Roadtrip in the Canadian Rockies – day 1-2: Turquoise lakes and mountain peaks in Banff National Park

On June 24th last year, after an eight-hour flight from Edinburgh, I arrived in Canada, more precisely in Calgary. A few hours later, I met up with Augusta, a friend of mine who I met in Nuuk back in 2018 and hadn’t seen since she visited me in Tasiilaq in the autumn of 2019. My trip to Canada was part of a two-month-long journey with Alaska as the main destination for an archaeological excavation. It was a rather spontaneous decision to add Canada to the itinerary; I had to stop over in Calgary regardless, so I decided to add on six days which didn’t cost me anything extra except a rental car for those days! I invited Augusta along since she lives nearby in the States, and I was so happy that she wanted to tag along!

I’d technically been to Canada three times before, but I’d spent less than 48 hours in the country in total as all three visits were long stopovers. So I’d long felt that I’d done injustice to the country, especially since all I’d seen was Toronto and Montréal, two big cities that reveal nothing about Canada’s breathtaking wilderness. Since Calgary is located near two beautiful national parks in the Canadian Rockies, I would finally get to explore a portion of it!

We picked up our rental car and headed up north, towards Banff National Park, a very popular park full of turquoise lakes, high snow-capped peaks and amazing wildlife!

We arrived just as the sun had set. Our plan was to car camp the entire week to keep costs as low as possible, but unfortunately, it’s not allowed to car camp for free in Banff National Park. Luckily, we were able to find a cheap parking lot – with a toilet – near Lake Louise to stay at for a few nights!

Lake Louise and a hike up Little Beehive and Big Beehive

The following morning, we woke up at 5 AM to go visit Lake Louise. We were hoping to see a beautiful sunrise over the lake, and also beat the crowds as the lake is one of the most popular spots in the national park. There were a few cars when we arrived but nowhere near as many as later in the day when we left again. Most visitors at Lake Louise go there for a quick photo opportunity at the banks of the lake, but we wanted to explore the area in depth. Augusta’s friend had recommended a hike up the two Beehive mountains for some great views of the lake plus a few other lakes along the way!

We started with Little Beehive, which rises 2,210 metres above sea level, but it’s quite an easy climb as Lake Louise sits at an elevation of 1,600 metres. The hike up was quite steep but only took us two hours, and we came past two beautiful lakes along the way. We stopped at the tiny Mirror Lake for breakfast and enjoyed the beautiful reflections of Big Beehive that certainly have earned the lake its name. It wasn’t long until we got cold so we continued on our way, heading towards Lake Agnes. We met several red squirrels and tiny ground squirrels along the way, the latter of which I’d never seen before! We also saw a tiny animal that we think was a vole. Canada has such amazing wildlife, which only makes hiking there even more exciting!

We continued up to the top of Little Beehive, where we saw Lake Louise from above for the first time, an absolutely mesmerizing view. It may be hard to believe, but the lake is literally as turquoise as it looks on the pictures below! In this case, the reality actually looks like an edited Instagram picture!

Rain approached as we reached the summit, and it looked absolutely stunning. We knew that rain was forecast for later in the day; yet another reason for getting up so early for the hike! Still in dry weather, we continued towards Lake Agnes, another gorgeous alpine lake that is fed by the glaciers in the area. There’s a small café by the lake, but we didn’t stop there as it was quite crowded. Instead, we walked halfway around the lake and then headed up Big Beehive, which stands at 2,270 metres above sea level. The climb up was a little steeper than Little Beehive, but the view of Lake Louise from the summit was well worth the climb as it’s less obstructed than the view from Little Beehive!

It started raining lightly as we made our way down from Big Beehive and through a forest back to Lake Louise. As we reached the banks of the lake, I realized just how crowded it actually gets during the daytime. There were so many people that we couldn’t wait to get out of there – we had definitely made the right decision to go early in the morning!

Five hours after we’d set off on the hike, we were back at the parking lot and it was still not even 11 AM! It felt amazing to have done so much hiking and still have the whole day left to explore, although we both agreed we’d need a nap at some point during the day!

For a hiking route description to Little and Big Beehive, see here!

A caribou on Bow Valley Parkway

Bow Valley Parkway is a scenic road that hugs the Trans-Canada Highway but with trees in between so it feels much more secluded. After our Lake Louise adventure, we headed towards the town of Banff, and decided to take this road instead of the highway. I’m so glad we did, because we soon spotted a caribou, my first sighting of one ever!

We drove by slowly in the car and were able to get quite close without him noticing or caring, he just kept nibbling on the forest floor as I snapped away with my camera, happy as ever that I’d seen my first big animal in Canada!

We were both starting to feel really tired, so we decided to take a nap on the side of the road, and ended up sleeping for 1,5 hours in bright sunlight as the rain had stopped!

The abandoned village of Lower Bankhead

When we woke up from our nap, we continued our drive towards Banff and came across a place I just had to explore: the abandoned village of Lower Bankhead!

In its heyday in the early 20th century, Lower Bankhead was a thriving coal mining town with around 1,000 inhabitants. The town produced high quality coal from Cascade Mountain, and the inhabitants enjoyed many modern luxuries such as municipal water supply, a sewer system, electricity and street lights, all of which the nearby town of Canmore and Banff did not yet have.

However, in 1922, the coal mine ceased operations, presumably because it was no longer profitable. By 1926, many of the town’s buildings had been moved to Banff, Canmore or Calgary. However, several ruins remain, and the entire site is open and free to be explored!

As we wandered from one abandoned building to the next, the rain returned and decided that we needed a good shower. Time to find that café, get a hot drink and dry off a little!

Silverton Falls and Johnston Canyon

In the evening, we drove back onto Bow Valley Parkway and visited two popular spots for waterfall sightings. The first place was Silverton Falls, where a short forest hike leads to a waterfall that is comprised by a series of drops falling into rock pools. We only met two other people on the trail; it was really nice to get away from the crowds for once!

Our next destination – Johnston Canyon – was more crowded, but nowhere near as bad as Lake Louise. The canyon is home to Johnston Creek, a tributary of the Bow River. A 2,5-kilometre trail leads to the Lower Falls and Upper Falls that cascade into the creek. The waterfalls are small, but the great thing about them is that you can get very close, and you can even walk beneath a cave to get right up and personal with the Upper Falls!

It was getting close to dusk when we got back to the parking lot. We made use of the great facilities there and washed our hair in the sinks, filled up our water bottles and got ready for the night, before driving back to the parking lot near Lake Louise for another night in the car!