Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks

In July 2024, I took 5 days to experience the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. Travel by car is definitely the optimal way to get around here, with many excursions on foot, maybe a few on boat, and one on the Ice Explorer (more on that later). While I wanted to be thorough, I would have been the only one keen on hiking in my group, so I was unable to go on any long hikes. Still, we made the most of our time by visiting all 5 parks accessible by road: Mount Robson, Jasper, Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay.

Mount Robson:

You don’t actually need to be a hiker to experience this world-class provincial park in its full glory. Mount Robson (pictured) is very much visible from the visitor center, and just the sight of it gave me perhaps the most chills I’d gotten from any singular sight on this trip. One could probably just bask for hours, especially at sunrise or sunset, to admire this massive monolith tower over, well, the entire area. Of course, it would’ve been all the more amazing to hike as well. Another cool site if you’re around in August or September would be Rearguard Falls to witness the Chinook Salmon jumping up the rapids. Personally, I think this provincial park, with its namesake mountain in particular, is a must-see in the Rockies and may even surpass Kootenay National Park in significance and grandeur. The visitor center is only about an hour’s drive from …

What makes a great World Heritage Site? Is it a sense of wonder, of awe, of joy? Is it basking in the presence of history, or reveling in the grandeur of nature (and I do love nature!)? Is it the quiet spaces inviting reflection? The revelation of a new culture? The memories that linger through the years?

I ask these questions since this week I'm writing about my favorite World Heritage Site, the majestic Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, which has expanded from a single site inscribed for fossils to a total of seven national and provincial parks protecting some of the best nature the Americas have to offer. I visited the Canadian Rockies on a two week camping and backpacking trip in the summer of 2007, and it remains one of my favorite vacations. Here are some of the highlights I found from the three components of this World Heritage Site that I had time to see:

Banff National Park: The accessibility of this park means that it can get crowded, but the stunning blue waters of Peyto Lake and Moraine Lake contrasted with the abundant evergreens on the lower slopes of the Rockies make it easy to see why this park is popular. My favorite adventure was a strenuous but rewarding day hike off the beaten path from Paradise Valley, over the rocks and scree of Sentinel Pass, to the Valley of the Ten Peaks and down to Moraine Lake -- a hike free of crowds, if …

Out of the 7 included parks, I visited 3 during my week-long stay in this area: Banff, Kootenay and Jasper. Banff NP is the gateway to the Canadian Rockies and is within reach of a day trip from Calgary. It attracts an enormous amount of visitors, and this clearly affected my pleasure of being there. The mountain scenery is wonderful to look at, but I had not much luck in finding wildlife or a non-crowded medium-level hike. Almost everywhere you are you hear the noise of the main highway from Calgary to Lake Louise, it was just like walking in the Netherlands again.

What I did enjoy here was the Whyte Museum in Banff Town. This is the first proper museum that I visited in West Canada. The exhibitions alternate between Rocky Mountain explorers from the late 19th century and Native American artifacts collected by the Whyte family. I also joined a short guided tour that lead us into the wooden cabins where the local Moore and the Whyte families lived. They both were great collectors, maybe we would even consider them hoarders nowadays.

Kootenay (pictured) is one of the smaller parks. It lies in a valley just west of Castle Junction in Banff, in the province of British Columbia. I visited it just to do a hike. I had opted for the ‘Stanley Glacier’-trail, a fine 4-hour hike through a burnt forest that is recovering. It ends near the glacier, where I sat down for a while …

One of my personal goals during my two years term in US is to visit the Canadian Rocky, so I successfully persuaded my friends to make Calgary to be our final destination of our US road trip in Canada! After potato adventure in Idaho, our group reached Spokane in Washington, at first we planned to visit Glacier National Park, but after got a telephone confirmation from a park ranger that the famous Going to the Sun was still closing, my friends voted unanimously against my original plan and decided to change for shorter route directly to Banff, what a miserable day.

