Destination: Canadian Rockies 2008
When: June 4-9th 2008
Itinerary: Ross and I are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary on this trip! We flew from Minneapolis to Calgary, rented a small car, then drove to Banff where we rented a condo to use as our "base camp."
Day 1, Wednesday: We decided to take the late flight from Minneapolis to Calgary so we'd have a fresh start on day 2. We arrived in Calgary at 11:00pm and caught the free shuttle to the Best Western Port O' Call hotel for the night. Pretty uneventful.
Day 2, Thursday: After a decent night's sleep, we headed to breakfast at the Best Western. A bit steep at $13 Canadian per person for a pretty standard breakfast buffet, but it was quick and convenient. We called Enterprise Car Rental to take advantage of their "we'll pick you up!" offer, which is a great service! If you rent from an off-airport office you won't need to pay the airport taxes on top of your rental car taxes and the rates are often cheaper. Enterprise picked us up within 15 minutes and brought us to their office. Within a few minutes we had our rental car and were on our way. Banff is about an hour's drive from Calgary. It is a quick and relatively easy drive.
Upon arriving in Banff, we headed to the Hidden Ridge Resort to see if our room was ready. I had booked us a 1 bedroom condo complete with a living room and kitchen. We were early, but they did have our room ready for us. We were upgraded to a huge 3 bedroom condo that could have slept 10 people! That was nice. They welcomed us and wished us a happy anniversary. The Hidden Ridge Resort in Banff was undergoing some major construction while we were there, but honestly, it didn't bother us at all. We were gone during the daytime when most of the work was being done. No problems. Our condo was split into 3 levels. The ground level had a full bathroom and 2 bedrooms. The middle level had another bathroom, living room with a wood burning fireplace, dining area with a table and 6 chairs, and a full kitchen with a breakfast counter and 3 stools, plus a balcony with chairs. The upper level was a loft with two beds. We used the loft as the master bedroom. The kitchen had a full sized stove, plus a refrigerator, dishwasher, sink, full size coffee maker, plus all the dishes and towels we needed. It was perfect!
After checking in, we decided to go for a drive. We drove out to the Banff golf course, up Mt. Norquay, and up the Bow Valley Parkway or Banff National Park 1A in search of wildlife. As expected we saw plenty of elk and deer. Along the Mt. Norquay road we ran into big horned sheep which are very often seen on the road. But, the highlight of the day was when we were on 1A. Way up on the hillside we spotted a momma black bear and her 2 cubs. Our first bear sighting in Banff! We were so excited! We kept driving up to the Lake Louise and Moraine Lake area. On the way back from Moraine Lake we were surprised to spot a porcupine right along the road. A porcupine was one of the animals Ross said he wanted to see. His wish was granted! We watched for awhile as the porcupine scampered up a tree and played peek-a-boo with us. Too cute. On our way back to Hidden Ridge, we drove back through the Bow Valley Parkway and spotted a coyote hunting for an afternoon snack. So day 1 Banff wildlife sightings included elk, deer, sheep, black bear, coyote, porcupine and of course, a raven. We're off to a great start!
Day 3, Friday: We know that to spot wildlife, the best plan is to head out early. So, our days began with a quick breakfast, full mugs of coffee and the camera ready to go. We headed out to 1A again to see if we could spot the black bears again. We decided that it would be a good day to make our way to Jasper. The last time we were in the Canadian Rockies, we stayed in Banff a few nights, then moved to Jasper for a few nights, then moved back to Banff again. We didn't do that this time. We knew it would mean a long day of driving, but it worked out just fine. We encountered all kinds of weather, from sunshine, to rain, to snow and sleet and then sunshine again. Pretty crazy. Some lakes were still covered with ice while others were completely open. We drove through the worst weather near the Columbia Icefield. Heavy snow and wind, but still drivable. We also encountered a few black bears right along the road. We were able to get some pretty neat photos. After driving about 12 hours, we were wiped out!
Day 4, Saturday: We decided to take a chance on a new road we had read about to see if we would have any luck spotting any critters. We are so glad we did as we spotted our first grizzly bear here! Just as we approached the end of the road, there he was. We were speechless. He was right on the road and was very accommodating! We watched as he itched his back on tree limb, then meandered over to a stream to eat the fresh grass. He let us take tons of photos and didn't seem to be bothered that we were there. So cool. This made our day!
Day 5, Sunday: Happy 10 Year Anniversary to us! What a way to celebrate. We started the day out at the ski resort again and sure enough, another grizzly. It was an older, larger bear this time. He wasn't so happy we were there but we were able to get a few snapshots of him before he headed back up into the hills. On the way out, we spotted a sly fox. Boy was he sneaky! And he was fast! He would run, then pop out and peek at us, letting me take a photo or two, then he'd hide and pop out a ways down the road. He was sure fun to watch.
We wanted to do something a little different today, being it was our anniversary, so we headed towards Kootenay and Yoho National Parks. The weather cooperated on the way through Kootenay. Much to our surprise, we spotted a moose at the animal lick along highway 95. A moose! If you've read any of my other trip reports, you know how much I like moose, so I was thrilled! The weather slowly deteriorated as we made our way to Golden. We stopped at the A&W for lunch in Golden before heading to Yoho. The mountains were pretty impressive, but we didn't spot any more animals until we got back to Banff.
Because of the outstanding luck we had been having at the ski resort, we headed back there before calling it a day. On the way up the road, we came upon a herd, and I mean a herd, of big horned sheep. They stood in the road, scraping the rocks and licking the salt from them. They are so funny! We got turned around and headed out of the ski area, thinking the bears had headed up the hills for the night, but then we spotted him on the hill. Another grizzly! He was huge! We watched him for a long time as he munched on the grass. What an incredible sight. We headed back to the condo, perfectly content and thrilled with what we had seen so far on this trip.
Day 6, Monday: Time to go home. BUT, not before one more trip down 1A and the ski resort! We were up by 7am, coffee and camera in hand, and headed to the ski resort. Nothing but deer. It is hard to get too excited about animals we see in our backyard at home! We had an hour before we had to start towards Calgary, so we headed up to the Highway 93/Bow Valley junction at Castle Mountain to make one more trek down 1A. Things were pretty quiet until we headed right at a split in the road and rounded a corner. Ross and I saw them at the same time... a momma grizzly with two cubs right on the side of the road. What an absolutely incredible way to end an absolutely amazing Canadian Rockies wildlife experience! We hung around and watched the bears for quite awhile, just enjoying their presence, thanking God for the blessings of this beautiful land, the wildlife, each other, our children and families and our lives. We couldn't have asked for a better anniversary. And by the way, we put 1250 miles on the rental car!