AU REVOIR DOUX ÉTÉ
SUMMER ROAD TRIP: YOHO & BANFF NATIONAL PARK
“And in a while
You start to smile
The earth is wild
You’ve got no time.”
- Our Last Hurrah -
As summer comes to a close, my brother Ranan, my dog Rooney and I enjoyed its last days because we needed a break from our busy schedules (Plus Banff has been on our bucket list for the past 5 years). We planned a four day getaway road trip to explore Yoho + Banff National Park in Alberta Canada. The drive is about 10hrs+ from Seattle, WA and I just have to say that it’s the most scenic drive that I’ve ever experienced. Starting from Salmon Arm, British Columbia to BNP on the Trans Canada Highway 1 you’ll see stunning mountains, valleys, and lakes for about 8hrs straight. Below are the places that we visited.
- Yoho National Park -
(Wapta Falls - Takakkaw Falls - Emerald Lake)
Wapta Falls
We planned Wapta Falls as our first stop, but it became our last place to visit because of road closures early on our trip. The trail is about 2.6kms and for this hike I really recommend wearing boots because it was really muddy most of the way. I’m glad that we waited till the end to see Yoho’s amazing waterfall. It’s my 2nd favorite moment from our trip.
TAKAKKAW FALLS
Takakkaw Falls is Canada’s 2nd largest waterfall and is about 0.9kms to get near the bottom of the site. We didn’t really stay that long, but what I really loved about Takakkaw Falls was driving through the valley. It was very pleasing and I probably took a lot of road shots along the way that day.
EMERALD LAKE LODGE
To me, Emerald Lake is similar to Lake Louise, but with way less visitors. I enjoyed my time there because it was so peaceful and it was probably the most sunny part of our trip. We were afraid at first that we weren’t going to be able to take nice photos of Emerald Lake. Throughout the day Yoho National Park had scattered showers, but we took a chance on the weather and it was just right.
- banff national Park -
(Peyto Lake - Bow Lake - Moraine Lake - Lake Louise - Lake Agnus Teahouse Trail)
Peyto Lake
We headed out early from our campgrounds to go see Peyto Lake before buses of tourists showed up. What we forgot to consider was the early timing of our arrival because the morning clouds were rolling through the view of Peyto Lake. My brother and I waited about 15 minutes to get some decent shots when the clouds would pass, but five minutes later thicker clouds would start making it’s way again. What surprised us during our visit is that it started to snow! I never imagined myself experiencing snow so late in the summer. It felt magical being up there and I would rank my time at Peyto Lake as my 3rd best moment of the trip. The trail was about 1.9kms.
Bow Lake
After our time at Peyto Lake viewpoint, we headed down to Bow Lake which wasn’t that far. Bow Lake is a nice little spot to spend about 30mins to take a break and unwind. It’s right next to a lodge/resort. I wanted to get some nice reflection shots at Bow Lake because I’ve seen amazing photos from others before, but unfortunately, the water was a bit rough and the clouds didn't let up either. We still enjoyed our quick stop and hopefully in the near future we’ll be back to see it at its best when the weather is right.
Moraine Lake
My brother and I woke up early to get to Moraine Lake. We arrived around 5:45am and there were already dozens of cars parked waiting for the morning light to appear. I’ve read from others experience that its best to show up before 6:00am because of the influx of visitors. They’ll close the road to Moraine Lake because of how full the parking can get and national parks rangers will usually reroute you to an overflow parking in which you would have to catch a shuttle to get there. We only strolled Rockpile Trail and spent most of our time near the shore. I’m glad that we finally got to see Moraine Lake. It’s mainly the reason why I wanted to visit Banff all these years.
Lake Louise
Our campground was conveniently only 10 minutes away from Lake Louise. We visited the area twice and we got to experience about 1-2 inches of snow on our last day. Just like Moraine Lake this area can get crowded with visitors very quickly. For activities you’re able to rent canoes for about $55 CAD. We wanted to try it out, but we decided to explore one of their many trails around the park instead.
Lake Agnus Teahouse Trail (Lake Louise)
The Lake Agnus Teahouse Trail is located in Lake Louise and its part of the few hiking trails that you can choose from. It’s a trail that my brother recommended that we should do and it’s rated as an intermediate hike. What I wasn’t warned about Lake Agnus was the amount of horse crap along the 3.5km hike that you have to constantly look out for. Besides that, this hike was my favorite moment from the trip and it’s my top recommendation for all visitors to do. It took us about 40 minutes to reach the Teahouse. Midway you’ll come across a small lake called Mirror Lake which has an amazing view of Beehive. It’s a great checkpoint right before you reach the top of Lake Agnus.
Once you reach the top, give yourself a pat in the back, enjoy the view of Lake Louise, while lounging at the Teahouse sipping herbal tea in front of Lake Agnus. My brother and I had lunch and drinks at the Teahouse. For your information they only take CAD and USD, but for USD, they’ll charge a 10% exchange rate. After feeling rejuvenated the walk back to Lake Louise was much easier. We didn’t want to leave because of how magnificent the park was, but we are definitely planning on visiting again next year to show our mom how lovely Yoho + Banff National Park truly is.
Any questions? Feel free to ask me or if you want to share your experience I’d be glad to hear your adventures in the comments! Detailed information about our campground & park passes below.
Thanks for visiting this blog post and I hope you had an awesome summer!
Camp details w/hyperlinks.
Reservations - We reserved our campsite at Lake Louise Campground for three days. It cost us about $90 dollars. I would rate the campground 4/5 stars. The only issue we ran into was that the firewood that they had supply was mostly wet from the rain and snow. Also the Canadian Train passes outside the campgrounds, I heard it a few times in the day, but not so much in the evenings. Probably because I slept through the train passing from feeling tired from the all day adventures. If I could do it a little different I would probably reserve the campgrounds nicely set-up oTENTiks, They also have many washrooms and showers around the campgrounds. We reserved a 2 weeks in advance before our camping dates. I would do it one or two months early to try to reserve the oTENTiks next time.
National Park Passes - If you purchase day passes, they are good until 4:00pm the next day. Staying for a week it is better and cheaper to buy an annual pass, which is good for most parks all over Canada. Lastly, if you purchase day passes, but want to make it an annual pass, they’ll apply the day passes you bought to the annual pass if you save your E-receipts from email.