By a super fantastic GPS in our car, we drove for 9 hours and reached our hotel in Banff almost midnight! No surprising that next day the only thing I wanted to do was leisurely walking in the city for nothing. I really enjoyed Banff; the city’s surroundings were just amazing with dreamy mountains especially on sunrise and sunset. On the way to Jasper by the scenic Icefields Parkway, we saw the famous Lake Louis and Lake Peyto, these two lakes were stunningly beautiful, the mountains were again magnificent at its best and the lakes were equally impressive with unbelievable turquoise color. We decided to have lunch at Fairmont Chateau Hotel; the food was equally excellent with the view. It was my dream to take photo at Spirit Island at Lake Moraine. The island was again such a beauty place on earth, no wonder of its reputation. Visit the …

Banff, Jasper,Kootenay and Yoho are all amazing parks. We began our trip at Lake Louise and traveled north on the icefields parkway to Banff and later Jasper. Stopping all along the way. On the way back, we hit Kootenay and yoho before heading to Waterton Glacier and Glacier. It was an incredible trip. the icefields in these parks were still evident. Elk and deer were everywhere. Hiking was incredible and offered opportunities for even those looking for an easy path. The water, due to the mountain sediments is an amazing color! Each area has something special to offer and there are a lot of wonderful waterfalls. I think Mt Edith Cavell was one of my favorites!

In 1974 I visited all 4 of the national parks listed here (plus Waterton Lakes National Park, which has its' own Heritage listing, and both Glacier National Parks, in Montana and in BC). I'd spent summers in Colorado and thought I knew about mountains, but that '74 trip thru Alberta and BC opened my eyes as to what real mountains are like. From Banff all the way to Vancouver, one incredible view after another, non-stop natural beauty. That trip ranks as my favorite out of many. If I had the time, I'd strongly recommend visiting these parks!

I'm really glad that UNESCO has seen fit to declare this collection of parks as a World heritage Site.

these parks contain some of the most beutifull mountains in the world. there many hiking trails to walk on, each one is different to the others. i have visited these parks twice, and both times they have been great. lake Louise is crowded around the viewpoint, but if you go on the trails, there are very few people; and lake Louise is stunningly beautiful. my favorite park is Yoho, it is less crowded then a lot of the others, and has the incredible Takakkaw Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Canada. these are some of the oldest national parks on earth (created in the late 1800s). enjoy your trip!

Banff: We camped for two nights (first campground was at Johnston Canyon, the second at Lake Louise). Both had excellent facilities, especially hot showers, which we appreciated. The hikes to both Lower and Upper Falls at Johnston Canyon was 2.7 km long and worth it. Each turn of our hike had a really lovely view of the canyon and gushing water. Lake Louise did not disappoint and it's as turquoise as it has been in my dreams. I have been waiting 15 years to visit this gorgeous setting. A World Heritage plaque is located in front of the lake, as well as in Banff town, only two buildings from the visitor's centre. Also worthy visits are to Moraine Lake and Peyto Lake.

Kootenay: We took pictures at the continental divide sign and walked through the short Fireweed Trail that was devoted to the burnt forests of Kootenay. The park still has forests and forests of burnt trees for you to see as you drive through. Some fun destinations within Kootenay are Radium Hot Springs (worth the fee to have a relaxing soak - don't forget to show your park permit for a discounted fee) and the Painted Pots, which are small clay pools of different colours that were used by indigenous people for face painting and decoration of tipis.

Yoho: Less than a half-hour drive from Lake Louise, it would be silly not to visit if you're already in the vicinity. We drove to Emerald Lake, which was a short …

Having lived in the town of Jasper in the Canadian Rockies, I have been hiking through the Rocky Mountains a lot. It is a great place and there's so much to see. Of course, Jasper and Banff are touristy towns with crowded hiking trails, but if you look a bit further or visit the place off season, you can wander around all alone. And even when you do visit the most touristy sites, you are still impressed with the magestic mountains, the thundering waterfalls, the cold glaciers and the wandering wildlife.