Morning at Lake Louise

A few of my friends came back from Bnaff, Canada, said "could this be the most beautiful place on earth." That was quite a compliment. I have spend 6 days staying at Banff in Canada to experience what Canadian Rockies has to offer. It was apparent that it was not enough. I enjoyed the beautiful emerald lakes, glacier carved valley, peaks still covered with snow, icefields and glaciers, and forest and meadows. And most of the place had an easy access. Here, I have summarized what I have learned during the stay.

Overview of the National Parks
This is my own summary of the Canadian Rocky Parks. I hope this helps plan trip in the future...

Canadian Rockies parks are consists of 4 parks: Banff, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks. There are 2 more national parks nearby: Glacier and Watertron National Park, which are not shown in the figure on right.

Banff is the largest city in the national park area, offering the most choices of accomodations, food, service, shopping, movie theatres, and all the other things in the civilized life. The town is located in a gorgeous setting among glacier carved mountains. Although the town is beautiful place, other parts of these parks are even more beautiful. It is the best place for the base to explore Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks. Jasper is another major town in the parks; this one would be for exploring Jasper National Park.

Probably the most visited and beautiful place in the Banff National Park will be the Lake Louise. Located about 50 km north from Banff, the Lake Louise features the most well-known lake in the park. A gorgeous Chateau Lake Louise on the lakeshore adds the final touch to the scene. Two of the best day hikes were around his area; the first one is the "Plain of Six Glaciers" at the end of the Lake Louise. Another hike was the "Ten Peaks" starting from Moraine Lake, another beautiful lake. The accomodation is rather limited around Lake Louise; it is probably the best accessed from Banff, where more variety of hotels and motels are available.

Yoho National Park is only 10 km further drive from the Lake Louise. This park said to offer the most dramatic mountain scenery among the Canadian Rocky parks. The Lake O'Hara has become too popular, they had to restrict the access to the lake. But other destinations were plenty, such as Iceline Trail, Takkakaw Fall, and Emerald Lake, in this park.

Icefield Highway is a 300 km long highway, connecting Lake Louise and Jasper. They say it is the most beautiful highway in the world. I almost agree. The highway runs through a long glacier carved canyon. Famous attractions are: Bow Lake, Peyto Lake, and Columbian Icefield, to name a few.

Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to visit Jasper National Park. I have only visited Columbian Icefield, which is located right at the border between Jasper and Banff National Parks. I heard about Malign Lakes were extremely beautiful. I will visit here one more time to explore the Jasper.

 
(Left) People waiting in an airport... (right) Kokanee is a popular Canadian beer.

Getting to Banff is supposed to be easy. That is, of course, when there are no trouble. The airplane from Seattle to Calgary was delayed for 3 hours. First, the airline found a mechanical problem in the airplane (which is a good job). Then, they found they need another stewardess to meet FDA's regulration. It was one in the morning when I arrived at Calgary airport.

I was told there were a shuttle bus service to get to Banff. But the last bus left at 00:00am. You know, these services should check out the schedule, and operate late buses when there were a delay. I ended up using taxi to get to Banff. It took $150 Canadian Dollar. Ouch. But it could be cheaper. It costs about $60 or so to use shuttle bus (so I heard). It might cost another $100 for a hotel in Calgary. Considering I already had a hotel reserved and guaranteed with my credit card, using taxi could be cheaper. On top of it, I could get to Banff earlier. For a party of 3 or more person, using taxi is definitely cheaper than using shuttle bus (so I heard).

Anyway, it was 3:00am when I arrived at my hotel. The hotel lobby was open. And I found the hotel upgraded me to a better hotel. They overbooked the original hotel. The room was large, gorgeous, and it had a fireplace. Not bad at all.

The problem of getting out of Banff was that my flight would leave at 6:00am. After talking to several people, I decided to do the following.

I slept until 2:00am in the hotel, and left for Calgary airport with my rent-a-car. I dropped my car in the airport, which cost $50 Canadian Dollar. It took only one and a half hour of easy driving. I guess I could have canceled the last night in the hotel, and spend the night at the airport.

The flight back was a little crazy; My first flight was from Calgary, Canada, to Seattle, WA. After 2 hours of waiting time, the second flew from Seattle to Vancouver, Canada. Then, Vancouver to Narita, Japan, with 2 hours of waiting time. Even the immigration officer at Vancouver airport was sympathetic to my schedule. And it would take another 2 hours from Narita to my home in Tokyo.