My wife and I drove up to Banff last Wednesday and returned yesterday. It was raining when we left Seattle and more or less rained the entire drive, and pretty much the whole time we were there! :(
It's about a 600 mile drive from Seattle and it took us just under 12 hours including about an hour stop for lunch in Kamloops. I'd say in ideal conditions with only short stops for gas the drive could be made in under eleven hours, maybe even ten if you haul ass. It's a haul, though. We drove the Trans-Canada highway from Abbotsford, BC to Hope, then the Coquihalla Hwy to Kamloops and the Trans-Canada from there to Banff. I suggest stopping at Earl's in Kamloops. The waitresses are hot (is this wrong for me to say considering the trip was to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary? :))
Anyway, as you can see from some of these photos, the weather sucked. So we got to pay high-season prices for low-season weather. We stayed at the Ptarmigan Inn which is a decent hotel, but not cheap. It's kinda midrange for Banff. Staying in Banff in the summer is not a cheap proposition if you stay in a hotel.
Here's a shot looking down Banff Avenue
http://home.comcast.net/~seussnelson...anff_ave00.jpg
This is a shot looking down at Banff from Mt. Norquay. That's Mt. Rundle on the left, which looks so spectacular in the winter shots you see taken from approx. this location.
http://home.comcast.net/~seussnelson/images/norquay.jpg
We went up to Lake Louise on Friday and hiked to Lake Agnes. This is a good hike if you have kids or a non-hiking person in your group. For anyone who hikes at all it would be considered very easy, for people who don't it's doable. They might complain some, but they'll make it! I think it's around 4 km each way with a 400 m elevation gain.
Here's a shot of the mountains from the trail during a rare sunbreak!
http://home.comcast.net/~seussnelson...lake_trail.jpg
When you get to the end of the hike there's a very cool waterfall and a teahouse that serves tea (duh) and various light snacks.
Here's the teahouse:
http://home.comcast.net/~seussnelson...e_teahouse.jpg
I just noticed you can see a camp robber jay in the tree in front of the teahouse. I'm sure these are a familiar (and possibly annoying) sight for anyone who skis in the PNW at least.
Of course Lake Louise itself is an amazing sight. Here's a photo of me looking damn stupid, but you can see the color of the lake:
http://home.comcast.net/~seussnelson...ake_louise.jpg
Another example of area pricing: you can rent a canoe for a paddle on Lake Louise for a mere $32/hour. Of course it is Canadian dollars, right? :)
We also went to Moraine Lake which is also a spectacularly turquoise mountain lake ringed with mountains. Too bad it was raining :(
The Cascade Gardens in Banff are worth a stroll. They're just on the other side of the river from downtown.
http://home.comcast.net/~seussnelson..._gardens00.jpg
Finally, here's a shot of the Bow River with mountains in the distance
http://home.comcast.net/~seussnelson.../bow_river.jpg
Both the Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise are worth walking through. Both are very impressive, but I like the Chateau better. Has a much lighter, upbeat character compared to the stuffy, castlelike Banff Springs.
If you go to Banff and want lots of dining, shopping and drinking options stay in Banff proper. If you want more seclusion and nature stay at Lake Louise (somewhere other than the Chateau), or there appear to be some cool cabins, etc. along the Bow River Parkway that parallels the Trans-Canada between Banff and LL.
I'm still primarily a film man, so I expect to have much better photos when I get the film developed, but I like to bring the digital along for some quick shots that I can post immediately. It really is an amazing area up there. You could spend a long time exploring the area. If the weather was good it would really be spectacular. We were a little disappointed we didn't see much wildlife. We did see a group of Bighorn sheep at the top of the Sulphur Mountain gondola, but that was it for large mammals.
Sorry we didn't meet any local maggots. Given the context of the trip my wife didn't seem real interested in meeting any "weird internet people!" I'll shape her up, though, for next time!
