Actually, except of a short stop in Vancouver, we hadn’t planned a bigger trip in the west of Canada. But after the recommendation of Mike from Salt Lake City, we decided to make a short trip to the wilderness of this huge country. As it was only a marginal detour of 1000km, we decided to visit Banff national park not knowing that it is one of the most beautiful national parks of Canada ( as Lonely Planet says…), but one thing after the other.
We were probably quite lucky to cross the border on a public holiday, because the expected waiting time of 30 minutes turned into only 2-3 minutes. One realises quite quickly that Canada is a distinct to the USA. Everything is a bit solitary and more quiet compared to the relatively dense population of America. You are driving for hundreds of km without seeing one single town and if you do, it is most of the times a service station, a motel or camp ground. Close to the border to Banff national park it changes a bit, because apparently we are not the only ones who are able to hold a lonely planet in the right angle. The villages in and around the park (correctly spoken it is 3 connected parks) are quite touristy and full of appropriate shops. Now, the fortune we had during crossing the border turned around. Due to the long weekend (Canada’s national public holiday was the 1st of July) the park and all the campgrounds were completely full. After 3 trials of getting a spot for our tent, without success (this time we couldn’t find a couchsurfer), we randomly passed a parking lot signed as “overflow camping”. As there weren’t no facilities, it was quite cheap which was perfect for us, as we were just looking for a piece of land for our tent.
After a pretty cold and rainy night next to a snoring Indian, we discovered the main parts of the park, as we already got a first chance to see the beauty and natural landscape of Canada while driving the day before. One could say, it resembles quite a bit Glacier national park, but is larger, better and more beautiful (but that doesn’t mean Glacier NP wasn’t pretty!). There are countless 4000+ peaks, glaciers, lakes, glacier lakes, untouched pine forests and wild animals. We were quite hopeful to spot a bear, but this time the luck wasn’t on our side.
We made two hikes, the first in the Johnston Canyon with two beautiful waterfalls and the second one along the famous Lake Louise to a tea house at Lake Agnes (During the second hike Kerstin had a new hiking record as we did 3.6 km and 360m in altitude in 55 minutes!). Just awesome! Mainly Lake Louise has a crazy colour reminding us of Lake Pukaki in New Zealand, but a little milkier giving the turquoise colour a surreal effect.
Before we left the park, we made short stops at Lake Herbert and at a viewpoint without view on Lake Hektor (no idea about the weird names of the lakes). Afterwards we left the park in the direction of Golden spending there another night in the tent and driving the next day to Vancouver. As the reception of the campground was closed and 32$ were a bit too much, we were about to leave again, but then a Canadian girl named Enry talked to Tobi asking if we could share a tent side. She was on her way to Lake Louise but got caught in the traffic jam why she decided to continue the next morning. Of course we agreed and chatted quite long to her. In addition, she prepared dinner for her brother, who she wanted to meet at Lake Louise, but that food had to be eaten se we helped her! 🙂
The next morning we continued our journey to Vancouver to see Johanna, but that is another story…