In this two-part episode we head up to Canada to take Jasper National Park by storm! In this episode we detail the first half of our week trip exploring Jasper and Kootenay National Parks. We share our adventures hiking, exploring the gorgeous lakes, seeing bears, dipping in the hot springs, trekking on a glacier, and stopping along the Icefields Parkway. Since it’s so close we also ventured into British Columbia to see a few sights in nearby Kootenay and it did not disappoint! 

Make sure to listen to part 2 of this episode where we head to Banff National Park and if you want to take this same exact trip, we have a 7 Day Banff National Park Travel Guide itinerary for you to download!

This episode is brought to you by EPICKA Ultra-Lightweight Compression Packing Cubes (4pk) Use our 30% off discount code squad30off on Amazon or directly on their website EpickaTech.com

Hotels we stayed in during this Jasper and Banff week trip:

• Grande Rockies Resort – Canmore (we stayed here our 1st night)
• Northwinds Hotel Canmore (we stayed here our last 2 nights)
• Rocky Mountain Ski Lodge – Canmore
• Banff Park Lodge
• Bow View Lodge in Banff

Jasper National Park – Episode Transcript

0:35

Welcome to the Travel Squad podcast where adventure meets inspiration where your host I’m Brittany.

I’m Kim.

And I’m Jamal.

Together, we explore international destinations, hike epic national parks, and share unforgettable travel experiences with you, one passport stamp at a time.

0:53

Our mission is to inspire you to travel by showing you how you can make it work, no matter your budget, schedule, or experience level.

We bring you along so that you can laugh, get excited, and start planning your own trip.

So grab your ticket and your passport.

And don’t forget your travel insurance.

1:08

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey, Squatty.

Hey, hey, welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad podcast.

Today we are giving you A2 Fer heading up to Jasper, Banff, Kootenay and Yoho National Parks in Canada.

1:31

Yeah, so we’re breaking this episode up into two sections.

This week we’re going to launch the first half of it.

Next week we’re going to launch the second-half.

But I’m so excited to talk to you all about this.

This has been one of my favorite trip.

I am a sucker for nature trips and the Canadian Rockies really exceeded my expectations by far.

1:48

We packed so many things in in the 8 days that Jamal and I were there.

Kim was there for about 6 days and I just can’t wait to die right in and share everything with you guys.

This is why I love the podcast.

I learn new things about my wife.

We come back from this trip and she didn’t even tell me this is one of her favorites.

2:04

I’m learning something new as we are recording this.

That’s not to say that this trip wasn’t epic because it was.

If you have not been to these national parks in the Canadian Rock in the provinces right on the border of British Columbia and Alberta, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

So, so beautiful.

2:20

You have to go and do it.

But wow, Brittany, you didn’t tell me like one of your favorites that you we’ve been on wow, I’m impressed.

It was highly impressive to me just as well loved it loved it, loved it.

And I’m really excited to dive right into this because I think there’s going to be lots of useful information because we know Banff is one of those hotspots.

2:38

And even though Banff is that hotspot National Park, like Kim said earlier, there’s three other national parks that touch in this vicinity.

So if you’re going to go, you might as well do them all because each one of them has something a little bit unique that the other does not, but really comprehensive Canadian Rockies experience.

2:55

And I feel like a lot of the articles that I read, the TikTok videos that I watched, they would be specific to either Jasper or Columbia, Icefields or Banff.

But it never really said there’s all these parks around.

So if you’re spending a week here, do this.

So we’re going to give you the itinerary, how we we did it and how we’d recommend doing it, not just Banff, but everything around there because it’s all amazing.

3:19

So we are going to dive right into the tip section and the first tip I have for you is something we learned while we were on the trip.

And then that is in Alberta, which is a Providence in Canada.

They do not sell alcohol in grocery stores or gas stations or convenience stores.

3:35

You actually have to buy it from a liquor store.

Good little tip to know if that is your thing.

Of course, you know, we always bring our cooler.

We have rooms that had refrigerators in them after a big hike, it’s always nice to have a refreshing cold one, at least in our opinion.

3:51

It is our thing.

Not that we’re raging Alcoholics over here or anything like that, but a good tip to know on that if that is something that you’re looking for.

Also, you can buy your park pass per person or for group using what Canada’s National Park system calls their Discovery Pass, which is a little bit different than here in the US.

4:10

And that was a learning curve for us, right?

You know, if you’re going to National Park, you either have your National Park pass for the year and everybody who’s in your car pretty much gets in.

Or if you’re buying it, I don’t want to say for the day, usually it’s you know, two or three days, but it’s per vehicle.

So this is a little bit different.

4:26

In Canada they do do it per person or you have to actually buy it as a group.

And you can buy that online or in person.

But because we were going to have some early mornings, you know, easy days over here, we decided to buy ours online and have it mailed to us in advance so that we didn’t have to worry about if stations were going to be open or not.

4:44

And that actually did work in our favor.

And up here in the Canadian Rockies, they do have bears and more specifically grizzly bears.

Now, not to say that all bears aren’t dangerous.

I mean, we’ve talked before about how I feel about black bears.

You know, I’m not really too intimidated by them.

