Lonely Planet Banff, Jasper and Glacier National Parks , livre ebook

Banff, Jasper & Glacier National Parks

Contents

Plan Your Trip

Country Map
Welcome to Banff, Jasper & Glacier
Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Need to Know
What’s New
If You Like…
Month by Month
Itineraries
Activities
Travel with Children
Travel with Pets

On The Road

BANFF NATIONAL PARK
Day Hikes
Overnight Hikes
Cycling
Driving
Other Activities
Sights
Tours
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
Shopping
AROUND BANFF NATIONAL PARK
Canmore
Kananaskis Country
Yoho National Park
Lake O’Hara
Mt Assiniboine Provincial Park
Kootenay National Park & Radium Hot Springs
Golden
JASPER NATIONAL PARK
Day Hikes
Overnight Hikes
Cycling
Driving
Other Activities
Sights
Tours
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Shopping
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
Day Hikes
Cycling
Other Activities
Driving
Sights
Tours
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Nightlife
Entertainment
AROUND GLACIER NATIONAL PARK
West Glacier
St Mary
East Glacier
Blackfeet Indian Reservation
Whitefish
WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK
Day Hikes
Driving
Cycling
Other Activities
Sights
Tours
Sleeping
Eating
Drinking & Entertainment
Shopping

Understand Banff, Jasper & Glacier

The Parks Today
History
Geology
Wildlife
Conservation

Survival Guide

Health & Safety
Clothing & Equipment
Directory A–Z
Transportation
Map Legend

Special Features

Travel with Children
Travel with Pets
Full-color Wildlife feature
Clothing & Equipment Checklist

Welcome to Banff, Jasper & Glacier

Sit atop a mountain, hike through the forest, feel the spray of a waterfall: Banff, Jasper and Glacier offer outdoor experiences at their simplest and best.

Historical Heritage
While other countries protect ancient ruins and medieval castles, the Rocky Mountains offer up Banff, Jasper and Glacier, legendary natural wonders replete with crenelated peaks, majestic meadows and scenery-shaping glaciers that together make up an important part of North America’s historical jigsaw. Of the hundreds of national parks scattered around the world today, Banff, created in 1885, is the third oldest. Associated with the development of America’s cross-continental railroads, which lured wealthy visitors into previously unexplored wilderness, these protected areas practically invented modern tourism, and their hold on the popular imagination has not diminished.
Wilderness Walks
There are bucket-loads of things to do in Banff, Jasper and Glacier, from heart-in-your-mouth white-water rafting to an easy round of golf. But arguably the most rewarding activity in the parks is the simplest – hiking. Walking along a well-maintained trail amid classic mountain splendor is one of life’s great spiritual diversions. You won’t be the first convert: hiking, by default, was the primary means of transportation for the indigenous people of the Rockies and the early European explorers who followed.
Protected Environments
Acting as litmus tests for the tricky balance between ecological integrity and a rip-roaring visitor experience, the Rocky Mountain national parks have long played a key role in safeguarding North America’s natural environment. Glacier protects an ecosystem unchanged since Columbus’ time, Banff exhibits some of the finest wildlife-watching in North America, and Jasper is a dark-sky preserve free of unnecessary light pollution; underneath the myriad adventure opportunities lies savvy park management paving the way to a greener future.
Outdoor Accessibility
One of the advantages of the Rocky Mountain parks is their accessibility. Banff, in particular, embodies the fragile, sometimes controversial, juxtaposition between the tamed and the untamed. While some frown at the commercialization of Banff Ave, the home comforts have their merits. Outfitters and guides add safety to potentially complicated trip-planning, while speedy gondolas allow people who might otherwise not have the opportunity to get up above the timberline to experience flower-carpeted alpine meadows and wild animals roaming through their natural habitats.

Moraine Lake , Banff National Park BRIAN LAWRENCE/GETTY IMAGES ©
Why I Love Banff, Jasper & Glacier
By Brendan Sainsbury, Writer
 
Ever since climbing my first Welsh mountain at the age of eight, hiking and trail-running have been in my blood. For me, Banff, Jasper and Glacier offer some of the best trails in North America – suitably wild and rugged, but easily accessible without a car. On a fine day in high summer, there’s nothing I like more than roaming alone above the treeline in Banff’s Sunshine Meadows or Jasper’s Bald Hills, drinking in the views and singing my favorite Smiths songs to ward off the bears.
For more about our writers .
Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Lake Louise
1 No one should leave this mortal coil without first setting eyes upon the robin-egg-blue waters of Lake Louise nestled below the hulking Victoria Glacier and ringed by an impressive amphitheater of mountains. True, the lakeshore crowds can sometimes resemble a giant emporium of selfie-sticks, but grab your photos from a more unique angle – on Mt Fairview, for instance, or looking back from the Victoria Glacier – and solitude could conceivably be yours.

