We got a later start out to Banff than what we thought we would. As we were looking at the things we wanted to do, we realized we couldn’t do them with Daisy. So we did a quick U-turn 20 minutes into the journey to return to the camper to leave her behind. But after finally getting on the road, we ran into a lot of traffic and we needed gas so we took a right turn and headed to a “road less travelled”. Instead of taking Canada Hwy 1, we took 1A instead through Cochrane. Found a Starbucks and headed out on our 1 hour 45 minute drive to Lake Louise. Traffic on this road was not bad and much more scenic as it wound around the Bow River and Ghost Lake. Our first stop was shuttle stop where we thought we were going to take a shuttle to Lake Louise to ride a Gondola. After parking, we talked with the Ranger who told us we were in the wrong place. So back to the car and another few miles down the road we made our way to the Lake Louise Ski Area. Here you could catch a shuttle into Lake Louise too and the lines were not as long. But, we were there to take the Gondola ride to the top of the mountain.
The black blob went from; I think it’s a Grizzly Bear to Grizzly Bear blob
Grizzly Bear and 2 Cubs!!!!
We saw a bear!!!!!! Our trip is complete and we didn’t even need any bear spray.
The views from the top were awesome!!
Visiting with wildlife at the interpretive center.
We decided we should head to Banff instead of taking the shuttle to Lake Louise. You have to remember that this was the Day after Canada Day and most people decided to come to Banff for the holiday weekend or week, who knows. It was crowded. We found another “road less traveled”.
And although the speed limit was only about 35 mi/hr, but it was worth it as we drove up on a few cars pulled to the side and a woman outside of her car taking pictures. There on the side of the road was an Elk chomping on some leaves. Here is the best photo, we took many more!!
Also along this road, we came across a memorial for an Internment camps from the First World War across Canada. Neither of us even knew that Canada had them.
While watching a film about how to live in bear country, we learned that many wildlife is killed trying to cross the roads. To prevent this from happening, in this park they have the roads lined with fences, but have these Wildlife corridors to allow wildlife to migrate and move the way they need to.
We finally make it Banff and boy are we starving!! So we found a parking spot – FREE PARKING!!
Banff reminded us of a modern Leavenworth, WA. It was so crowded; we had to walk far down the road to find a place to eat. But did find a wonderful Italian Restaurant where we had flatbread and salad.
Well again we wore ourselves out and had to drive back to the campground. Tomorrow we were going to be off to Edmonton Alberta, a short 3 hour drive north.