4:59

But a grizzly, you know, you don’t want to mess with something like that.

So you’re going to want to have bear spray to rent or buy.

Now pretty much everywhere you go, you’ll be able to find it.

They do charge you an arm and a leg for it.

But squad tip here for for you in the tip section is ask your hotel if they have bear spray themselves to rent, because a lot of times their rental price will be a lot cheaper than if you were to go to a sporting store, get it in the visitor centers of the National Park themselves or any other, you know, store that could potentially be selling them.

5:30

So do ask your hotel.

That’s actually what we did and we ended up getting it without having to pay any money whatsoever.

So we got a real solid on that.

So do yourself a favor, ask your hotel if they have bear spray.

Didn’t you also say that that hotel was giving day park passes for free as well?

5:46

Yeah, I think that they were giving them for free.

I don’t know if Jamal actually when he returned the bigger spray confirmed that or not.

But the guy was saying, oh, do you guys have your your park passes?

And I said, oh, we have the discovery pass for one.

We’re here.

And he was like, oh, OK.

So I do think perhaps if it’s not for free, they at least sell it there probably at the same rate so that you don’t have to like go to a visitor centers or a booth specifically.

6:08

And they probably do have that because one thing I I learned too is, you know, as you’re entering the national parks, at least in this area, you’re off of main Canadian highways.

So if you don’t have your National Park pass, they will have the toll booths there.

But they do have a bypass lane to where you don’t have to stop.

6:26

So if you already have it, you can just hug that lane to the right and then just bypass and kind of go through because even though it is a highway, yeah, you don’t need the pass to go into the National Park.

But if you actually stop at any place that has a parking lot that’s not a gas station to really feel along the way, you do need that.

6:42

And then National Park ranges will be checking, so you know, you can get those park passes at the hotel potentially.

If you go in the shoulder season months, we love to travel in shoulder seasons because there’s usually less crowds.

Just make sure to research when trails and roads open.

There were some roads that still weren’t open yet in June that wouldn’t open till like the end of June or early July and then some roads closed in October.

7:05

So just make sure that you are looking and researching in advance because if there is an attraction off of a main road, you may not be able to get to it if you’re traveling on shoulder months or in the winter.

And then also in shoulder season, the weather can be a little unpredictable, so definitely bring those layers in Jasper, when we were there, it was super hot.

7:23

And then as we made our way down to Banff, it got rainy.

And I heard not too long ago, since we came back, it actually snowed up in Jasper, Oh.

My gosh.

I can’t believe it snowed in Jasper because it was like deathly hot and that was the furthest N that we were at.

And it’s just like counterintuitive, you know, the further north you should go, it should technically be cooler.

7:40

And it was like hot kind of miserable cooled off at right.

So that’s why we say have layers or if you’re starting early in the morning, but crazy that it snowed.

But then when we got to Banffy, right, it rained on us.

It was a little bit cooler, cooler in the mornings.

The evenings cooled down a little bit quicker too.

So dress in layers potentially when you’re out on the trails.

7:57

Some of my favorite tips, and I always say this is to download offline maps.

We use Google Maps.

Sometimes you’re not going to have data service.

We were in remote areas so having the offline maps downloaded in advance was super helpful.

And then same for all trails.

I have the all trails pro.

They may have changed it to All Trails Plus, but it’s a paid subscription to All Trails.

8:16

I can download all of the hikes that I plan to do while we were there.

You can actually categorize it by location.

So like I have a list going for Oregon, a list going for the Canadian Rockies.

I have a list going for the Redwoods, for example.

And you can save the hikes that you plan to do into that folder and download them.

8:35

And so then you can access them offline to make sure you’re on the trail and not getting lost.

And this was really helpful for us while we were out there, Banff and Jasper.

One of my favorite tips and our last tip here is to bring your bug spray.

Banff definitely has mosquitoes and there were some trails that we went on where you really needed it.

8:54

Really shocked me about this.

I guess, you know, Brittany knew it, you knew it.

You guys brought bug spray.

But it’s one of those things where I say this all the time.

Maybe not for you anymore, Kim, because you’re in Texas.

That’s bug central sometimes.

So you’re used to the bugs now.

But we’re really spoiled here in San Diego.

I don’t really feel like there’s mosquitoes or lots of bugs and I always forget when I go.

9:13

There are new places that they’re there.

But really wasn’t suspecting it to be up in the mountains, but there sure was.

So you do want to have that bug spray.

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9:36

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10:02

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10:21

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10:41

So we’re going to dive right into the episode.

We left on a Tuesday.

Jamal and I, we flew into Calgary from San Diego and we landed at about 7:40 PM.

So that night all we did was really kind of get the essentials.

We went to a grocery store, we got water, we got some snacks for the road, some apples, bananas, things like that.

11:00

And then we drove to our hotel.

We actually stayed in the town of Canmore, which is about 15 minutes South of Banff, and we stayed there because it was a lot cheaper to stay there than actually in Banff.

That’s what we did and we just checked in, stayed the night and then the next morning we had an early morning.

11:17

And Canmore is about an hour, 15 hour, 20 minutes away from Calgary.

What’s really unique about Calgary is in this area of Alberta that’s literally like flat plains farmland, but it’s right on the edge of the Canadian Rockies.

