Banff delivered on its reputation, it’s beautiful. But man is it a busy place. So many people, we pulled in and of course my phone wanted to take us through town so I skipped the exit and followed the sign for campers. Then must have missed the next one and proceeded right through town. Ugh we had to traverse a narrow road with parking on both sides. I could barely fit if I was the car but I wasn’t just the car. I had the camper in tow, I’m trying to track pedestrians darting every which way, watch for bicycles flying by that apparently don’t have to obey any traffic laws, then turning down the pretty much single lane road because of all the parked cars. We made it and still have our mirrors, but I was cursing up a storm. Was a start to a crazy busy couple of days.
Becky’s parents joined us for this leg of the vacation. They stayed in a hotel in town we stayed at the Tunnel Mountain Village II Campground. There are three campgrounds all next to each other and it’s huge, has over a thousands spots. Ours was in a section that was like street parking parallel to the campground road. Wasn’t a bad spot but no fire pit or anything. The main attraction was the National Park and we just got done camping proper for a couple days so not that big of a deal.
We rode the gondola, visited Moraine Lake and Lake Louise, and drove the Icefields parkway to the Columbia Icefield. Other than too many fellow tourists it was a great stop.
I have a ton of pictures too much for one post so here’s the first half.
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| Our campground was Tunnel Mountain Village II. Site 47. Just pull up like you’re parking along a street. Odd little setup but works. It’s a little warmer here but still pretty cool out, loving the weather not looking forward to returning to the heat. |
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| Walking around downtown to get souvenirs with a few hundred of our new friends. |
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| Setup a little pickle ball court in an open campsite. Used our badminton set at half height. Worked pretty good. Game on! |
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| Walking along a path to go downtown again to get on a shuttle to the gondola. They encourage you to take the shuttle. But with all the people was always a struggle to find parking. So had to walk quite a bit to get to the shuttle. Was a cool bike path by the river. |
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| Waiting in line for our timed entry to the gondola. True to theme, lots of people. |
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| Grandma Crys feigning fear with Marcus. |
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| As was I with Samus. I don’t like height much, Ferris wheels are pretty my worst fear, but this wasn’t that bad. Just like riding a ski lift. |
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| Good views |
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| Don’t look down. Really not too far down. |
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| There was one tower crossing that was pretty rough and got our attention otherwise it was smooth sailing. |
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| Views from the top were worth the ride |
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| Got the whole gang. |
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| Dar and Crys on top of the world |
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| Big horn sheep hanging out under the gondola |
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| Lots of pictures |
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| Walking the boardwalk to a high platform. Samus tapped out about 3/4 of the way to the end. |
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| Becky is having a good time. |
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| We made it to the end |
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| Everywhere you look is great views. |
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| Looking back from the boardwalk to the gondola station. |
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| Grandma joined Samus at his bench. Good cell data service up top. In town it was pretty crappy. Showed a lot of bars 5g but pretty much just carrying around a brick, probably just too many people. |
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| We had reservations to eat at the sky bistro up top. Was really fancy. But a little too fancy of food for the Munsch’s. Was good but everything was a little weird and small portions. But at least it was expensive. |
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| Gondola ride selfie, sat 4 to a car or whatever it’s called so we rode in two groups. |
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| Marcus and Grandma again |
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| Lucas is super scared of heights. He did good but not sure how much his eyes were open. |
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| Coming down almost done. |
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| Shots of the river walking back to the car |
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| Checking out the walking bridge over the river |
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| Becky and her parents had to get in the water. There were a few areas with steps down to the water. |
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| The next day we had planned to visit Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. The most famous Lakes of the park. I wasn’t able to get shuttle passes early when they opened up. They save half that are made available two days before you plan to go. So I figured I’d be able to get them then. Nope I woke up late, 1/2 hour after they opened them up at 8:00 two and no Luck. I thought we were going to have to just skip it but Becky found and scheduled a private tour for our group with a tour company. Not how I had planned it or at the price point expected but we were there and had to go see them. The tour guide was great very informative. |
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| Rockpile trail, the famous spot where most pictures posted of Moraine lake are from. Was a huge line walking up the trail. |
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| The lake was so blue. View did not disappoint. |
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| Samus getting a picture |
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| Becky and Samus. |
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| Shot of our group. |
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| So blue |
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| Samus in the canyon man pose. |
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| Becky and Jason |
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| Becky said I never get pictures of myself so she took one of me at the lake |
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| On our way down from Rockpile it started to rain. We had our rain jackets but Dar and Crys didn’t. Luckily I had a Custer State Park emergency poncho in my bag. Had it since our first family hike up Black Elk (then Harneys) peak. Probably at least 12 years ago. Dar is sporting it in this picture. Crys did have her winter coat but it rained pretty steady and got it soaked. |
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| We hiked along the lakeshore trail to the end. Had a little cover from the rain in the trees. |
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| Rain didn’t spoil the views… or maybe it did but was still spectacular. We don’t know any different. |
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| Me in the rain |
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| So rainy |
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| Canoeing is popular here. A lot of people caught out there in the rain. |
