Return to Banff/Jasper

My wife and I are planning our first big trip since the COVID pandemic even though a new variant seems to be making the rounds. This will be a fly/drive return to the Canadian Rockies. We will be spending time in both Canmore (Banff and Yoho National Parks) and Jasper (Jasper National Park). We have info on and/or visited all the major and weLL-known sights in the area but are open to suggestions for a few that might not be on everyone's list. Our particular interests are science (particularly geology), gardens, short hikes and (of course) scenic wonders.

AZBuck

Howdy, Buck:

It's been awhile since I was there, but the Canadian Rockies rank high on my list for scenic splendor. Most of the recommendations I can provide probably qualify as well known, but what the heck, I'll put a few down anyway. First off: Banff, particularly the area around Lake Louise, gets insanely crowded with day trippers from Calgary, and should be avoided on weekends, when parking is a nightmare. The Icefields Parkway lives up to the hype. If you're going to Jasper, you have to go that way. Lots of traffic; just plan to drive slowly, stop often, and savor it. In Jasper, Maligne Lake is a must, even if you've been there twice before. I didn't do the boat cruise, but I'm told it's lovely.

Yoho is extraordinary, and much less crowded than Banff or Jasper. Book a room at the Emerald Lake Lodge: the views are spectacular, and the whole place is romatic as the dickens. Geology? Tour the Burgess Shale deposits (perfectly petrified sea creatures, even OLDER than the dinosaurs). Go hiking in and around Lake O'Hara (reservations required). Takakkaw Falls, you can drive to, and Wapta Falls, on the Kicking Horse River, is a short hike that begins near the Hoo Doo Creek campground.

Kootenay National Park is immediately south of Banff. Marble Canyon is definitely worth a look. From my blog:

"Marble Canyon is a quite remarkable gorge carved into the landscape by the Kootenay River, accessible by a short trail, just off the highway. Turquoise-colored glacial melt-water rushes between sheer rock walls, spilling down a series of cascades, with the sharply tapered bulk of Vermilion Peak looming above the scene like a watchful pyramid. The trail has stairs and walkways with metal railings leading to viewing platforms, where visitors can check out the colorful waterfalls."

This will be a wonderful road trip, whichever way you choose to go with it!

Rick

Rick,

The Burgess Shale has long been on my 'to do' list, but I'm afraid that my days of hiking 7-10 miles over rough terrain have passed. There are a few other intriguing suggestions you made, notably Marble Canyon, Takakkaw Falls and Wapta Falls. These were not on either my or my wife's list, but look well worth visiting instead of revisiting places we've already been.

Thanks again,
AZBuck

Buck:

You're most welcome! I missed touring the Burgess Shale for the same reason. There's an exhibit at the little museum in Field (Yoho), and that's worth the stop. Here's a snapshot of Marble Canyon:

https://www.rcquinn.com/wp-content/u...ional-Park.jpg

That's obviously worth a stop as well! And Radium Hot Springs is just down the road--AB-93, which hooks up to US 93 at the border. (The same US 93 keeps going all the way south to Wickenburg!)

Rick

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

This will be a fly/drive return to the Canadian Rockies.

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Buck, I am guessing that you are doing it reasonably soon? One thing that really surprised Megan and I was that there was no heavy use in Banff at the end of May/early June Kids are still in school in June in Canada and visiting Banff was no issue. We stayed overnight in town and drove to Lake Louise for breakfast.

We drive 1A several times (instead of using CA-1) and views are nice and in late May, the only traffic we saw was from grizzly bears and their cubs.

Rick's 'suggestions looked pretty cool --although I agree that the days of extended hiking trips is probably beyond our scope too these days.

Mark

Mark,

Unfortunately, this trip was timed to get us out of Tucson during the hottest part of summer and to miss (most of) monsoon season. So it will be later than we would have wanted if our sole purpose was to avoid crowds. Fortunately, we will be going to mostly lesser-visited sites. AB-1A is and always was my first choice.

AZBuck

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Originally Posted by Rick Quinn

That's obviously worth a stop as well! And Radium Hot Springs is just down the road--AB-93, which hooks up to US 93 at the border. (The same US 93 keeps going all the way south to Wickenburg!)

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Wow, what a pretty spot. I wonder how many guests climb over that rail and try and descend from there?

Yes. "The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men" do that sometimes. We were scheduled to depart tomorrow morning on a 10 day fly/drive to the Banff/Jasper area of Alberta, Canada. But we woke this morning to news that they were suffering through severe wildfires, making our trip plans moot. Indeed, the last thing they need is tourists gumming up the works, especially in Jasper where we were to spend half our trip. What they need now is resources, including lodging, for all the firefighters.

Due to the circumstances, our airline, car rental and lodging reservations (still waiting on a call-back on one) were all graciously cancelled with full refunds even though we well outside normal cancellation windows. It never hurts to ask.

We wish the residents of Alberta the best in their efforts to deal with this catastrophe, and still hope to visit at a later date.

AZBuck

As I read about the fires, I thought about you and your trip. So sorry you had to cancel, but happy that all were issuing refunds. That's more than half the battle, there.

Planning on anything as a substitute, yet?