So Canmore was already up in the mountains in the Rockies.

11:35

So we got to that point there.

But when you land, it’s going to be flat.

But that drive, we’re working our way into the mountains and like Brittany said, 15 minutes away, truly, really from the entrance of Banff and Banff National Parks.

The next morning, Kim actually started her journey towards us.

She left from Austin and then she landed in Calgary right like midday 11:40 and then Kim ended up popping on a bus that took her to Jasper, so she was on her way to meet us.

12:01

Jamal and I were leaving Canmore and driving all the way up to Jasper that evening.

That bus is called the Brewster Express and it’s a fantastic option if you don’t want to rent a car or you just kind of want to go to a destination and not move around a whole bunch.

They have a bunch of different legs.

12:17

Not just Calgary to Jasper, but you can go to Banff, Lake Louise.

They even have more sightseeing tours.

Well, they’ll take you to the different lakes.

We did stop a little bit on that trip because it was an 8 hour bus ride and so you got to like get out and take pictures a little bit, maybe get a snack if you wanted.

So I would highly recommend the bus.

12:33

Well, as you were on your bus experience and in the little spots where we ended up having data and Wi-Fi service, we were keeping track of things that you posted and they made tons of stops along the way.

I mean, it took you about what you said, 8 hours to get from Calgary to Banff to finally meet up with us.

12:50

But that’s not how long it takes for the drive.

It’s just because you had all those stops.

So like you said, a really good opportunity if you don’t want to rent a car, kind of stay in one spot, but it will take you to places along the way.

So while Kim was having her travel day, Brittany and I woke up here on this day, Wednesday early in the morning.

13:07

And the plan was make a few stops along the way from and more through Banff all the way up to Jasper.

Do our things that we wanted to do in Jasper, and then meet up with Kim where the bus dropped her off and then just kind of meet up for our squad adventure.

So this whole day here Wednesday, you know, unfortunately Kim was not by our side at this point in time, but the reunion was coming its way.

13:29

Yeah, and I had been watching the weather and leading up to it, it looked like things were going to be really sunny.

But as we got closer to the trip, it was like, oh, some of our trip’s going to be pretty sunny, but then it was going to drop and be a little rainy.

So because it was really nice outside, we decided to make a pit stop at Lake Louise, which we weren’t anticipating making.

13:46

And we were really glad we did because when you go early in the morning, the water’s calm, there’s not a lot of wind, and the sun was out and it was shining.

So it made the lake look really pretty.

Lake Louise is more of like, I would say like a Green Lake, not as blue, like more green, somewhat Gray, but has really beautiful waters.

14:05

It’s a glacier fed lake and there’s all of these peaks around it and it’s right next to the Fairmont Hotel, which obviously is a really nice hotel.

They have a canoe dock there.

So in the summer you can canoe and apparently in the winter the lake turns into an ice skating rink on the frozen lake.

So although we didn’t get to experience that, that’d be a really cool adventure to do in the winter.

14:24

So parking is limited here, so just keep that in mind.

And you do have to pay to park here as well, on top of having the National Park path.

Right.

And so like Brittany was saying, Lake Louise here was kind of an impromptu stop.

We were going to be coming to Lake Louise later on the tour itself.

14:41

Now, Lake Louise is quite honestly one of the top two most famous lakes in Banff National Park.

I would say maybe the other one is going to be Lake Moraine.

Now, if you drove straight from Canmore, which we would recommend, you know, if you’re getting in late flying in doing this trip as we are starting in Jasper, working your way back down South, it’s 3 1/2 hours with no stops.

15:00

But of course, we took longer because we had stops along the way.

So that Lake Louise was impromptu because the weather was good, as Brittany was saying.

And we’re just like, well, let’s go check it out.

It’s very famous for the when the waters are still, it isn’t that like crystal clear blue, but still a strong, you know, blue in those colors, Brittany was saying.

15:16

But it was so flat that it really reflects everything of the mountain scenery that you have of that glacier in the back, snow capped mountains onto the lake makes it very scenic.

And so if you happen to be at Lake Louise when the weather is right, pristine condition.

From there we went to a lake called Bow Lake and we weren’t there for that long, but what was really cool about it was no one was in the parking lot.

15:38

And then when we got to the lake, there was literally no, no one else at the lake.

It was one of the lakes we got to ourselves.

And this didn’t happen just once along the trip.

We had a several lakes where we had them to ourselves and it was just really nice because you have these really amazing landscape, lakes, mountains surrounding you and you just have the destination to yourself and you’re not sharing and you just get to like take that in for a moment.

15:59

So that was really nice.

There was also like a wooden bridge leading up to the lake.

So it just gives like a really good spot for pictures and there’s like a building with some with a little Cafe as well.

But that was great.

And then we went from there to Pedo Lake, and this was probably one of the prettiest lakes that we saw in Banff National Park.

16:18

Yeah, Pedo Lake was really, really beautiful.

And it’s one of those things where, you know, we’ve already mentioned 3 lakes here, Lake Louise, Bow Lake, Pedo Lake, and you’re like, well, how many lakes can you see?

And each one is just as beautiful.

