Campsites – Page 4 – The Destinators

Waterton Lakes National Park

Waterton Lakes National Park is different from the other parks in the Canadian Rockies. It’s the smallest park in the Rockies, and the most diverse. Its motto is ‘where the mountains meet the prairies,’ a unique geology where the expected foothills just don’t exist. The park features the three Waterton Lakes – Lower, Middle and Upper – the latter being the deepest lake in the Canadian Rockies. Waterton is the only Canadian National Park to share a border with a US park – Glacier National Park. In 1932, the two parks were designated together to be the first International Peace Park, dedicated to peace and collaboration on preserving the unique ecosystem.

From our travels in the northwestern US last year, we were aware of the Kenow Fire that raged through Waterton National Park during September 2017, burning through nearly half of the park. The fire had played out and was considered ‘held’ exactly 1 year (to the day) before our arrival this fall. A year later, the entire west side of the park remains closed as crews continue to clear downed trees from roads and rebuild trails to restore safety for hikers and visitors. According to the park website, as we were preparing to leave Lake Louise, there was only one day hiking trail and one campground open.

We had decided to not visit Waterton on this trip, but due to some shifts in our timing and the weather, we changed our minds. So glad we did!

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Banff National Park, part 2 – Lake Louise

Within the Canadian Rockies, the Lake Louise area is well known for its spectacular alpine scenery and hikes; those trails were emphatically calling us. The Lake Louise area is also well known for its crowds, so with eyes wide open, expectations adjusted, and our secret magic tricks for avoiding crowds in hand, we set a course.

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Banff National Park, part 1 – Banff

Banff National Park, established in 1885, is Canada’s oldest national park. Like the other parks in the area, the westward expansion of the Canadian Pacific Railway played a major role in Banff’s discovery and introduction to the world. The CPR built the historic Banff Springs Hotel (1888) and Chateau Lake Louise (1911) to entice wealthy patrons aboard their trains for vacations in the Rockies. Both of these luxury hotels (with many renovations), and the resort towns of Banff and Lake Louise that grew around them, continue to draw tourists from around the world in the 21st century.

Banff is not the largest park in the Canadian Rockies – that honor belongs to Jasper. However, it’s the most popular of the parks, and with good reason. Even more so than the other parks, the largest and most spectacular mountains are right there in your face, and for non-hikers there’s a range of other activities in the 2 towns. For us, the quantity and variety of day hikes we could choose from really made us smile – and the number of squeals per hike so far, in the southern part of the park nearest the town of Banff, forced us to extend our stay. So, here’s part 1…

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Kootenay National Park

We’re not anti-social, we’re just not into crowds. We anticipated being in the Canadian Rockies in August (prime vacation season) and into September (including the Labor Day weekend), so we hauled out our box full of secret magic tricks. Based on our travels to date, we know the best days of the week and times of day to arrive at a non-reservable campground, how to find remote, lesser-known hiking trails on weekends, and, if we’d like to hike a popular trail, when to head out. As we were closing in on Banff National Park, the most popular of Canada’s parks and close to both Calgary and Edmonton, we decided to visit Kootenay National Park over Labor Day weekend.

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Glacier (Canada) National Park

There are two Glacier National Parks in North America – one in Montana, US and one in British Columbia, Canada. They are about 550 km (340 miles) apart. To complicate things, Glacier (Canada) is in the Selkirk Mountains, close to (but not in) the Rocky Mountains, while Glacier (US) is in the Rockies, just south of the Canadian Rockies and connected to Waterton National Park (Canada) creating an international peace park. So when you talk about visiting Glacier National Park, many Canadians will ask ‘Which one?’ We’re in Glacier (Canada).

Glacier (Canada) had the name first – it was the second Canadian national park – established in 1886, while Glacier (US) was established in 1910. They both inspire awe. They both feature multiple, large, active glaciers, soaring mountains, waterfalls, black bears, grizzly bears and wildflowers. They both received early support from the countries’ respective transcontinental railroads. They both have avalanches in winter. However only Glacier (Canada) counts its epic avalanches as a major part of its history. To reduce confusion, Glacier (Canada) could rename itself Avalanche National Park. On second thought, that might not be good for tourism…
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Jasper National Park

Maligne Lake, Maligne Mountain, Maligne Glacier

We do love mountains! Views, mountain air, hiking, mountains in your face with glimpses of remote river valleys and distant peaks; forests and critters big and small, tiny mountain communities and ski towns, (usually) cooler temps. We were on our way to see the Canadian Rockies and set a course for Jasper National Park, the northernmost of the parks there.

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Yellowknife, NT

Yellowknife is out there! On the north shore of the Great Slave Lake, it’s a 15-hour drive from Edmonton, AB and 5 hours from the nearest settlement with more than 2,000 people. Although geographically isolated, it’s by no means disconnected from the world. It’s a modern city of 20,000 of the most ethnically diverse, friendliest and interesting people we’ve met on our travels.

We’d made a campground reservation to stay a few days for the music festival, and we extended it a couple of times to do some more visiting and exploring of the city.

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Yellowknife, NT: Folk on the Rocks

When we first considered exploring Canada this year, I looked at the map. I had to use a big screen – Canada’s a big place! Just pondering the sheer size, I noticed a dot on the map at the end of a road to the north on the edge of a huge lake: Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories. It was all by itself and way up there. Curious, I googled it. It is the northernmost city in Canada. You get there on the northernmost paved road in Canada. It is the home of Folk on the Rocks, the ‘largest music festival under the midnight sun.’ We wanted to explore the Canadian Rockies in August/September. If we went to Yellowknife, the timing of the festival in late July would be perfect! We put a pushpin on the map and I made our only reservation of the summer at the campground next door to the festival grounds. We’re very glad we did!

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Calgary, AB

Calgary (rhymes with strawberry) is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, with a current population of 1.3 million. It’s a diverse city with 60% of the population of European descent and 36% ‘visible minority’ (non-white, non-aboriginal), the remainder being indigenous/aboriginal/First Nation. A former Olympic city, one of the largest in western Canada and a hub for the region’s agriculture, mining and oil activities, this should be an interesting place to explore.

We knew we wanted to visit Studio Bell, site of the National Music Centre and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. We also checked our festival list and assumed we’d be able to find some interesting event. Well, dontcha know, we would be in Calgary for their biggest event of the year – The Calgary Stampede – billed as ‘The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.’ The Stampede attracts 1.3 million visitors from outside the city each year.

With our recently boosted confidence in urban camping, we set a course to arrive just a couple of days before the start of the Stampede.

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Prince Albert National Park: Waskesiu Lake Blues Cruise

We have a connection in Saskatchewan with my friend Terry, whom we met almost two years ago in Memphis. Terry lives near the city of Prince Albert, SK and he has a boat on Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park, so our week-long stay in the park gave us opportunities for a few convenient musical meet-ups.

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