Located about an hour and a half south of Calgary is the site of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the site offers both indoor and outdoor exhibits, and once a month the opportunity to hike the Drive Lanes above the interpretive centre.
Spent Sunday watching the weather forecast for where I might find clear skies that night as there was a good chance for an aurora display. The only place it was looking clear for the night was east of Calgary, so I headed out on the Trans Canada away from the city lights.
A short drive out from Las Vegas is Valley of Fire State Park. It is filled with fantastical geology and amazing vistas. A welcome break from the lights and noise of the Strip.
The Johnston Canyon hike on the Bow Valley Parkway is always popular during the summer months. It’s a short trail with very gradual elevation gain.While it’s nice in the summer the amount of people on the trail can be a deterrent, my preference is to go during the winter months when it’s quieter. (A bit delayed considering it’s now June)
Continuing on from Saddleback Pass there are a couple other options for extending your hike. I headed up to the summit of Fairview Mountain, the trail from the junction is quite a bit steeper but the views are well worth the effort.
With the rush of people every September to see the larches I got to an early start to hike Saddleback Pass (I had done this hike the year before).
In an effort to make it out early to the Saddleback Pass trailhead the next morning I reserved a spot at one of the walk-in sites at the Two Jack Lakeside campground. There had been fire bans for most of the summer, but being late September the bans had been lifted. This is one of my favourite camping spots; the sites have easy access to the lake and there are trail running around the campground, it’s easy access to Banff Townsite (when I’m too lazy to pack food), it’s also smaller than some of the other campgrounds and you don’t have the giant RVs running generators.
With the free entrance to the National Parks for Canada 150 I’ve been trying to find other campgrounds around Alberta to camp at to avoid the crowds. We took the opportunity in late July to check out Castle Falls in southwestern Alberta.
We drove through Glacier National Park on our way back from Oregon. It was a mega hot day , with it being nearly 30 degrees at Logan Pass.
After leaving Portland, we headed back east and stopped at Multnomah Falls. We accessed the falls via the historic highway, the parking area was jammed pack and it took a couple turns to find a spot. There is a larger lot along the interstate that looked to be easier to find a spot to park in.
cecilia lin photo 