Different colors and shades of the water, different sceneries of the mountains in the background.

16:36

So it really was one of those things where when I looked at the itinerary that Brittany had made where we’re going to stop and just like how many more of these, you know, but they all did not fail to impress.

And what I really liked about Pedro Lake is I think it had the best color of blue that we really did see.

Now when you get here, you can actually park at the lower parking lot at the turn in and it’s a .8 mile round trip hike to go kind of uphill to this overlook platform.

17:02

Or you know, I’m going to throw this out there, you could choose or choose not to do this.

You can avoid the hike and park at a parking lot that’s really close to the overlook itself.

It’s really only designated for a handicap or bus, but there are some areas if you’re not parking in the handicap or the bus where you can kind of like squeeze in.

17:20

And we did not do this when Brittany and I did it, but we’re going to talk about it a little bit later where when we came back and told Kim how cool this lake was, we ended up doing that because it was just for a quick little overlook.

But Pedo Lake was absolutely beautiful and stunning.

Yeah, when you get to the top, there is a wooden boardwalk and you kind of get to overlook the whole area.

17:40

And this is a longer lake.

The lake is literally bright blue, turquoise blue.

So beautiful.

I also did read after the fact though that you can go past it and there’s another overlook with no boardwalk, but also like no people.

So that’s a tip for you guys as well.

17:57

Now, Kim, before we kind of get on our Otter stops that we made along the way up to Jasper, just tell us a few of the stops that you actually made on the bus ride to yourself.

We did stop in Lake Louise and I almost got left in the bus because it was supposed to be really quick, but I back there to get the picture and Jim back.

18:13

We stopped at the Athabasca Glacier.

We stopped at the iconic gas station.

The iconic gas station, which I’m glad you kind of mentioned, we’re going to touch upon it too.

There’s really only one gas station at some point from Banff up until Jasper, and that’s the one.

18:28

And you’re going to want to fill gas there, but we’ll touch upon that later.

Iconic gas station, by the way.

And it also did stop in Banff where we had like a 30 minute layover, so I got to do a little nature trail and get some pictures.

And you’re talking about the town of Banff, not necessarily the National Park, correct?

18:43

Yeah.

And that was a cute little quaint town.

We did not stop there.

It was only about 15 minutes north of Canmore, where we had actually stayed but the entire time.

And we didn’t mention this quite yet, but honorary squad member Charlotte joined us on this trip, too.

She came a day later after you got there.

Kim and her bus ended up stopping in the town of Banff.

19:02

And until we had gotten there at that point, working our way back down South as a squad and grouped together, you two were just, like, raving about how, like, cute and quaint that town was.

And when we were there, I loved it just as well.

So really cool spot to stay.

Also in the town of Banff itself.

So while we were driving up on the Ice Fields Pkwy, Jamal and I did come across a bear.

19:21

There was 2 motorcyclists in front of us and we saw Jamal saw one of them point to the side.

And I kind of opened my eyes at the same time because I was resting and I was like oh bear.

So Jamal pulls off to the side.

The bear crosses the street right behind us.

Well, it’s not even a street, it’s a highway right behind us.

19:38

Coming along the side of the road was a bicyclist.

And he ends up stopping, and the bear, like, looks at him.

They have like, this little standoff.

And the bears like, all right, I just want my food.

So he just kind of goes into, like the little ditch beside the road.

But while he was in the little ditch, you just really see like how camouflaged they are.

19:56

Like, you would think that with the colorations, they’d be easy to spot, but they’re really not.

They’re really good hiders and camouflagers.

So you got to get lucky to see one.

Yeah.

So I mean, we’re driving.

The bear was on the opposite side of the road.

We stopped on the side of the road, pulled over to the shoulder, it crossed, and luckily in that little ditch area, you know, the bear started feeding and walking along by us.

20:18

So we were no more than 10 feet away from the bear as it was just kind of grazing for.

Yeah.

Well, we were in a car.

We didn’t get out, Yes, of course, but just 10 feet away from us.

And we were watching it graze, eat for food, etcetera.

And we were doing that for maybe about, you know, 1520 minutes, which was really exciting.

20:36

It was a black bear.

We were hoping to see a grizzly bear.

I’ll give you guys a spoiler.

We didn’t see any other bears on this trip, but you mentioned Brittany, the that’s.

Not true.

What other bears did we see?

So you didn’t see any other bears?

Oh well, you did.

That’s my bus ride.

I was just gazing out the window as we’re approaching the Jasper train station and there was a black bear rummaging around on the train tracks.

20:58

And that’s actually a really good thing to mention.

I forgot that you had actually saw one, Kim.

So thank you for throwing that in there.

But somebody when we were in Jasper and one of the shops said a Mama bear and her Cubs, they were Grizzlies a week ago, were actually on the train tracks as well.

21:15

And it’s very common for bears, I don’t know why, to just kind of hover around the train tracks.

They seem to like it and get close to town.

So you never know when you’re going to see them.

But also at the same time, they can be very elusive.

But Brittany mentioned the Icefield Parkway.

It’s called that because once you get out of Banff, in that area into Jasper National Park, there are famous, famous glaciers that you can go ahead and visit, walk on, which we did.

