Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park Itinerary

This itinerary covers how we managed to experience the Canadian Rockies and Glacier National Park in Montana.

It was a trip where we had to rearrange plans to avoid the brunt of a freak early Winter snow storm that took place in September!

We also had to work with the fact that Julie was pregnant, which eliminated or scaled back any aspirations of doing long hikes.

Thus, the itinerary you see here was the final result of such on-the-fly adjustments as it differed from our original plans.

Here are the highlights and logistics of this trip…

Trip Map

Trip Highlights

Wapta Falls – This impressively wide waterfall was the surprise of the trip. Most waterfalls this wide don’t typically have hikes bringing you to its base (at least not in our experience), but it was certainly the case here. The colorful plunge pools from all the accumulated mist and past high water events have also added to the overall experience and scenic allure.

Emerald Lake – Even though we saw this attractive lake under less-than-ideal conditions, it still possessed a serenity and the kind of panorama that we knew would be very special under sunnier conditions. So if we like this place under subpar conditions to include on this list, just imagine how much better it would be when the namesake emerald-colored lake was surrounded by signature Canadian Rockies mountains without clouds blocking them!

Takakkaw Falls – This waterfall was one of the tallest (if not the tallest) that we saw on our trip. However, unlike most tall waterfalls we’ve encountered, this one seemed to have a reliable volume. Plus, the glacial powder-blue in the stream crossing before it further added to this waterfall’s scenic allure. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that it’s an easily-accessible waterfall, which even features an attractive side waterfall on the drive to its trailhead.

Peyto Lake – This was one of the signature lakes of the Canadian Rockies. Featuring striated mountains towering over a powder-blue lake, we were able to take it all in from a popular overlook. Clearly, lots of people come here to soak in the sublime scenery. We even came back at second time to see how the view changed in the morning as opposed to late afternoon (after a clearing storm).

Moraine Lake – This was another one of the Canadian Rockies’ signature lakes though this one was a little more obscure compared to more crowded ones like Lake Louise and Peyto Lake. What made this lake stand out was not only its colorful water, but the steep straited mountains almost seeming like they plunge right into the lake below.

Johnston Canyon – This gorge hike was kind of the saving grace on a day where we endured bad weather all day long. Adding to the atmosphere of this hike were boardwalks clinging to the jagged gorge walls revealing something new with each twist and turn within the canyon. There were a couple of big waterfalls within, and they were the primary reasons why we even bothered to do this excursion in the first place. And towards the upper waterfall, there were really colorful walls of what appeared to be some kind of limestone. Plus, there were some flowers in bloom to add a little more color to the scenery.

Num Ti Jah – The waterfalling excuse to make the stop by the Num Ti Jah Lodge was the Bow Glacier Falls. However, we were captivated by the scenery around Bow Lake, which was the lake that licked the terminus of the Bow Glacier. We don’t know how much longer this glacier will be around as a result of Global Warming, but I’m hoping that I’ll get a chance to come back here and complete the hike to get closer to the waterfall before it’s gone.

Lake Louise – This was another one of the signature lakes of the Canadian Rockies. And this one has a lot of tourist infrastructure as evidenced by the presence of a lodge right by its shore! We actually had to wait out bad weather in order to see its glorious self, but it was so worth the wait…

Banff Town – This was the main town serving the Banff National Park area, and boy was it a scenic one! Indeed, backed by striated snow-crusted mountains (including the eccentrically-shaped Mt Rundle), harboring the Bow Falls, and yielding frequent sightings of elk, there was quite a bit going for this town. Even when it was freezing cold outside, there’s nothing like getting something hot in one of the establishments in view of the surrounding scenery.

Waterfowl Lake – This lake wasn’t a planned stop when we drove along the Icefields Parkway, but we simply couldn’t ignore the mirror-like reflections. And indeed, once we made our stop and took our photos, we came home thinking that our best reflection shots in our photo library could very well have come from this place!

Athabasca Glacier – If there was one obligatory stop along the Icefields Parkway, it was probably this glacier. As one of the most accessible mountain glaciers that we’ve encountered, we could clearly see the history of its receding terminus as well as an ice cave where the melting outflow comes out of. There’s also a tourist infrastructure by the highway itself so you know it’s a popular stop with tour buses and self-drivers alike (and for good reason!).

Spirit Island and Lake Maligne – Getting to the far end of Lake Maligne via boat tour yielded one of the Canadian Rockies’ most photographed spots. I viewed this as the top attraction in Jasper National Park (which seemed to be a lot less accessible and packed with scenic spots due to its location than Banff National Park), and as you can see from this photo, there’s a reason why it’s such a photographer’s favorite.

