The minute I saw a picture of Moraine Lake in Banff, I knew I had to go there. I booked everything last minute, and was extremely excited to learn that the lake had thawed about a week before our arrival.
Off we went…
We started off the trip on the wrong foot from our plane ride to our car rental fiasco. Our plane was delayed getting to Chicago ~2hrs so instead of arriving around 10:30pm on a Thursday, we landed around 12:30am on Friday. Though customs was a breeze at that time, the walk to the rental car office was a long one.
DON’T RENT YOUR CAR FROM AVIS! >:(
Once we got the Rental Car office, we rented our car from Avis (which was a terrible experience and I’ll never use that company again. Please choose another rental company if you don’t want to deal with their poor customer service) and we were on our way to Canmore. It was raining and extremely dark on the highway (no streetlights once you’re out of the city) so if that’s the case for you, give yourself some extra time. The drive was about an 1:15hr drive to our AirBNB in Dead Man’s Flats.
We arrived at after 2am and decided then that we wouldn’t be waking up as early as we thought to go hiking. We got up around 9am, unpacked, and relaxed for a bit before driving into central Canmore (~5-10 minute drive).
Day 1:
Canmore
It was still raining, but we decided we really wanted to see this “Canmore Swing” that looked really cool online. We followed the directions to the residential area that has been posted online, but unfortunately we were unable to find a swing after hiking for a good 30 mins. We went both ways on the trail just in case there was a mistake, but to no avail.
Next we went over to get us some delicious Canadian Poutine! Went to 514 Poutine and got some burgers with the upgrade to come with poutine and a drink. It was a quaint little place with a few tables, but everything was great and homemade.
Then we were off to the grocery store (Safeway) since we were in town to pick up some stuff for sandwiches, snacks, breakfast, and local brews.
Johnston Canyon
It was roughly around 3pm when we arrived back at the condo. The rain lightened up to a drizzle so we drove over to Johnston Canyon and hiked to the upper falls. It’s recommended that you hike further to the meadows past the ink pots, but we were still pooped from arriving so late. We opted for the shorter 3hr hike before heading back to the condo for a hot tub session and bed.
Day 2:
Lake Moraine
Woke up at 5:30 am to make breakfast and hit the road for Moraine Lake. The key here is to get there preferably before 8am because they’ll close the road to Moraine Lake if there’s no parking left. Once there, we hiked the “Rock Pile” (~5 minute walk up) to get a great look over the entire lake.
After taking it all in we walked over to the canoe rentals and waited in line until they opened at 9am (which actually didn’t happen until after 9:30am because the water levels were a little low). Turned out their credit card machine was down (it was 120CAD, ~90USD for an hour), but I was told my credit card was “normal so maybe it’ll work,” and thankfully it did (I used the Chase Sapphire Reserve). We went around the entire lake and had plenty of time to soak it in and take pictures. We also asked another canoe to take some pictures of us and we’ll take some of them in return (Thanks Michelle!) so I’d suggest to make some friends in line.
Around 10:30am we left and thought we’d try to see if Lake Louise had any parking left even though it was a slim chance. They routed us back down when we got up there so we tried once more, but once again made us go back down.
Icefields Parkway
Instead of wasting time with the shuttle to Lake Louise (which we heard isn’t as nice as Lake Moraine) we decided to move on and drive down the famous Icefields Parkway towards Jasper. We stopped at just about every lake, viewpoint, etc and had our sandwiches that we made (highly suggest you pack a lunch since there isn’t too much around there).
Peyto Lake
We drove to Peyto Lake, ~40km away from Lake Louise, (the sign will say Bow Summit) and the hike was about 15 minutes from the back parking lot to the viewpoint. Holy cow was it blue! Totally worth it.
On the way back to Lake Louise we saw a Black Bear on the side of the highway so that was a highlight as well (safe in the car, haha).
Tried to go up to Lake Louise once more since it was on the way back, but they only let the first 4 cars in and made us turn around. We then drove back to the Condo for dinner and hot tubbing.
Day 3:
The plan was to wake up at 5:30am again, eat breakfast, drive up to Lake Louise, and hike to the 1st teahouse at Lake Agnes, but I was feeling super sick so we slept in until we had to check out of our resort.
Decided it would be really hard to get into Lake Louise after 10am (and we heard from everyone that Moraine Lake was the better one of the two so we felt satisfied) so we started our drive back to Calgary. We got off the main highway and took the more scenic route back.
Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary
We stopped at a lake or two before coming across the Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary, maybe 45 minutes into the drive. You’re greeted by an extremely large wolfdog in the building and he was the sweetest thing ever.
We bought the Intro Tour since we arrived right after the interactive one started so we’d have to wait several hours for that one. We had some time before the intro tour started so we walked the grounds to check everything out. They had Chickens, a Turkey, Goats, and then of course the Wolfdogs (and plenty of them). They have about 2-3 dogs in each large enclosure to ensure bonding and the feel of a wolf pack.
We got to see the feeding time for the two white wolf dogs at the front. The female was jumping everywhere for her food so it was super cute. These wolfdogs get fed frozen meat and seem to absolutely love the challenge.
All the staff was incredible and willing to answer any questions you have. Highly suggest going to this non-profit and see these lovable pups. Now I just want to know how can I get one for me? Haha
Lunch Break – Cochrane
Afterwards we were starving so we drove into the first town we saw, Cochrane, and ate at the Texas Gate since they had an outdoor patio. We ordered and then were told some things weren’t available so we tried again and everything wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t what we were looking for (I really wanted that Pot Pie). Also, when we first sat down it took 10 minutes to ask for menus, another 10 for 2 waters, given no silverware even after the food was brought to the table, so not the greatest service for us either.
Calgary
The rest of the ride to Calgary was easy and we checked into our last AirBNB. We stayed at 1st ave and 12th so we’d be walking distance to everything, even though we arrived after 5pm.
We walked to the Olympic Plaza, but some church was blasting their gospel songs so we couldn’t enjoy the area. We continued to walk down 8th avenue and all the outdoor patios of restaurants looked great and there were a lot to choose front (we also walked passed the tower).
We decided to turn down 5th ave to walk to 17th ave to have dinner and drinks since we heard that was the place to be. A lot of the places were crowded and we suddenly got a hankering for italian food and wine when we got to Buon Giorno Ristorante Italian.
Buon Giorno was good, but a little more flavor wouldn’t hurt it. The pinot grigio that was given to us was probably the house wine because it was pretty bad. Overall, not bad.
The following morning we left Calgary to go back to sweet home, Chicago.