21:42

We’ll talk about that later in this episode.

But that’s why it’s called the Icefield Parkway, because this area a little bit more north, that’s where you really just start see a lot more glaciers than you will see in Banff, even though there are some in Banff.

So from Pedal Lake and the bare sighting, Jamal and I went to a waterfall.

21:59

It was called Sunwapta Falls and it was a two mile trail.

There’s an upper fall and a lower fall.

To see the upper falls, if that’s all you have time to do, all you have to do is get out from the parking lot, go down the trail just .1 of a mile and there it is right there in front of you and you really just get to see like how impressive waterfalls, how much pressure they have, like how crazy water is.

22:21

It’s really beautiful sight.

There was a bridge that you could stand on to and look down over it.

I always look like looking at waterfalls.

And I asked Jamal, like, do you think if you fell down this one you could survive this?

You know, just like out of curiosity, he’s like, I don’t know, like we don’t know what it looks like coming out on the other side.

22:38

Would you think, Jamal, would you be able to survive this one?

Oh, I don’t know.

I guess it depends on what time of year it was and how fast that water is flowing.

But it goes back to the point of what you’re saying.

I don’t think any one of these are necessarily guaranteed death, but any one of these can absolutely kill you.

22:53

You know, it just really depends on the day and how fast it’s flowing, what rock that individual person may or may not hit or ricochet off of.

So, you know, water is one of those things in nature that you really need to respect and you can really appreciate it when you see waterfalls.

And so you said we just saw the upper one.

23:10

We continue on that trail wasn’t very hard.

It was at about two miles, so one round trip, right.

So an additional mile to get to the lower falls and if you have time you can do it.

The lower falls I didn’t think were that really impressive.

So if you’re on a time crunch, you can just get away with the upper and it’s a good stop as you’re driving up more into the town of Jasper and concentrated area of Jasper National Park.

23:34

And then from there we also went to another waterfall called Athabasca Falls.

This one wasn’t as long as the trail, it was about .6 miles and also just really beautiful waterfall.

I love to see all of the different colors of blue, like every lake was a different color, different shade, had something different to offer.

23:53

This one did rush down into a Canyon and there was a few different lookout points that we were able to go to.

And then we were also able to go down some stairs and you were able to see kind of where like the waterfall ends and comes out of the Canyon and into the river and really just beautiful landscape backdrop.

24:10

We spent some some time here taking pictures.

If you’ve ever been to Cuyahoga National Park, there’s like they’re famous for the the rock ledges.

And as the water exited the Canyon, the rock formations, they’re kind of right, reminded me of that same thing, like the ledges rock, but really beautiful.

24:27

And from this waterfall in particular, there is a three-way continental divide in this area, and the water flows to the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic oceans, which was pretty cool.

Yes.

And the water from Athabasca Falls to itself actually leads to the Arctic.

24:46

And so you actually told that to us, Kim, when you arrived because again, it was kind of that bus ride with a little bit of tour.

And as you passed the glacier at which we’re going to touch upon a little bit later, they said this mountain point is really kind of like the three-way.

And I didn’t really know that.

25:02

And so when you share that, that was interesting information.

But at the same time, when we were reading the information at Athabasca Falls, it did say that this actually leads to the Arctic Ocean.

But I didn’t make that kind of thought process like, oh, well, where does it split?

Like Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic.

25:19

So only place on Earth where you have kind of three oceans of the Continental Divide where it will dump into.

And during this time too, we had gone by the gas station.

There is only one gas station between BAM and Jasper, and so you’re going to want to fill up.

It’s a little bit of a higher price there because they’re literally the only gas station out in the middle of nowhere and they have a rest restaurant in there.

25:41

They have like a chili bar, they have snacks, things to get, but everything was overpriced.

So we didn’t get anything there other than bathroom break and gas.

But from here, we went to, we made it to Jasper.

We ended up going to a lake called Pyramid Lake.

There were at least three different beaches, I think maybe even 4 different beaches around the lake.

26:02

We stopped at the main one.

It was pretty big.

There were picnic tables, people were paddle boarding.

There were people on the water getting in along the edge.

We brought our picnic blanket.

So we laid out for a picnic, ate some snacks that we had brought.

And we were kind of just waiting for Kim to get into town and we were waiting for her to come in.

26:19

And so we were killing some time.

Well, killing some time because we were going to do a possible hike and that was going to be the Edith Cavill hike.

Now going back to what Brittany was saying in the tips check, you know, kind of if you’re in shoulder season, sometimes things don’t open, etcetera.

26:35

And so the main highway that this hike is off of is open, but the road leading from that main highway to the hike was not.

It was going to open in what like another 5-6 days later.

And so the information on the National Park website really wasn’t clear.

26:50

But of course, we confirmed that information with other people when we were there.

So we weren’t able to do that one.

It’s ranked really as one of the nicest hikes that you can do in Jasper.

So if you happen to go during the time that this trail is open and the the road to it is go do the Edith Cavill hike, let us know how it was.

27:08

We’re going to be jealous of you because we really wanted to do that.

But like you said, killing time until Kim actually did arrive.

And so then we just after Pyramid Lake, explored downtown Jasper.

Cute little quaint town.

