multiple rocks...

...And then buried in snow!

Perhaps there are a few cracks in the road here and there, but we've definitely traveled on more treacherous trails before

The Vermilion Lakes

We encountered this intimidating gate--it looked electrified, and we weren't sure what to do. The small sign said to please close the gate, so we figured it probably wouldn't kill us?

Julie made Rick open the gate

The trail continued on for a while, paralleling the Trans-Canada Highway

We turned around and went back the way we came

Another shot of one of the photogenic Vermilion Lakes

Riding toward town along the scenic Bow River

Crossing the pedestrian bridge over the river

Julie checked out the terrace of the Banff Springs hotel. Years ago when we visited, the decor had a decidedly more Scottish-Highlands-rustic vibe. Julie was not a fan of the redecorating.

At least the view was pretty much the same

A scenic golf course

Bow Falls

Downstream from the falls

We rode through a sculpture park--this one was Julie's favorite

The bears portaging the canoe was a fun one as well

The iconic Banff Springs Hotel from across the Bow River

The kids didn't finish their hike until about 8 pm that evening, but they all raved about it, even if it had been a bit painful for the two brave souls (Alan and Jasper) who decided to power their way to the very top of the mountain.

Oh, to be able to hike 5500+ vertical feet! We would need to be airlifted out if we attempted this hike!

Thursday was a designated "rest day", so we agreed to limit our walking to less than 1000 vertical feet. The weather was the best yet--a good amount of sun and a high in the 70s. We all decided to take the bus back into Banff and try out the fondue place for lunch (since it was not a Tuesday anymore). Unfortunately, being Banff, we were turned away for lack of reservations. We settled on a less crowded poutine place and ate a pleasant meal outside. (We discovered that the crowds are slightly less dense off of Main Street.) We followed up lunch with a little more souvenir shopping and some yummy gelato.

Afterwards, we retraced the path back to the campground via the route the kids had taken a couple of days before.

When you find a log over a stream, you know you have to cross it

Several of our party took a plunge into the frigid water, while a select few limited the encounter to feet/legs only...

Nice look!

🎵...Come dance in the forest and play in the field; and sing, sing to the glory of the Lord...🎵

Not sure what the circle of rocks was supposed to mean

We made a slight detour to go see the hoodoo overlook

While the overlook was scenic, the hoodoos were a bit underwhelming and were judged to be "not worth it" by the tired crew

There was a slight bit of murmuring that the 6-ish mile walk did not really fit the definition of an activity you do on a rest day, but everyone more or less made it back to camp in one piece. After a dinner of brats/sausages/hot dogs over the campfire, it seemed that everyone forgot their fatigue and there was talk of driving back to the hoodoo overlook after midnight in hopes of seeing stars in the dark sky. That is what everyone decided to do (except Julie, because only six people could fit in the truck, and she kind of preferred the idea of going to sleep anyway).

Some stayed up playing cards until after midnight...

...while others took a nap

Friday was the last day of the kids' visit. Alan and Rick set out early in the morning to acquire a rental car to transport the travelers to the airport the next day. The day started out sunny, but the forecast was tenuous with possible showers in the afternoon. The kids (sans Audrey) decided to tackle another challenging hike--the Cory Pass Trail.

They chose to go in the clockwise direction

Meanwhile, Audrey and we prepared ourselves for our own challenge--to find a parking spot in Banff near the grocery store to pick up a few items. We lucked out and did manage to find parking (it's never guaranteed--even at something as utilitarian as a grocery store). While we were there, Audrey offered to make a fruit pie for dinner. She had settled on a peach-blueberry pie, but when she happened upon a bag of frozen haskap berries, the blueberries were excitedly exchanged out. We think this may be her best pie yet!

We didn't get a picture of the final pie, but everyone who knows Audrey can imagine how amazing it looked! BTW, the bottle of port was our makeshift rolling pin.

