Canadian Rockies – Dave and Kay's Travel Adventures

Friday, October 2nd, 2026

Today we left on our motorcoach for a tour of downtown Banff. The resort town was in the Banff National Park with a population of 8,000. Banff National Park was Canada’s first national park. It also was part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Bow River’s name originated from the reeds growing along its banks, the First Nations used the reeds to make bows.

We stopped at the Surprise Corner Viewpoint. It was named because as you turned the corner you saw “surprising views”. It was located in Banff National Park. We had views of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and the surrounding Canadian Rockies.

Sir William Cornelius Van Horne was the general manager of Canadian Pacific Railway during the 19th century and is best known for overseeing the major construction of the first Canadian transcontinental Railway. A statue of him was located in the roundabout in front of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

Near Banff was the Bow Falls. It had a 30 feet drop and was 100 feet wide. It was a block-style waterfall which meant it was wider than it was tall and it spilled over the edge as a single sheet.

We did a group photo before we moved on.

We had tickets to ride the Banff Gondola. It took about 8 minutes to reach the summit of Sulphur Mountain.

View from our gondola as we head up the mountainside.

From the summit of Sulphur Mountain we could see six mountain ranges in the Canadian Rockies, Bow Valley, and the town of Banff. Click through the slideshow below to see a sampling of the views!

We saw more waterfalls as we traveled in Banff National Park.

Lake Minneanka was a huge glacial lake in Banff National Park. It was 13 miles long and 466 feet deep. This lake was known to the Stoney Nakoda First Nations people as Minn-waki which meant “Lake of the Spirits”. Artifacts from 14,000 years ago had been found around this lake.

We then continued on to Calgary and no longer had the Canadian Rockies to view. Calgary was the largest city in Alberta. It was located at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers. Calgary was known for its world-famous Calgary Stampede. This rodeo festival was founded in 1912 and held annually since 1923.

When we reached our hotel in Calgary we said goodbye to Richard, our driver and guide!

Saturday, October 3rd, 2026

After breakfast a motorcoach picked us up to drive us to the Calgary airport.

Our flight from Calgary to Denver was close to being on time. We arrived in Columbus late in the evening. Our driver was ready to pick us up and take us home.

We had a fantastic trip but it was always good to get home!

Wednesday, September 30th, 2026

This morning we met our motorcoach driver and guide, Richard. He will be with us for the next three days. He was a great driver and we enjoyed his knowledge and humor!

Only traffic light on Jasper. Added a couple of years ago.

We left Jasper and will end the day in Banff with a full day of sightseeing on our way.

We rode along the Icefields Parkway. It was a 144-mile highway. This highway links Jasper with Lake Louise. It was a beautiful drive with stops along the way!

We still saw remnants of the Jasper National Park wildfire from 2024.

Look closely to see quite a few elk along the side of the Parkway.

We followed along the Athabasca River. It was a major mountain river in Jasper National Park that flows over 765 miles.

The Rockies were snow-covered and glistened.

Our first stop was at the Athabasca Falls. It was considered the most powerful waterfall in the Canadian Rockies. It had an 80 foot drop and a width of 60 feet. The falls cascade down a limestone canyon which took thousands of years to carve by the Athabasca river’s powerful force.

The short clip below demonstrated the power of the water at the falls!

The Sunwapta River was a major tributary of the Athabasca River.

We could view the Stutfield Glacier from a lookout point where we stopped.

O-H-I-O in front of the Stutfield Glacier.

Mt. Alberta was 11,873 feet at its peak. It was the 5th highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

Below was another waterfall along the Icefields Parkway!

The Columbia Icefield was our next stop. We visited the Icefield Glacier Discovery Center and had a buffet lunch in the Altitude Restaurant. The restaurant had panoramic views of the Athabasca Glacier. Since Kay had to eat gluten free, the restaurant prepared a plate in the kitchen following protocols so there wasn’t cross contamination. We appreciated the willingness to accommodate.

Athabasca Glacier was a 10,000 year old sheet of ice. Due to our warming climate, the glacier has lost about 16 feet of depth per year and receding rapidly.

After lunch we took the Ice Explorer on the icy slopes of the glacier.

Dave with our driver and the Ice Eplorer

The Ice Explorer slowly took us to the glacier where we were able to walk on it.

After walking on the glacier we visited the Columbia Icefield Skywalk. We could see waterfalls, mountain goats, and the Sunwapta Valley. The walkway had a suspended glass floor that was 918 feet in the air.

The glass floor was on the left in the picture below.

Waterfalls that we saw from the Skywalk.

Mountain goats were eating down below us.

Peyto Lake was a glacier-fed and was a beautiful turquoise color. This beautiful color was the result of glacial rock flour (fine rock dust) that reflected the sunlight.