Really enjoyed it a lot.

27:23

Brittany and I stopped at the Jasper Brewing Company for a few beers while we were killing that.

Time for you to arrive, Kim.

Yeah, and then we just walked the town.

It was really cute.

Checked out a few stops, shops, went to get a few souvenirs, had some brews and then we were like what else can we fit in before Kim gets here.

27:41

Kim was not even arriving till about 8:30.

So we decided to go to a hike called Valley of the Five Lakes and surprise surprise, you actually do see 5 lakes along this trail.

Each one of them is really gorgeous.

We ended up doing this hike twice because Kim wanted to see it as well and there are several different options.

27:59

Like you can make it a longer hike if you go around the entire first lake.

The way that we did it was a three mile hike.

You got to see like the edge of Lake One and then you got to really see the overlook of 2/3 Four and then stop at 5:00 to get on a dock, which was really nice.

28:15

So we were kind of booking it while we were doing this hike, but still really enjoyed it.

And we were a few minutes late picking up Kim, but when Kim got there, she was, her legs were up around a campfire.

She was just chilling, having a great time and we picked her up at that point.

28:31

Yeah.

And I just want to say the main reason why we did Valley of the Five Lakes minus killing time was because this hike and area is known to actually have good chances of bear sightings.

And we wanted to see some Grizzlies.

28:47

I mean, we’re there.

The Grizzlies are in this area.

So we did this specifically.

Unfortunately, we did not see it, but we made it to Kim, picked you up from that hotel where they dropped you off on the bus ride.

And then unfortunately for Kim, you know, you had a little bit more of a car ride after that too, because we did not stay in Jasper that night because to stay in Jasper is so, so expensive.

29:10

We chose the option of staying maybe about 45 minutes more north in the town of Hinton and a lot more affordable.

And our hotel that we were at freaking awesome.

We had like a suite, not purposefully for any, you know, reason.

It wasn’t like, oh, we’re splurging.

29:26

Just normal price, $131.00 per night.

Had a living room area with a kitchen, 2 separate rooms.

It was fantastic.

So if you’re looking to save money and willing to invest a little bit of a drive, we would highly recommend staying in the town of Hinton, a little bit north outside of Jasper.

29:42

And that was the BCMI in for everyone that wants to stay there.

So, Kim, why don’t you start us off with what we did the next full day that we had together?

We started our day like we love to do with a breakfast buffet.

Heck yes.

And then we got our things together.

30:00

We got in the car, we drove down and started on the Maligny Canyon hike.

It was about 2.3 miles.

It was super pretty.

You’re literally walking through towering Canyon walls with gushing water right below you, and you look down and you almost like get a little dizzy because it’s so deep down there.

30:18

It was a really, really pretty nature walkabout.

Well, not only that too.

Yes, of course, very pretty.

We would highly recommend doing this trail.

Absolutely.

But the wildlife sightings started as soon as we got into the parking lot.

I think it was a white tailed deer, but it had really, really big antlers.

30:35

It definitely was not an elk, but it was not the size of a normal deer either.

So we’re still not for sure for sure on the species that it was, but it was just right in the parking lot.

We got to enjoy it walking by, you know, everybody who’s in the parking lot trying to do the same trail.

30:51

And so even though we didn’t get to see more bears, unfortunately, you will encounter wildlife and just, you know, really appreciate and respect it.

Luckily, we didn’t see anything stupid like you see the videos of people in Yellowstone going up to Bisons doing dumb shit.

No one came and messed with the the deer out here.

31:08

So that was good.

But you know, be mindful of your surroundings.

And a Malin Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in the Canadian Rockies.

It goes up to like 50 meters deep at certain points.

And there’s a lot of amazing photo opportunities.

You cross a total, there’s actually six bridges We ended up crossing, I want to say 4 and they start right away.

31:29

We crossed like bridge two.

We ended up going to Bridge 5, but getting out of the Canyon gives you a good hike.

We thought it was another easy day getting back out of there, so just keep that in mind.

You’re going to get a little good workout even though it’s only 2.3 miles long.

And then from there, we headed on to Medicine Lake.

31:47

You know, Medicine Lake is also known as the disappearing lake, and it’s famous for its wildlife and unusual occasional habit of draining into underground sinkholes during the winter and disappearing.

So that’s why it’s known as the disappearing lake.

And water depths can vary as much as, you know, 20 meters throughout the year.

32:06

And so the native Indians, which in Canada, they actually called First Nations individuals, they believe that the disappearance of the lake was caused by the big medicine or magic in their language, and they really feared it.

And that’s kind of how it’s gotten its name, Medicine Lake.

32:22

Isn’t this where they had part of the trail?

They’re all blocked off because they had the bald eagles nesting at that point in time.

Yes, that’s the 1:00.

And from this lake we went to another lake.

We went to the Maligny Lake and this is the largest natural lake in the Canadian Rockies.

It has a ring of snow and ice capped mountains.

32:41

It’s really, really long, 22 kilometers long.

It stretches past an island called Spirit Island.

You actually have options to do a boat tour here.

We were highly considering it.

You can see a tons of wildlife while you’re on, but Kim thought this was going to be a glass bottom boat and it was not.

