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1 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2005 : 2:51 PM
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My wife and I will be spending a week in Banff Aug 2-8. I was hoping to get some of your opinions on the best hikes. We will be doing dayhikes and possible one 2-night backpacking trip. Alos, what is the best campground to stay at?
Anything that is can't miss???
Thank you very much in advance for all of your responses.
JR |
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Anchorage, Alaska
USA
1340 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2005 : 3:51 PM
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Have you been to Banff before? I would go up the Icefields Parkway for a couple days, there are campgrounds along the highway though I don't remember exactly where. I think they're first-come, first serve.
Good Banff area day hikes are:
- Healy Pass (starts at Sunshine Ski area parking lot)
- Floe Lake (starts about 20 miles SW of Castle Junction on Hwy 93 in BC)
- Sentinel Pass (starts at Moraine Lake, go into Lake Louise and follow the signs)
- The Iceline (starts at Takkakaw Falls north of Field, BC off Hwy 1)
- Anything in the Lake O'Hara region (south off Hwy 1 right at the BC/Alberta border)
As for overnight hikes, I'd recommend anything in the Skoki valley area (to the NE of Lake Louise) or do a portion of the Mount Assiniboine trail (an overall 4-6 day circuit, the north trailhead is also at the Sunshine ski area). I would schedule your overnighter to be mid-week, because most of the backcountry campgrounds will be booked up for the weekends.
I'd highly recommend picking up the book titled "Classic Hikes in the Canadian Rockies", it should be on the shelf in just about any Banff bookstore. I'm not sure of the author. Sorry my hike descriptions aren't very detailed... though if you google any one of those hikes you should get more than enough info... or I can give you more directions if you want
Have a good trip! |
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Anchorage, Alaska
USA
1340 Posts |
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Revelstoke, British Columbia
Canada
44 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2005 : 9:59 PM
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I'd also recommend Healy Pass, its a very nice hike. Lake Bourgeau is also a good one, the trailhead is a few km's west of the Banff townsite.
Tunnel Mountain is an ok campground, gets kinda windy and dusty if its hot. The Twojack campgrounds are nice, the Twojack lakeside is better than the Twojack main. |
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Calgary, Alberta
Andorra
3796 Posts |
Posted - 07/27/2005 : 10:43 PM
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| Twojack Lakeside is the nicest car campground in the Banff area. I second all of Northern's hike suggestions, although I'd suggest looking for books in your library before buying one. If you're going to Banff, it's really worth heading up to Jasper (two hours via highway 93) or at least for a drive up to the Columbia Icefield. Plenty of hikes in that area, or even just the icefield tour. Definitely not miss-able. |
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Whitehorse, YT
Canada
156 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 06:20 AM
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We avoided Banff and it's throngs of tourists and backpacked in from near Lake Louise to Corral Creek campsite (very nice, with a cooking/eating area, food tree, and near a creek), set up the tent, and climbed Ptarmigan Peak http://www.rmbooks.com/peakfinder/showpeakbyid.asp?MtnId=744. Nice little hike and awesome views of glaciers, peaks, and tarns from the summit (and a raven keeping us company).
The next day, we packed out, drove to and parked at the Chateau Lake Louise, and hiked to the "Plain of Six Glaciers". Awesome view of Victoria glacier.
We enjoyed a snack at the teahouse, and then we left the trail and headed down to the snout of the glacier. The melt water stream wasn't deep and made for easy crossing. There was a cool pool and cave at the snout, dripping water from the roof and edge (but we had to watch overhead that a rock didn't land on our heads. That would be a terminal injury. A bit of glacial humour there).
The trail was very busy but we had the glacier to ourselves so just hiked down the streambed as far as we could, rejoined the trail, and had a fantastic dinner in the lounge at the Chateau. I highly recommend it. We only had two days, but could have spent a week easy.
More pics and a description here: http://www.ultimaterockies.com/destinations/lake_louise.html
Too bad we didn't have time for this drive:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/destinations/Banff_National_Park/Icefields_Parkway_Drive.html
Have a great trip! |
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Salmon Arm, BC
Canada
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 08:37 AM
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Concur with the above comments, plus a few other outstanding hikes:
Waterfowl Lake and Mosquito Creek campgrounds on the Icefield Parkway are nice, and close to some excellent trails--Helen Lake/Cirque Peak, Molar and North Molar Pass, Bow Peak. The Molar Pass trail starts right across the highway from Mosquito. And despite the name, it's not bad for bugs!
Most hikes around Lake Louise are superb, but be aware of the "group of six" rule for many of the trails.
Wilcox Pass at Columbia Icefields has incredible views, especially if you take the easy scramble to Wilcox Peak. Nigel Pass is another great hike in the vicinity.
A great backpack is the loop from Shadow Lake to Egypt Lake, and if you have mtn bikes you can ride the access road into Shadow Lake (about 11k) and shorten the time considerably.
Lake O'Hara and Yoho Valley areas of Yoho are as good as hiking gets. If you can get into Lake O'Hara, do it!!!
Hope that helps, enjoy your trip!
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Portland, OR
USA
67 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 7:22 PM
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I was in Banff just a few weeks ago. We only had time for two short afternoon hikes, but I recommend both of them.
Boom Lake: About 10 km round trip, 3-4 hours. Not much to see along the way, but the lake is really pretty.
Lake Agnes and Big Beehive: About 10 km round trip, 4 hours. The trail starts at Lake Louise and it's a steadily steep climb with quite a few people. But at the top is a lovely lake and a cute little teahouse with the best hot biscuits I've ever had. They also serve various lunch and light snack stuff. If you continue past the lake, you can climb Big Beehive for fantastic panorama views of Lake Louise and the Bow Valley.
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Calgary, Alberta
Andorra
3796 Posts |
Posted - 07/28/2005 : 7:38 PM
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| Have to say, boom lake is pretty, but there's many places prettier. and the teahous is nice, but again, many places better and less touristy. If you can find other places to go, such as via this lovely site, then it's not necessary to stick with the throngs of busload people. |
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Banff Vacation