GREG MCLEMORE/500PX ©

Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Icefields Parkway
2 There are amazing road trips, and then there’s the Icefields Pkwy . This iconic highway unfurls for 230km (143 miles) between Lake Louise and Jasper, and takes in some of the most mind-blowing mountain panoramas anywhere on the Continental Divide. En route you’ll pass cerulean lakes, crashing cascades, gleaming glaciers and the largest area of unbroken ice anywhere in North America, the mighty Columbia Icefield. It’s a true trip of a lifetime, so fuel up, sit back, and let one of the world’s great scenery shows unfold.

ANNA GORIN / GETTY IMAGES ©
Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Skyline Trail
3 Cross-park views of Jasper are par for the course on the widely celebrated Skyline Trail . It could have had any number of descriptive names conferred upon it – the Homeric path, the celestial walk, the resplendent ramble – but instead its name describes exactly how it is: a 45.8km (28.7-mile) promenade through Jasper’s splendidly glaciated high country that offers kilometer after kilo-meter of seemingly endless skyline. Is there a more spectacular hike anywhere in North America? Possibly not.

JOSH MCCULLOCH / GETTY IMAGES ©

Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Going-to-the-Sun Road
4 The start is inauspicious enough: a signposted turning off US 2, the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village of West Glacier, followed by a serendipitous plunge into dense forest around Apgar. It’s only on the shores of Lake McDonald that the views start getting better and better, until you feel as if the Going-to-the-Sun Rd really is – well – going to the sun. The highpoint is Logan Pass on the Continental Divide. After that it’s all downhill to St Mary, amid more jaw-dropping scenery and potent lessons in glacial erosion.

PUNG / SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Wildlife Watching
5 Black and grizzly bears may be the holy grail for wildlife spotters, but there are plenty of other animals to seek out. The parks support a hugely diverse range of species, from elk and bighorn sheep to mountain goats, marmots and moose, not to mention an entire aviary of unusual birds. The best time to see wildlife is always at dawn or dusk; bring along decent binoculars and a telephoto lens to help with the perfect view.

A Rocky Mountain elk JARED HOBBS / GETTY IMAGES ©

Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Moraine Lake
6 Canoes have been the preferred method of transport in the Rockies since time immemorial, and they’re still an ideal way to explore the region’s lakes and rivers. Canoes and kayaks can be hired on many of the region’s waterways, but few water journeys can match Moraine Lake in the scenery stakes. Paddling out across this peacock-blue lake in a traditional canoe, gazing up to the icy summits of Wenkchemna Peak, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported back in time to the days of the early pioneers and voyageurs.

JEAN-PIERRE LESCOURRET / GETTY IMAGES ©

Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Sunshine Meadows
7 Climb above the treeline in the Rocky Mountains and you’re in a different domain, an ethereal world of impressionistic flower meadows, glassy mountain lakes and jagged peaks above the clouds. The easiest access point to this wild terrain is at Banff’s Sunshine Meadows , where a summer shuttle replaces a winter ski gondola to take hikers up to the Continental Divide for fabulous short and long hikes, some of them guided. Extra bonus: Sunshine Meadows metamorphoses into Banff’s finest ski resort in the winter months.

TOM NEVESELY / GETTY IMAGES ©

Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Canmore Nordic Centre
8 The Rockies’ rugged landscape of mountains and valleys makes perfect terrain if you’re into mountain biking. Many of Banff and Jasper’s trails are designated as multi-use, meaning they’re open to hikers and horseback riders as well as cyclists, but for the best cycling head for the groomed trails of the Canmore Nordic Centre . There are more than 65km (40 miles) of routes to explore, ranging from easy rolls to epic singletracks, and the regular skills clinics can help you get the most out of your ride.

RYAN CREARY / AGEFOTOSTOCK ©

Banff, Jasper & Glacier’s Top 20
Maligne Lake
9 Beyond its oft-visited northern shore, Maligne Lake remains a wilderness lake bequeathed with the kind of grandiose scenery that early explorers such as Mary Schäffer would still recognize. The only way to penetrate this watery kingdom’s southern reaches is to hike in through backcountry, venture out solo on a kayak, or – for more relaxed day-trippers – enjoy it communally on a daily boat launc