33:00

And for that reason we decided not to book it.

We just decided to do like a partial hike around the lake and it was really beautiful while we were here.

It’s one of those things if we had more time, like, yeah, amongst ourselves, we talked ourselves out of really doing the boat ride.

But it the lake is very long and narrow and from where you get off in the parking lot and kind of they have that little boat dock and visitor center area, you can really see at the very end kind of really the the mountain tops and glaciers.

33:29

That’s kind of that little backdrop.

So I do think it would be something worthwhile if you have the time to actually do the boat ride in hindsight.

I’m not upset about it, but if I ever go back at something that I think I would want to do.

At this point we were getting kind of hungry, so we went back into the town of Jasper, back to that brewery that you were all at the day before.

33:48

They had some good beer options.

We tried Canadian poutine.

What’s the hot take on poutine ladies?

It’s OK.

Yeah, it’s not like my favorite.

It’s not like I crave it.

It was good in the moment and it’s good to have like a beer, but it’s not something I’d be ordering and craving to order all the time.

34:05

I kind of feel the same way, but I’m wondering, you know, I’ve only had poutine a couple times and I’m wondering if I’ve had it in the right spot to really appreciate the poutine.

So I’m not done with trying poutine, but you know, it’s still worth getting when you’re here.

But that’s the the squad’s hot take on the poutine.

34:20

It’s just, but you’re in Canada, you got to try it.

It’s like their local cuisine, right?

We also didn’t think that we had enough things to do that day and we were trying to fit other things in.

And then we realized at this point we were rushing for a time.

So we were getting done with the brews we needed to pick up in a Christmas ornament.

34:37

So I sent Jamal to do that.

Kim and I booked it over to a pizza restaurant.

Like we got to order this really quick.

We might have to eat in the car.

We ordered a salad and pizza right after we ordered.

Kim booked it to the store next door to get some water because we were going to do the trail and we’re going to do the of the Valley of the Five Lakes again.

34:54

What did you think of that trail, Kim?

I thought it was going to be easier and so I wore just regular white shoes and it was a quote UN quote easy day.

There were some pretty steep inclines, declines and I feel like I messed up my ankles for the trip, but it was a pretty hike.

35:11

The lakes were pretty.

I loved the lake at the end with the dock and there were people swimming in there and you could put your feet in there.

That was really nice.

Yeah.

And that’s something that if you are going to do this, and I knew this, I guess the second time we did it, but we did not actually bring our bathing suits to go in on that dock and do some swimming.

35:31

One, if we know me, I’m, you know, I really don’t like cold water.

I knew that water was going to be like super, super cold.

It was cold.

I stuck my feet in.

My feet were like pale.

But you know, we also in the evening had some Hot Springs that we were going to do and we’re going to obviously talk about that here coming up.

35:49

But if you know me, just the way the girls called me out, but it’s very, very true.

I can’t stand being wet and sitting in the car.

And so the last thing I wanted to do was get wet, get in the lake, sit in the car and drive for another like 45 minutes to an hour only to get wet again in the Hot Springs.

36:05

So we did not do that.

But you know, if you can handle the cold, I really do think it would be something exciting and fun to do to just get on that dock and swim in the lake.

I’m actually kind of glad we stayed in Hinton, not just for the price and the amazing place, but it was very close to the Meat Springs, which is where we ended our day here in Jasper.

36:26

Is it meet or me at?

I think it’s me at.

I don’t know how to pronounce it because I know they do French and Canada just as well.

And you know, it’s very weird how they articulate it.

So point being, it’s spelled MIETTE Hot Springs.

36:42

So me at meet, not too sure on that.

So we apologize for not knowing officially, but highly recommend the stop here.

Didn’t mean to interrupt you, Kim, just wanted to kind of give clarification.

Yeah, and I said Maligny Canyon earlier and it might be Moline, but tomato, tomato.

36:57

Tomato.

Tomato.

For that one, I did look it up and it was like Moline or something like that, but in in the way that it was pronounced, it did have that accent, that French like flair to it.

But regardless, we made it to these Hot Springs.

And I’m glad that we did because when you look online, the pictures don’t really do it justice.

37:14

It looks cool, but it’s almost like I could pass on it if I need to.

They’re man made pools fed by natural Hot Springs and there’s very degrees of temperatures in the warm, the hot pool and then there’s 2 cold pools, which is kind of cool.

You can do a little back and forth action.

37:30

I know, Jamal, you really enjoyed that part of it.

You know what, for all my talk about not wanting to get into the water on the dock there because I hate cold water and I really do, you know, I push myself out of my comfort zone a little bit and did a little bit of back forth at one point and did get into the cold water only to get back into the the Hot Springs.

37:46

So yeah, cool little aspect because that is actually very health beneficial for you.

And if you’re at Hot Springs and they give you food, health and natural remedies anyway, you definitely want to go ahead and do that.

But yeah, I’m really glad we did this too, because a lot of times for Hot Springs, people are just like, well, you know, like they want that natural feel, right?

38:05

Well, these are natural Hot Springs just kind of in man made pools.

So yeah, the photos then kind of like, you know, you think you can’t pass, maybe not necessarily needed to do it, but we had to climb really high up into the mountains to get into this area where they had it.

