June 10-18, 2022

We’ve been trying to get into Canada for two years and we finally made it! We had an uneventful crossing at Roosville, British Columbia, only taking about 20 minutes to get through customs. I had completed the online ArriveCan form ahead of time for Richard and me, uploading our passport and Covid vaccination records, so it went very smoothly. Yeah!

Our goal that first day in Canada was to make it to Fort Steele, just 100 kilometers (yes, we’re switching to the metric system now) from the border. After a very beautiful drive we turned towards our campground, the Fort Steele Resort. Unfortunately we turned into the “original” Fort Steel Campground, which led us onto a dead end dirt road. Uh-oh! Richard unhooked the truck and made a sweet 3-point turn and got us back on track.

The campground had horses and cows and even a few prairie dogs.

The next morning we headed off to Banff via Hwy 93 that took us through the very picturesque Kootenay National Park. We were able to buy a Discover Pass at the park entrance booth good for all Canadian national parks for one year.

After a couple more hours of driving we arrived at the Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court in Banff National Park. This is the place to camp if you like full hook-ups and pull-through sites. Plus the views in all directions are stunning! I went on a walk after dinner and saw an elk.

We were excited to set off on our bike ride the next morning on the Bow Valley Parkway which is closed to car traffic in June and September and only accessible by bikers and hikers. The Parkway started 11 kilometers from our camp ground and the closed section was 17 kilometers long. We had a great ride, about 40 kilometers in total (a/k/a 25 miles), but didn’t make it all the way to the end before turning around. As you can see in the photos it was a bit cold and rainy.

On our way back to the campground we stopped off in the  very cute town of Banff. A rain shower went through but then the sun came out and we enjoyed a spruce tip infused gin & tonic at the Park Distillery. I highly recommend it 🙂

The next day we woke up to rain showers and a dismal forecast so Richard suggested we go to the Banff Theater to see Top Gun Maverick. We went to the matinee and really enjoyed the movie!

The weather improved the next day so we decided to ride the Bow Valley Parkway again. While we were riding along I asked Richard what he would do if we saw a bear. He said he would probably stop and see what the bear did. Well it was just a few minutes later when we turned a corner and there was a bear, right by the road! We stopped for a minute and then some other bikers rode by so we did the same…the bear didn’t pay any attention to us! We saw another bear up on the hill on the way back.

We also saw a couple doing some wedding shots…so amazing!

Later that evening we drove up to Moraine Lake. Unfortunately we didn’t have the sun shining on the lake but it was still pretty. Check out this crazy guy submerged in the freezing cold water…literally ice floating by!

On Thursday we drove into Calgary about an hour away to see the town and get some supplies. We drove by the site of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics where the ski jumps tower above the landscape.

When we got back I went on a short walk to the Hoodoos Viewpoint across the street from our campground. Here are some pictures. A pretty fox crossed my path but he was too fast for me to snap a shot of him.

Friday morning we set off for our next camping spot at Lake Louise, still within Banff NP, about an hour north. The clouds were low and it was misty as we made our way to Lake Louise. The campground is divided into Hard Sided (no tents or canvas allowed) and Soft Sided (tents allowed). The Soft Sided area is surrounded by an electric fence to keep the bears out. Yikes, are there that many bears?!?

After setting up camp we took off on our bikes along the Bow River Loop adjacent to our campground. The trail turned out to be a bit rough in spots (roots and rocks) but it ran along the river so it was a pretty ride.

At one point we went through the electric bear fence into the Soft Sided campground to look around. It’s kind of scary to think we had been riding on the side (and camping) where the bears are…we never did see any though.

We saw signs pointing to Lake Louise 4 kl so we thought we would just ride our bikes there. The road turned out to be pretty steep and narrow with busses and RVs wizzing by….probably not the best idea but we made it to the lake on our trusty ebikes. Whew!

The area was packed with tourists but I was able to get some beautiful pictures of the lake and Fairmont Chateau.

We did some more biking the next day, riding into Lake Louise Village to check out the visitor center and shops. Richard got a nice new bright raincoat for his bike to make sure he is seen by all 🙂

On our way out of Banff the next morning we stopped to fill up at the Shell station. $500 later we were rolling down the road to the Icefields Parkway and Jasper National Park.