Donna

We have talked a bit about seeing the southern Appalachians in the fall, but that's still in the Fantasy RoadTrip discussion stage. Two updates to this cancelled trip though. First, I have heard from Lifemagician, who has contributed to these forums, that firefighters from Australia where she lives are headed to Alberta to help out. This is a major event. Second, the one place I was waiting to hear back from decided to play hardball and was not going to refund anything, saying that wildfires are a "well known" hazard in that area. But they did not count on my wife. She had all the Canadian government bulletins asking people to stay away, and worked with the booking company, AirBnB, to at least get a 50% refund.

AZBuck

Several NSW firefighters are on the line alongside US And Canadian wildland fire fighters. Yesterday, I watched a 737 Jet tanker based in Sydney, (Australia) make repeated slury runs on the Park Fire in northern California.

Buck, sorry to hear that your trip was cancelled -- but probably pretty smart -- it is going to be a long, dry, hot summer of wildland fire in Alberta this year.

Mark

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

Second, the one place I was waiting to hear back from decided to play hardball and was not going to refund anything, saying that wildfires are a "well known" hazard in that area. But they did not count on my wife. She had all the Canadian government bulletins asking people to stay away, and worked with the booking company, AirBnB, to at least get a 50% refund.

AZBuck

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I have read that AirBnB gets into a lot of issues with travelers in regards to many things, refunds being a good percentage of them. Was that your whole stay or "just" a deposit?

I know they're trying to look out for the owners of the property (supposedly) and their cut in it, too.

A cousin of mine was stuck in Europe, trying to fly home, during that computer outage. She said it was a great thing that they had purchased trip insurance! They could get things that the average person couldn't get, because the airlines would take them home as soon as they could, but was not being cooperative with overnights and meals.


Donna

Donna,

What we got back was ~50% of the cost of the apartment rental which we had already paid in full. We fully understand that the renter and AirBnB need to be paid, especially for last minute cancellations, but we were trying to follow Canadian government requests that people stay away from the affected areas. In the end, it was precisely because of those requests that we got the half refund. As I said, everyone else was more understanding and refunded everything.

Your point about travel insurance is a good one. The average insurance rate is about 5%, meaning that if 1 out of 20 of your trips get cancelled for any reason you'd break even. In over 50 years of travelling, this is the first time that it would have come in handy for me, so I feel as though I've come out ahead over the long haul. The need for insurance is also somewhat diminished for a true RoadTrip as you aren't tied to one initial destination as you are on a fly/drive trip, and there are no airline tickets to worry about.

It also depends a bit on your travel style. My wife and I prefer to stay in one area for a while and then move on after a few days to a week. We also prefer home rentals rather than motels for these extended stays. In my younger days I would simply head out in my car, go as far as I wanted and find a modestly-priced motel for the night, no reservations. If something untoward happened, I would just alter my route and/or destination as needed. Now as I get older, I'm less prone to this method and the trips are getting more expensive. I think travel insurance will now be included in our future plans.

AZBuck

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

I think travel insurance will now be included in our future plans.

AZBuck

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At least for those fly-drives, or when you fly into an area prone to wild fires. Airlines also used to be really helpful with putting you up overnight if you had a flight delayed, getting you meal vouchers -- not so much now, if my cousin's experience trying to get home from Ireland is any indication.

We don't worry about it with our road trips, either. But we do watch exactly what is refundable and what is not. We've discovered that many motels have gone to a longer period of "free cancellation." What used to be standard, at least in the grade of motels that we would stay at, was "free cancellation by 4 pm date of arrival." Now, those are fewer. They've gone to 24-hour, or 48 hour, before arrival, "free cancellation by 4 pm on (date one or two days previous to your arrival." In a resort community, you may have free cancellation up to a week in advance, we discovered with many places in Key West as a for-instance.

Our next trip is fully booked in motels. Only one day is cancellable by 4 pm date-of-arrival. The rest are either 24 or 48 hours. All are chains -- we haven't tried the AirBnB or VRBO route, even though we are staying 5 nights in one place.


Donna

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Originally Posted by AZBuck

I think travel insurance will now be included in our future plans.

AZBuck

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As for Megan and I, we've always purchased trip insurance for international travel--mostly so we can use whatever resources we need to work around cancelled flights. We've thus far--not purchased travel insurance for domestic trips.

Another hedge that I use when fly internationally, is to book on carriers like Delta (not withstanding their current issues after the hack) because they essentially "guarantee" that you will make all connections on other Delta flights. They refer to these connections as being "legal connections" (has nothing to do with actual legality) but if they see that a given passenger is booked with a "legal connection" they will do everything in their power to make sure the connection works. Twice on recent flights I have seen them hold flights so we could make the connection -- it's never overt and I don't run through any airports these days.

In past years, we used VRBO -- VRBO used to "power" RTA through their advertising spend (those days are long gone) and have stayed at some remarkable places. That house near Tucson springs to mind! But these days, we'd rather stay at a professionally managed hotel/inn. We can afford it and we like the extra courtesy extended by professional inn keepers.

We have a favorite chains -- mostly based on their affinity programs, where we often are comped overnight stays.

Mark