Alright so we just got into Banff Alberta Canada and we got about two and a
half days to spend. I have been here since I was a kid and I'm excited to see what we
can do
Okay so we end up spending two and a half days in Banff National Park. We
seen all the main attractions but we were also traveling with locals who
literally visit this area every other weekend
so I think I have a few hidden gems in this Travel Guide video of Banff National
Park. We were camping and stayed at the Tunnel Mountain Campground which is just
outside of downtown Banff. Now the Tunnel Mountain Campground books
up very fast but if you arrive early and just show up at the front gate
they always have cancelled bookings. Just a heads up later in this video I'll show
you a campground in Banff which almost always has availability. Our friends from
Calgary always use it as a last resort and never have a problem. Okay so on day
one we really tried to get to Lake Moraine the most iconic lake in Banff
National Park but.. All right so our first stop is Lake Louise. We got here at 8
a.m. and the parking lot was full we couldn't even get to Lake Moraine but
this one's just as good. Now Lake Louise is a two kilometre glacier-fed Lake very
close to Moraine Lake. You are just much more likely to find parking here at Lake
Louise and we really didn't want to take the bus shuttle service. You have Chateau
Lake Louise a hotel that's right on Lake Louise but I'm warning you now there
will be a lot of people here. This entire side of the lake was loaded with
tourists. You'll really have to get creative to avoid the crowds of people
and get that epic photo of Lake Louise. honestly this parks been pretty cool I
just wish the fog would disappeared because I think the views would be fantastic.
The fog was really the biggest downside when we were at Lake Louise. This is what
it should have looked like from the Chateau Lake Louise overlooking
Lake Louise. There are quite a few trails you can hike around Lake Louise we
ultimately decided on hiking up to Lake Agnes and the tea house. It's about an
hour - depending on how quickly you want to do it. It's a beautiful trail and
there's a few interesting spots to make along the way.
This is Mirror Lake. The fog was so heavy that at the time it didn't look like
anything interesting but this is what it sort of look like if the fog wasn't
there.
Just before you get to the tea house you have this waterfall right at the side of
the mountain which probably would have had some breathtaking views but again
the fog. When we got to Agnes Lake and the tea house it really wasn't anything that
impressive. You could see hints that it could have been very beautiful but the
fog just made everything almost impossible to see. Finally made it to the tea
house and we have no cash! Okay so as for the tea house they only accepted cash
but I have a feeling that probably fix that pretty soon. It was rather expensive
though with limited food options so I would recommend packing up a snack. Now
not until later did we realize this is what the view from Agnes Lake should
have look like. Oh man the fog screwed us over that day. There were quite a few
trails here and I wish I had more time to explore some of them but we already
had spent quite a bit of time here at Lake Louise so we decided to see what
else we could do in Banff National Park. So after Lake Louise we tried to get
into late Moraine Lake, couldn't do it so we headed back into Banff and visited Lake
Minnewanka. This lake is so close to Banff you can actually get here by public
transportation so like Lake Louise this lake can get pretty crowded. It's not as
bad as Lake Louise but there were still quite a few people here.
The views were nice but unless you're planning on taking one of the boat tours
you want to rent a boat or you just planned go hiking there really isn't
much to do here so this wasn't really a standout memory for me
as we were heading back though we passed by Two Jack's Lake. We sort of had to stop.
The lake was quite a bit smaller but it was a lot less crowded I actually had a
really relaxing time here and there is a campground in the area that I believe is a
first-come first-serve campground but if you can't find a place to stay this one
will almost always have something. It would likely be an unserviced campground but you have a
place to stay for the night. These are what our local friends use as a last
resort if they can't find anything in the area. Now if you visit Banff I feel
like you have to check out downtown Banff. There's are so many restaurants,
museums and things that do right in the town of Banff you definitely get that
small-town winter town feel from the city. Oh and every fall they hold a movie
festival in this theater which is something I've been meaning to check out.
Generally speaking there's just a lot of unique things you can do in this town
that I can't name them all but if you are looking for something free to do in
downtown Banff you might want to check out some of the viewpoints in and around the
city. They have the Bow Falls viewpoint this is near the Fairmount Banff Springs
and right on the Bow River. Again a lot of tourists were here but it has some
nice views of the river and you'll likely only need half an hour here. Okay
so surprised Corner viewpoint is right on the opposite side of the Bow River.
You are higher up and it's a lot less crowded but there's limited parking.