Wells-Gray Provincial Park – This park deep in central British Columbia helped us to avoid a snow storm that socked in both Jasper and Banff, but we remember this place most for its waterfalls within its compact reserve. Indeed, we saw Helmcken Falls (pictured here), Dawson Falls, Moul Falls, and Spahats Falls. Indeed, each of these waterfalls could have been an individual entry on this list, and that alone tells you the treat you’re in for when you explore this part of Canada.

Maligne Canyon – Lake Maligne wasn’t the only main attraction in Jasper. Indeed, near the start of the somewhat long drive to get to that lake, we encountered this precipitous canyon that also featured waterfalls as well as eccentric gorge formations. Just walking the trail along its rim puts butterflies in the stomach, which gives you an idea of how deep this place is!

Waterton National Park – This seemingly understated and uncrowded reserve featured more reflective lakes (like what you see pictured here) as well as waterfalls (we saw Cameron Falls, Blackiston Falls, and Lower Bertha Falls), and wildlife (deer seemed to chill out on peoples’ lawns). Whether it was not busy because it seemed like things were shut for the season or because it’s just that overlooked is not known. But regardless, it really felt like we had this place to ourselves, and it was that much more memorable as a result.

Many Glacier – This valley featured more lakes and jagged mountains. We only had time to spend the better part of a day here, but we were rewarded with a visit to Apikuni Falls and Swiftcurrent Falls as well as more mindblowing vistas. The fact that this area was uncrowded during our visit further added to the ambiance.

Running Eagle Falls and Two Medicine Valley – This valley was another one of the quieter parts of Glacier National Park as it was separate from the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The reward of our visit here included a visit to the Running Eagle Falls where we witnessed a waterfall falling on top of another waterfall! We also saw Two Medicine Lake, which kind of reminded us of the scenery we might expect to see at the Milford Sound in New Zealand!

St Mary Lake – This was actually a long lake that yielded a vista of Wild Goose Island (pictured here) as well as short trails to Baring Falls and St Mary Falls. Like with other lakes in Glacier National Park, it’s that combination of jagged mountains with colorful alpine lakes that makes the scenery so alluring.

Logan Pass – Although the area around this crown of Glacier National Park wasn’t fully accessible due to construction work, the parts that we did see made us realize immediately what a special place it was. Even the drive to get up to the visitor center was atmospheric as we felt like we were on top of the continent featuring surprise waterfalls and huge mountains with bighorn sheep clinging to the slopes.

Trip Advice

This trip featured a lot of last-minute adjustments due to bad weather as well as inconvenient trail and road closures. It was further complicated by Julie’s pregnancy which meant all physical activity needed to be tempered (i.e. no long and strenuous hikes). All things considered, things worked out, but here were some of the lessons learned from this trip…

Making Weather Adjustments: The weather forecast played a prominent role in this trip. While we couldn’t do anything about the first storm that hit the area when we were staying in Banff, we did adjust which activities we were planning on doing on particular days. Thus, on the day we expected rain, we avoided going to the scenic lakes since we knew the views wouldn’t be good. We swapped those with excursions that were better suited for bad weather like Johnston Canyon as well as Wapta Falls and Silverton Falls.

Later in the trip, a snow storm was predicted to hit the Canadian Rockies when we were to be staying in the Jasper area. So we made adjustments in that we went straight to Lake Maligne and Spirit Island before the storm hit. And we would come back after the storm passed to visit the waterfalls in Maligne Canyon as well as the Icefields Parkway.

By chance or dumb luck, we were in the Wells-Gray Provincial Park in British Columbia on the day the storm hit. So while we had to contend with fog, we at least weren’t stuck unprepared for snow on the road. In fact, we avoided it altogether as we came back to Jasper and Banff a few days later with snow not sticking to the roads.

Inconveniences of early end-of-season in Glacier: We didn’t realize this when we planned the trip, but the early closure of the Going-to-the-Sun Road west of Logan Pass (due to an overhaul of the road there) meant many services were also shut for the season prematurely. This included the Many Glacier Hotel, numerous lodges east of the National Park, and even the road construction crew wouldn’t allow us to pull over at some of the scenic pullouts on the way up to Logan Pass from the east. There were also trail closures as a result of bear activity as this was apparently berry season for them.

The closure of the Going-to-the-Sun Road meant we had to make a long driving loop around the National Park in order to reach the Going-to-the-Sun Road at the west entrance. The road closed near the popular Avalanche Lake Trailhead.

The flip side was that the park was quiet and uncrowded (which allowed us to spot a moose going across a road) and we didn’t contend too much with long waits at restaurants.

Canadian Rockies Pass: This was a pretty expensive pass (I recalled it was around $100 CAD or so), but it was good for the whole year. We couldn’t buy the cheaper pass for the day since we were going to explore the area for more than half of this trip. Anyways, had we not forgotten it in our rental car when we returned it, we could have used it on a return trip before the expiration of the pass.

