Our last stop in the Canadian Rockies was the town of Banff, within Banff National Park. We had already spent time in the Lake Louise area of Banff, but after time in Jasper, we stayed in a few days in the Hidden Ridge Resort, sitting just above Banff town.
We were honestly a bit hiked-out by the time we got to Banff, so we didn’t fit in quite as many as we may have earlier in the trip, but we did have a few adventures.
Banff is a charming tourist town surrounded by mountains and sitting inside Banff National Park. It was similar to the town of Jasper (which sits in Jasper National Park), but a bit bigger, which means more restaurants, more tourist facilities and more conveniences like big grocery stores. I personally preferred Jasper, but C preferred Banff, so there you go – we recommend you go to both and decide for yourselves! (Of course, you are choosing between two spectacular places, so you really can’t go wrong).
The resort where we stayed was a bit outside of Banff itself, and perched up on a hill (mountain?). Fortunately, they provided free bus passes for the easy-to- figure-out Banff local transportation, so we typically would walk (downhill) into town, then catch the bus back up to the resort.
Our first day in Banff, we walked down to town for lunch, enjoying a mediocre meal but a great view.
After lunch, we explored a bit, walking along the waterfront just outside of town.
We also visited a slightly strange but still fairly interesting place, the Banff Park Museum National Historic Site, which contained a bunch of “vintage specimens” of stuffed (taxidermy) animals. They had an Xplorers Club booklet for the boys to complete, so that kept them busy for a while, and at the end, were awarded a special prize for completion.
After taking the bus back up to our resort, we enjoyed the heated pool with mountain views.
The next day, we decided to rent bicycles from a store in downtown Banff, and rode along the Sundance Canyon trail, an amazingly scenic path that goes along the Bow River, before eventually going into the canyon.
At some point in the canyon, bikes are no longer permitted, so we attempted to catch what was labeled as an “easy” mountain biking path, the Healy Creek trail, but the little boys were super grumpy and nervous about the rocky and muddy road, and the mosquitoes (we had forgotten to bring any bug spray!) were horrendous.
We continued on the mountain biking path just long enough for the boys to calm down, so they wouldn’t think we were turning around due to their whining. Then, we quickly turned around to get the heck out of the way of the mosquitoes!
The day ended with some ice cream and another dip in the pool at our resort.
Our last morning in Banff, we hiked up Tunnel Mountain, a very popular trail that goes from downtown Banff to the top of the mountain overlooking the town. We got great views all the way up of downtown Banff, Mount Rundle and the Bow River as it winds through Banff.
Once we got to the top, it started raining, so we didn’t stay up there long, and started back down, where we would be somewhat protected from the rain by the trees on the sides of the mountain.
Our hike up Tunnel Mountain was our last stop in Banff, and from there, we headed to Calgary, where we would spend a few days before flying out.