The last viewpoint I'm gonna show you is
alright so there's so many viewpoints all around here this one's one of my
favorite that's Tunnel Mountain. So the Tunnel Mountain viewpoint was actually
right across the street from the Tunnel Mountain campground and we were staying at.
there's apparently actually a few different viewpoints and hiking trails
right around here but unfortunately we never got a chance to explore them if
you're curious as to why they call it tunnel mountain. I know I was it's
because they were originally planning on building a railroad through the mountain
because it was just so small they never did obviously all right so day two we
were on a mission all right
this is the first thing we could do it it's just not like ovals can try again
see what happens oh my god we actually got in like
yesterday they just had people they were turning everyone away they stopped
everyone people trying to get into this part and they couldn't do it you have to
take the shuttle service is like five kilometers away from here but we just
drove right by we drove right on it this is amazing
I can't explain how lucky we were to find parking at Moraine Lake the parking
line is so small and the subtle service is a bit of a hassle time-consuming and
you might not have to pay not sure this was my first time here in the first
views of moraine lake worth sanely gorgeous there's a lot to do here so
I'll try and cover some of them immediately climbed up the rock pop wets
only 10 minutes from the parking lot basically everyone does this so it's
good to be crowded but know what you'll find some insane views a moraine lake
we headed back Shannon was plenty of litigation new but it was a hundred and
twenty dollars an hour so if you want those Instagram shots you're definitely
gonna have to pay for it we decided just to walk along with it moraine lake it's
surprising is small so you usually walk to the other end of the lake in less
than an hour but there are so many amazing spots to capture photos that it
took us a lot longer
that's quite a few more hiking trail you can do in this area but we just didn't
have the time I definitely want to come back and check them out next time though
all right so that's moraine lake you start at the rock pile we walked down to
the other end and you know what it's so much Lester's to the further away from
the parking lot you get all right off their next stop so after seeing moraine
lake and previously seen Lake Louise the other day and end up doing philanthropic
this one's about an hour's drive west of Blythe knowing Lake Louise but totally
worth
Alright so I seen this on the internet and wanted to check it out. This is Takakkaw Falls
Takakkaw Falls is definitely a hidden gem that's not talked about a lot but very
much worth visiting if you're traveling from Calgary to anywhere in British
Columbia it's the second tallest waterfall in Canada and even at the end
of summer this thing was running strong I don't even want to know what this
place looks like in spring kakuka which means magnificent and creep
is really the only way to describe it
on the way back and something you're really gonna love about ban national
park is amount of wildlife you'll see this black bear was literally meters
from our vehicle and wasn't bothered one bin just went about doing its thing
these deers completely ignored the fact that they were so close to downtown
banff and all the tourists and just went about doing its the heat you could
literally walk right up beside it and it wasn't scared of anybody I'm not sure if
that's a good thing or bad thing but it makes for some incredible
memories
all right so it's our last day in Banff there's really so many things you can do
out here I wasn't even prepared or expecting it you could spend weeks out
here and just never do it all but hopefully we found some of these tips
helpful I'm really excited to show you this last stop we're gonna make last day
here in Banff this is the cave and basin when I first heard about it I was like
oh man that sounds so cool so I'm excited to check it out
spoiler alert we ended up doing quite a bit on her last day so the cave and
basin was something we had originally planned on see when we were looking up
things that do in Banff and had no idea what it actually was it just sounded
kind of cool so that's why we end up here it turned out there's actually a
lot of history here it only cost $5 to get in and I would highly recommend
taking a free tour while you're here they go about every hour and very much
worth it if you're interested in any history of Bamm or you just want to find
some activities that sort of endure this is the place to be
we must suspend two hours
so as we were driving back home we saw them made a last-minute decision to
visit Johnson Canyon this can take you anywhere from an hour to four hours
depending on all far and fast you want to take it but I can be pretty quick at
hiking so we decided to take it on I'm so glad we did you are essentially
walking along the canyon with walkways and pathways built over clock Johnson
Creek lands just before runs into the bow River
it must have taken Johnson Creek over thousands and years to cut through the
raw to form there's amazing viewpoints waterfalls and tunnels
I only walk to the Lower Falls and the line just to take a picture through the
cave with the waterfall the background must have been over a half an hour for
long papaya now I'm sure you can get some
incredible pictures if you're willing to wait it out
all right we just got back to the Johnson Canyon ended up being way better
than I thought it was gonna be you know what I was on the fence if we should go
people kept recommending it that I didn't regret that this next stop though
I'm super stoked to do it yeah let me show you so before we get to our last
stop we decided to drive back home to British Columbia going through the least
talked about national park this is Kootenay National Park it's
definitely just as nice of a drive as the other three national parks in the
area there's just not as many stops to make this one though was definitely
worth it the original photograph seen here was taken in 1932 by Brian Harman I
personally love history like this so I thought it was pretty neat comparing
what the drive looks like today to what it looked like in 1932
so I'm guessing you probably figured out where we're heading to radium hot
springs it's about two hours from Banff and of course Banff has it's hot springs
but I heard Radium Hot Springs is just way less crowded bigger and newer
facilities but alright so we're at radium Hot Springs and you know what I
see no one in the park in the hunt that was so stoked until we got here and
found out it was closed there was a mudslide during summer or something so
we probably have the worst luck ever but I'll show you what it looks like you
know what just make sure before you head out it's open and there's no problems
this is crazy we were right behind this guy and he was zooming pretty fast and I
guess he skidded off the road we didn't see it but we seen this it's crazy
um this has to be the end of the Banff video if you have any suggestions leave
it down in the comment section below I didn't see everything it was 48 hours 72
hours in Banff in Lake Louise if you have any suggestions leave it down in
the comment section below leave a like I'm still watching and until later I'll
see you later