Travel Itinerary

Day 1: Fly from LAX to Calgary then drive to Banff

Overnight: Douglas Fir Lodge (Banff, Alberta, Canada)

This was a travel day where we caught a direct flight to Calgary, then picked up a rental car from there. Afterwards, we drove into Banff National Park, where we did a short hike into Sundance Canyon, then we visited Bow Falls.

Day 2: Yoho National Park and Banff

Overnight: Douglas Fir Lodge (Banff, Alberta, Canada)

On this rainy day, we headed across the provincial border into the Yoho National Park area where we visited Wapta Falls and Takakkaw Falls. We ended off the day by returning to Alberta with a hike into Johnston Canyon before returning to Banff.

Day 3: Banff National Park and Yoho National Park

Overnight: Douglas Fir Lodge (Banff, Alberta, Canada)

Taking advantage of the improving weather, we did a lot on this day. First, we visited Emerald Lake, then went to Hamilton Falls, Natural Bridge on the Kicking Horse River, before re-visiting Takakkaw Falls. We also visited Peyto Lake, Num Ti Jah, Crowfoot Glacier, Moraine Lake, and Lake Louise. When we returned to Banff, we were treated to an elk sighting.

Day 4: Drive from Banff to Jasper

Overnight: Castle Guesthouse (Jasper, Alberta, Canada)

On this day, we drove along the Icefields Parkway as we left Banff and continued north towards Jasper. Along the way, we stopped for Peyto Lake, Waterfowl Lake, Athabasca Glacier, Sunwapta Falls, Athabasca Falls, Pyramid Lake, and ultimately did the Lake Maligne Boat Tour.

Day 5: Drive from Jasper to Clearwater

Overnight: Moul Creek Bed and Breakfast (Clearwater, British Columbia, Canada)

This was a long driving day as we moved away from a storm that dumped snow in the Canadian Rockies and went to the lower elevation Wells-Gray Provincial Park. Among the things we did on this day were Spahats Falls, Helmcken Falls, Dawson Falls, and Moul Falls.

Day 6: Drive from Clearwater to Jasper

Overnight: 105 Patricia Street Accommodations (Jasper, Alberta, Canada)

With the snow storm passing, we headed back east into the Canadian Rockies. Along the way, we visited Overlander Falls, Rearguard Falls, and Thunder Falls.

Day 7: Drive from Jasper to Banff

Overnight: Douglas Fir Lodge (Banff, Alberta, Canada)

We started the day with a visit to the Maligne Canyon Waterfalls. Then, we drove back down the Icefields Parkway towards Banff. Along the way, we stopped for Lower Sunwapta Falls, Sunwapta Falls, Tangle Falls, Panther Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, “Sideways Falls”, Weeping Wall, and Silverton Falls.

Day 8: Drive from Banff to Waterton Park

Overnight: Bear Mountain Motel (Waterton Park, Alberta, Canada)

On this day, we made the drive to Waterton Park. Among the things we did on this day were the Mt Rundle Lookout, the Waterton Lakes, Blackiston Falls, and Cameron Falls.

Day 9: Drive from Waterton Park to St Mary

Overnight: Glacier Trailhead Cabins (St Mary, Montana, USA)

We spent most of the morning hiking to Lower Bertha Falls, then we drove across the border and into Many Glacier Valley. While there, we visited several waterfalls, including Swiftcurrent Falls and Apikuni Falls.

Day 10: Glacier National Park’s East and West sides

Overnight: Glacier Trailhead Cabins (St Mary, Montana, USA)

We started the day with a visit to Baring Falls and St Mary Falls while getting views over St Mary Lake. Then, due to the Going-to-the-Sun Road being closed past Logan Pass, we had to drive all the way around the south to the other side to visit McDonald Falls, Sacred Dancing Cascade, and Lake McDonald. Finally, we swung back around to the east side to visit Two Medicine Valley where we also visited Running Eagle Falls.

Day 11: Glacier National Park, then go home

Because our flight home wasn’t until late afternoon, we went back into Glacier National Park to check out Logan Pass. Along the way, we saw Wild Goose Island Overlook as well as several Going-to-the-Sun Road Waterfalls. We then drove back to Calgary to return the rental car and fly home.

Best Places We’ve Stayed At

Moul Creek Bed and Breakfast, Clearwater – This place stood out to us on our Canadian Rockies Trip because of the hospitality and warmth from the German hosts. The place was brand new, comfortable, and the dinner we had there was excellent. Heck, there was even a deer that seemed to not mind the guests as it was busy grazing on the property’s vegetation.

We wished we could have stayed another night here, but we only allowed ourselves a single night in Clearwater before returning to Jasper and Banff (and hence avoid the snow storm that they were getting).

What to Bring

In addition to the equipment that we bring on all of our trips, there wasn’t anything in addition that we needed for this trip.