Re-discovering the Magic of Banff

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We don’t need to tell you why Banff is one of the most visited destinations in Canada. Roam with us, were re-discovering the magic of Banff.

One thing I do need to add right at the beginning. We made this second trip in 2022. It’s now 2025, so I’m writing this from memory.
It’s being posted now, because we’ve just created this new website and we want to add all, or most of our travel adventures here for you to read about.
So let’s get to it.

Arrival in Calgary

Upon our arrival in Calgary, we had to stay overnight in a hotel. We chose the Calgary Airport Hilton because it was close, literally in the airport. We couldn’t get a flight that would time our arrival with the pick-up time of our Cruise America van, so that’s why we came a day earlier. We didn’t want to waste a minute once those mountains were in sight. We were too excite to get at re-discovering the magic of Banff.

We got a good deal on our Cruise America van, so we went with them, instead of Canadream.
There was no real difference, aside from the fact that it was huge. Really intimidating for Sher it was. But we managed with that beast.

The Campsite

We stayed at Bow River Campground this time around.
It’s a nice campground, with a great view, including the Bow River that runs through it. or along side it.
It should be noted though, that there’s a road or highway that also runs along side it. It’s not like you’re on top of the highway, but you can hear the cars as they pass. It’s not too distracting, especially if you don’t dwell on it.
And if you’re anything like us, you won’t be spending much time there. We had our coffee along the river in the AM, and that’s pretty much it.

First stop, Canmore

What a nice little town Canmore is. The size is a bit deceiving though. The ‘uptown’ area will make you think there’s not much more to it, but there is. Including Policeman’s Creek Boardwalk. I’m not sure why they call it that, we didn’t see any Policeman, only a creek.

The uptown area has some nice gift shops and restaurants for your pleasure. We didn’t eat there, but we did take a walk through and popped into a gift shop where we spent a good amount of time and came out with a souvenir of our trip for my son.

I wanted to check out Canmore Engine bridge, but I either forgot about it or we ran out of steam, I’m not sure which…

Lake Louise – Morant’s Curve

Our 2^nd full day consisted of a trip to Lake Louise, were we hiked up to the Lake Agnes Teahouse, and Emerald Lake.

I never miss an opportunity to talk about how the hike to the Tea House (which was closed) almost killed me.
Not really, but it felt like it. I should have done more exercise prior to this trip. It wouldn’t have been so brutal on this guy if I had.
After numerous stops for water, snacks and just rest, we finally made it. I was in such rough shape that I couldn’t even really appreciate Lake Agnes or the surroundings. I was cramping up bad and couldn’t even eat. I think it was here that we discovered my altitude sickness. Not a serious case but certainly something to keep in mind.

Morant’s Curve

A quick note to say that with respect to Morant’s Curve, timing is everything. And ours was not great. We waited I think close to an hour for it. We did manage to catch the train going in the opposite direction, compared to the amazing images you’ve likely seen.
Nevertheless it was fun waiting and hoping to catch that epic scene.

Emerald Lake – Vermillion Lakes – Natural Bridge

I’m sure you’ve seen many images of Emerald Lake. It’s beautiful as any picture you’ve seen.

This was our plan for our 2^nd of 3 full days in Alberta. It was also our second time at Emerald Lake. The first time was just as amazing and documented here.
I wish I could say it was incident free, however it was not. I’m not sure if even now is a good time to talk about it, It made it more memorable, and no one was hurt.
Apparently no images of this incident exist…

Suffice to say, Emerald Lake is even more spectacular when covered in fresh snowfall.

Natural Bridge

This was also our second time to Natural Bridge. It’s an amazing piece of nature located in Field BC.
I found it a bit difficult to take photos, due to the lighting and snowfall, but it’s really not hard to capture its beauty. It’s kind of in your face.

We passed by Vermillion Lakes at the end of the day, in hopes of catching another glorious sunset.
We weren’t completely successful, but it’s always a great experience to just be there. And this time we were able to capture some snow in the reeds, which was the icing on the cake for me.

Peyto Lake

Peyto Lake became our favourite location on this trip to Banff. It’s more amazing than even words can express.

We spent the entire day there. Reaching for sunrise, and staying until sunset. You’ve never seen anything like Peyto Lake.

With a quick trip to Bow Lake and Waterfowl Lakes while we waited for sunset at Peyto.
It was our first time to Peyto Lake and it will ALWAYS find a spot on our itinerary when we visit Banff.

This was another day where I was feeling horrible, but I made the most of it.
The sunrise and sunset were pretty decent. Though Sher stayed longer during sunset than I did.

Shout out to the couple taking engagement photos while we were there. And shout out to the couple that seemed to follow us around the entire trip. We ran into this couple first during the hike to the Lake Louise Teahouse, then Peyto Lake, then the airport. This was actually kind of funny.