Banff & Jasper

By Andrew Mortimer, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada

In order to make the most of being on the other side of the world, and with the enthusiastic recommendation of my housemate from Calgary, I decided to go even further from home by flying out to Western Canada. I decided to go on the 8th of May, a week after my final exams had finished, so that I had great weather and minimal fellow tourists. Although I wouldn’t be back in Toronto until the 21st of May, I was only in Banff and Jasper until the 15th, so I had to make sure I made the most of my time whilst in the most beautiful place in the world.

My flight to Calgary was early enough that I had to wake up at 4am despite the rapid airport process you get on an internal flight. Once I landed and called my parents, I was able to use the very useful rideshare app ‘Poparide’ to get me to Banff quickly and at a very low cost. Despite the terrifying near-collision that I, the driver, and another hitchhiker (an Australian who had just flown in from LA) had on the highway, the 90-minute journey’s increasingly picturesque scenery meant I was very excited to get into the Rocky Mountains.

Once I had dropped off my stuff in the hostel (HI Banff), I wandered down the hill to the centre of the town to buy some lunch and bear spray. It was a wonderful experience just to wander around the small town, and I made sure to see as much of the high street and the immediate surrounding area as possible on that first day. Everywhere in this part of Alberta looks like a postcard, so when I went to bed that evening, after a long chat with a friendly New Zealander also travelling, I was excited to start going up the surrounding mountains for the amazing views.

After a long sleep, I began the 9th of May by walking up Tunnel Mountain, a relatively small mountain encircled by the town. Although it is only about as difficult to climb as any summit in the Peak District (hence why King George VI and the Queen Mother did so on a royal tour of Canada), it has great views of the town and the Banff Springs Hotel as you go up and down. I had my pre-made lunch on the summit and then made my way back to the town centre to catch the bus.

I wanted to catch the bus to get to the base of Sulphur Mountain, which overlooked the town to the east and a huge mountain range to the west. As the path walking up had far worse views, I was easily able to persuade myself to take the Banff Gondola up to the top. The gradient this took past the halfway point made it slightly nerve-wracking, but it was a great experience. Once I arrived at the summit, which was covered in snow despite the high temperatures, I couldn’t believe how beautiful the views were. Tunnel Mountain looked microscopic. After FaceTiming my parents and buying some merch, I took the gondola back down to the ground and wandered around the now-familiar town for a while longer before returning to the hostel.

I began the 10th of May by exploring the various tourist shops on the high street I had so far dawdled past, before getting the bus to the equally beautiful but less tourist-dominated town of Canmore, which I had been driven through after landing in Calgary. I immediately headed off fairly aimlessly on a random trail. The peacefulness of this town was otherworldly, and I had more of that to look forward to in Jasper. For now though, I was more than happy to walk through the woods before I went to a nice restaurant with a Scottish friend also on exchange at UofT, who had been staying with a friend that lived nearby. We stayed out until the sun set, and then I had to get back and pack my bags for my most exciting day yet, which would begin early the next morning.

Although I was sad to leave Banff, I was excited for the long day of travelling ahead, as I was to take a guided tour (with Sundog Tours) from Banff to Jasper. The trip was to last 10 hours, due to the regular stops/activities, and I have never taken so many photos in one day in my life. Firstly we headed to the iconic Lake Louise, which was just about frozen enough for some people to tentatively stand on it. Then we (myself and 3 retired Australian couples) got back on the comfortable coach and headed along the breathtaking highway. Each place we stopped was more beautiful than the last, but one of the best experiences was getting to walk around on the Athabasca Glacier, which you get to via these cool all-terrain vehicles called Ice Explorers. Once we had finished there, we also got to walk along a glass skywalk above a giant valley, which was quite scary.

As those activities were only at the halfway point of the journey, there was still loads more to see, including a black bear which was roaming in the distance, which we saw not long before another appeared right next to the bus on the side of the road. Seeing those black bears was wonderful and somewhat prepared me for what I would see in the coming days. When I was dropped off at my hostel (HI Jasper), I was still buzzing after that great trip, so I walked around a lot of the Jasper townsite. I saw the totem pole near the train station and the Jasper museum before checking out the other hostel I would be staying at in the town.

I spent the next day, the 12th of May, wandering around nearby trails where I didn’t see many other people at all. I eventually found myself walking around Lac Beauvert, which was surrounded by what must be the most beautiful golf course in the world. On the west side of the lake, closest to Jasper, I was in the woods where I noticed a family of 3 grizzly bears on the trail about 60m in front of me. It was very scary and very exciting, so I stopped dead in my tracks and took a few pictures and videos, with them occasionally looking at me. After they had finished rubbing their backs on the trees like Baloo from The Jungle Book, they headed off in the direction I was supposed to go, so I was forced to turn around and walk back the much longer way around the lake, which I didn’t mind at all.

When I was excitedly scuttling back, I came across a mother and daughter from the West Coast of the USA, who I warned about the bears and walked with until they left the trail to go back to their nearby hotel. Just before they veered off, two cyclists warned us about 3 different grizzlies, again a mother, father and cub, who were on the edge of the golf course that I had to walk past. When I saw them 15 minutes later, they were only about 40m away from me and the path, which was way too close. I took some nervous pictures, but when one of the parents bluff charged me and the cub ran up the tree, I realised I should have been a lot more nervous than I was. Luckily there were no more incidents on the way back to the hostel, although the adrenaline didn’t dissipate for weeks afterwards. I was very grateful to have bear spray as a backup, but make sure you’re hypervigilant and keep your distance better than I did if you come across a bear in the wild.

The next day was my least busy of the trip so far. Maybe because of the excitement from the previous evening, I was very tired on the 13th, and my legs hurt quite a lot. I still managed to haul myself up to Lake Annette and to a pub on the high street before getting an early night. On the morning of the 14th, I wrote and sent my postcards home outside the second hostel (Jasper Downtown Hostel); at the same time, a cool mural was being spray-painted next to me. I then moved all my stuff back to the HI Jasper for my last night in the town before more solo exploring, followed by an exciting guided wildlife tour (with Maligne Adventures). After a while on the tour, with little luck for sightings, everyone on the bus was nervous we wouldn’t see much until someone spotted a mother and cub a long way up a tree.

It was amazing to see them climb up higher and then for the mother to eventually come down, although no one, including the two expert guides, really knew why they were up there! Only 15 minutes later, we came across maybe the best bear sighting yet. This black bear (which confusingly was brown) was right next to the coach on the side of the road for the whole 10 minutes we were there. Everyone was blown away by how close we were to this bear, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

After we saw some elk devouring someone’s garden hedge, I was dropped off and went straight to bed, as I was to leave Jasper and the Rocky Mountains early the next day via a 24-hour train ride to Vancouver on the last leg of ‘The Canadian’ train journey, which sets off from Toronto days before it reaches Jasper. I was so gutted to be leaving the most beautiful place on Earth, but I was also satisfied with everything that I had done and seen in my week in the Rockies, and I would totally recommend going there if it is viable for you.