We had a nice relaxing day with Audrey, and the weather more or less held out for most of the time. Julie and Audrey took a short stroll on the trail around the campground loops while Rick took a little nap. Shortly after the hiking crew arrived back to camp, the rain started. Luckily, our campsite was situated such that we could sit under the camper awning and be reasonably close to the fire which was burning strong enough to withstand the gentle rain.

The kids had to leave the campsite by 5:30 am on Saturday morning to catch their flight in Calgary. Unfortunately, it was still raining when they woke up, so taking down the tent was a bit of a mess. There was a mad scramble in the kitchen for everyone to pack as much food/snacks as they could carry that would hopefully last them through three(!) connecting flights on their journey to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Amazingly, the car was loaded with people and belongings by 5:35 and no one left anything behind.

The rest of the weekend, we busied ourselves returning the camper into a dwelling for just two people and putting all the infrequently used items (sleeping bags, extra pillows, tarps, screen room, log splitter, etc.) back into their inconveniently located storage locations. Then there was the business of laundry. There are not many options for laundromats in the Canadian Rockies. Shockingly, it seems that people don't do laundry when they come on vacation here. We had the choice of a laundromat in Banff that had no parking but was kind of close to a parking garage, or we could drive 35 minutes to Canmore to a laundromat that got bad reviews for being crowded and having dryers that don't dry. We opted for the Banff option.

After loading the truck with our dirty laundry, we braved the drive into Banff. You'd think that a rainy day would discourage the crowds, but it was a Saturday, and darn it, people planned their Banff weekend getaway months ago and they are going to darn well enjoy it, rain or no rain. We got to the entrance of the parking garage and there were two things that prevented us from entering: 1) Parking cost $8/hour. It would cost more to park than it would to do our laundry; and 2) Maximum height was 6'. Our truck is taller than 6'.

Ok, we needed a different plan. There is a parking lot at the train station that is free and might have had available parking, but it was several blocks away and it was raining. Rick couldn't just drop Julie off because there was too much laundry for her to carry by herself, so we decided to make the drive to the Canmore laundromat with the bad dryers.

It is evident that Canmore, basically a suburb of Banff, suffers from a similar lack of parking capacity. We found the laundromat in a U-shaped mall with all kinds of restaurants, coffee shops and whatnot. In the center was a parking lot that was, unsurprisingly, undersized. We managed to find one of the last parking spots and looked with a bit of apprehension at the sign that stated "2 hour maximum parking".

Fortunately, we arrived early enough that we didn't have to wait for a washer, and aside from the fact that the dryers took FOREVER to dry, we left with our goal met. But, our satisfaction turned to frustration when Rick pulled off a slip of paper from the windshield left by the parking police officer that was now two cars down from us. It was a $55 fine for going over the maximum allowable parking time. Our first thought was that it would have been cheaper to pay $8/hour to park in Banff, but then we remembered that we wouldn't have fit in the parking garage anyway. Our second thought was that the laundromat must get a cut from the annual parking fine revenue.

By evening, the rain had stopped and the sun tried its hardest to peek out from the clouds, with only limited success. We went into Banff again to go to church, and found a lucky free place to park a few blocks away by the scenic Bow River.

St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Banff

The Bow River is pretty in any weather

Despite the crowds, Banff is a beautiful town

Clouds breaking up around Mt. Rundle

The rain stayed away throughout the night, giving the screen room, tarps, etc. time to dry out so that we could put everything away during the day on Sunday. We made one more trip into Banff to a grocery store that had a free parking garage attached (only the 3rd and 4th floors were free). We got the last free parking spot.

To round out the week, we had thunderstorms throughout the night on Sunday. Luckily, we didn't have anything left outside to get wet, and we stayed cozy and dry inside.

And now, as an extra bonus, we present pictures (in no particular order) from our special guest photographers Alan, Audrey, and Mary...

The glacier-fed lake was cold!

A marmot!

Made it to the top!

We really enjoyed visiting with Audrey, Alan, Mary, Jasper, and Michael. It felt kind of strange to have the whole camper all to ourselves again after they left.

Next stop--Lake Louise!

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