We woke up the next morning to a gray sky and the sound of rain. Never a good sign when heading into a park for the day. We left the hotel - praying that the skies would clear up and we would be able to enjoy the full beauty of Banff National Park.
The drive from Golden to the Yoho National Park (had to drive through Yoho to reach Banff) was beautiful, even with the horrible weather.
Just outside of the entrance to Banff, we stopped for a Province sign - Alberta. It was absolutely miserable to be outside! Temps were in the low 60s, it was raining sideways - just miserable! (look at Will, wiping rain off his face!)
We came in to Banff and headed north on Icefields Parkway toward Jasper. Our initial plan had been to enter Banff and drive to Jasper, then back down again. With the weather being so iffy, we decided to play it by ear and turn around when we felt we needed to.
Our first stop was at Bow Lake - Not only had the rain let up, but the sun was trying to peek through too!
We asked another visitor if he would take our family picture. He kindly did...then positioned us for a second picture. As soon as he turned directions, he looked through the camera and said, "Wow! the blue in the water REALLY shows up from this angle!" I think I would agree with him!
As we continued north, Matt pointed out the sundog/rainbow ahead (along the mountain side). I was able to capture it in this picture.
We stopped for a restroom break (and souvenir shopping!) at The Crossing Gas Station & Store. Maddie found her traditonal keychain, Kaitee purchased her "trip bag" and Alex continued to save her money. I love that the kids each have a traditional item that they purchase on our trips!
Kaitee loved this Sign - "Be careful or you will do the Thriller move as you fall"
From The Crossing, we decided to head a bit further north towards Jasper. We knew that we wouldn't be able to make it all the way to Jasper though.
Having seen (driven through) the Weeping Wall in Glacier, we decided to find the Weeping Wall in Banff. This "wall" was much higher but was still impressive. It was neat to watch the breeze kick the falls to the left or right.
We stopped to enjoy the view of the Saskatchewan River at a few different locations
Driving Icefields Parkway, there are times you are surrounded on all sides by mountains. It was amazing to see.
Sadly, we found fire damage. We know that fires bring rejuvenation to the land, but it is still devastating to see.
A few of the glaciers remaining in the park.
At that time, the skies opened up again and it rained pretty good (off and on) for 20-30 minutes. We were very surprised by the amount of vehicles in the parking lots - especially given the crappy weather. However, it was a Saturday and we assumed that there were a lot of locals who came out to enjoy the park (rain or shine!). We had hoped to do a quick hike to see Peyto Lake (on a recommendation by a friend) but when we pulled in to the parking lot, there wasn't a spot to be found! It was raining at that point too, so we decided to forego that stop.
The rain had cleared up when we drove back by Bow Lake so we stopped again. Alex & Maddie walked down the steep incline to the water's edge (it was still cold out, as you can see in Maddie's expression).
We stopped at a few roadside waterfalls and then headed towards Lake Louise.
We loved all of the Wildlife Crossing Overpasses! We were too busy looking at the overpass - we didn't read the sign.
We drove into Lake Louise and up the mountain. Our plan was to get out at Lake Louise and see the lake and Fairmont Chateau. As we drove through the town of Lake Louise (and up the mountain), we came to bumper-to-bumper traffic and realized that it may be a wait. After driving a mile or two in this traffic, we arrived at the parking lot for Lake Louise, only to be told to turn around - no parking spots available. As we drove back down the mountain, we saw that the park rangers were allowing cars to drive down Moraine Lake Drive (they weren't allowing cars when we first came up the mountain). We decided to head back to that lake - hopefully it would be sufficient in wake of not seeing Lake Louise.
After driving the 7 miles, we found Moraine Lake. It was stunningly blue/green! The weather was rainy again - still overcast and cold. We bundled up and headed out along the lake. We (again) were amazed by the vast amount of visitors during this crappy weather!
I will say that our favorite photos of the day were the pictures of the colorful canoes on the lake. If it had been warm and sunny, we are pretty sure the canoes wouldn't have been there - they would've been out on the lake, being used!
We left Moraine Lake and headed towards the town of Banff. About this time, the sun came out and stayed out. It warmed up considerably as well. We had thought of hiking the Johnston Canyon area (google it, it is amazing!). We saw the sign for the canyon and pulled off to go see it. When we saw that it was another 17 km, we decided to pass on it. We were mentally done for the day and still wanted to see the town of Banff and then had a 2 hour drive to Calgary.
We drove in to the Banff (town) and saw this cool welcome sign. We actually had to stand in line to wait for our picture! We drove around the town a bit, but it was very congested with traffic and visitors. We were happy to head out of town and hit the open road!
See the next post (day 8 & 9) to show our few stops in Calgary that ended our 8th day.
Between the crud weather and the long day of driving (with lots of other visitors), we would agree that this day had the most disappointments. We had hoped to see more in Banff National Park (without the cloud cover and rain), we couldn't believe that we didn't get to see Lake Louise & the chateau, such an integral part of the park! I was really looking forward to hiking the Johnston Canyon as well. We have learned, over our years of traveling, that we need to hold loosely to our plans. This was very true for our day in Banff! Maybe we will go back one day - if we do, I have my agenda all set!
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