38:21

At that point in time, the sun was starting to go down, which by the way, we’re so far north at sunsets.

You know, we’re here in June, you know, around 10:30 at night.

So they closed at 9:00.

But the sun, you know, it’s starting to come down a little bit.

And just with the overlook of the mountains and everything, the whole ambiance, it really solidified the experience.

38:41

And I enjoyed the the me at Hot Springs a lot and would recommend this to anybody.

Yeah, it’s about 1650 for a single entry.

You have to shower before you enter the pools, but you also have the option to rent A bathing suit or towel there if you happen to forget to pack one.

Not just any bathing suit, a historic bathing suit.

38:57

They had two.

They had a modern and a historic option so you could take a pic.

If I forgot my bathing suit, I would go with the historic option.

You want to know why?

Because that’s a historic Hot Springs that they built like what, in the 1920s or something, wasn’t it?

I think really, really, you know, early on in the 1900s, this was a popular tourist spot within the National Park also.

39:17

They also give you a locker to put your stuff in and so we were able to watch the sun come down the mountain and we stayed here until closing until they closed down shop for the night.

And they were going to extend their hours once the busy summer season started.

So for us, it closed at 9:00 when we were there, but it was going to be open just a little bit later in about like a week or so after.

39:37

Yeah, I think like an hour later, right.

And to that point, didn’t the price go up if you were there during the busy season also?

So wasn’t it a little bit more expensive by about like 5 or $10 if I remember correctly?

I didn’t see that, but perhaps you did.

A double check on that if you’re going to be looking into reservations than yet, because I believe that was actually the case too, is that it gets a little bit more expensive in price.

40:00

Day 4, It’s Friday, baby, and we are so excited because on this day we are going back down the Columbia Ice Fields Parkway and we’re going to hit up a glacier.

Not only are we going to hit up a glacier today, is meet up with Charlotte’s meeting us in Banff at this point in time.

40:17

So total squad at this point is going to be here come Friday evening.

The glacier was really cool.

It was a toured experience, so we paid about 89 bucks per person.

Reserve those tickets far in advance and there are a ton of tourists, so definitely get your tickets early.

40:33

You show up to the meeting spot at the toe of the Athabasca Glacier, you get on this bus, they take you over to another area where you get on these insane like monster truck looking buses to get actually to the glacier.

40:50

And that’s a whole fun ride experience in and of itself.

Yeah, check out our website, Travel Squad podcast.

We’re clearly going to have photos.

Of course, the photos of those buses are going to be on social media just as well on Instagram for you guys to check out.

But I think they were saying like the only other places on Earth where they have those buses is in Antarctica where they do kind of like little expedition treks.

41:12

So I mean, these are big kind of like monster buses more so than really trucks with giant tires, tons of like horsepower in it.

And of course, the tire tread is to made to be good to go over ice and rocky areas, right?

So the bus took us to one spot just right across the way, right?

41:28

Because the meeting area, if you’re going to do this or overlook area where you actually stopped on your original bus ride up to Jasper, kind of overlooks the glaciers and you can see the glaciers without having to do this tour.

But doing the tour, you know you’re going to get on that bus and just literally cross the highway to the one spot where it meets you up with those big ice vehicles.

41:49

It drives you onto the glacier.

And then then at that point, we got to be able to get out, take our photos and kind of like hike and explore the glacier a little bit.

Yeah, once we got off the bus, we had 30 minutes to explore.

They have this coned area, so that’s what you are able to explore.

42:05

We were really set on drinking glacier water, and so we found like a little stream that was like right near the barrier and freshwater was coming down it.

So we filled our water bottles, we dipped our hands in and we drank.

It was really good fresh glacial water, really great.

42:22

They also have a Canadian flag up there on top of the glacier as well.

So it’s a good spot to take photos.

And then from there, you really go the same way back and go right back down.

It’s like literally a roller coaster coming down the glacier, then going up the mountain to get back to like the spot where you transfer buses and that bus will take you to the skywalk.

42:43

Because this tour includes both getting on the glacier and the skywalk, and in total the experience is about 3 hours.

So yeah, like you said, Brittany, it was about a three hour tour.

It took us to the skywalk, but couple things that I kind of want to mention here is one.

42:59

We’re saying it took you the skywalk.

We didn’t say what that was yet, but at some point, Kim, when we were getting onto the bus again to take us to the skywalk, you really had to use the restroom.

Unfortunately, no restrooms at the top of the glacier, Although we did see as we were leaving that they did have a restroom for staff up there.

43:18

They just don’t really kind of like advertise it and nor do they take you back as they’re going to the skywalk to the area across the street.

Where’s the meeting center, visitor center where they have restrooms, right?

So just kind of be mindful about how much water you have to drink or if you’re going to need to use the restroom because they really don’t have restrooms.

43:38

Now the skywalk was maybe about what, 2 miles away from the actual glacier.

Now what the skywalk is, is it is a horseshoe shaped kind of land bridge that hangs out over the edge of a Cliff.

You’re looking down 15102 thousand like feet, glass bottom floor.

43:59

There’s no restrooms up there either, just as well.

So again, like I said, just really, really be mindful of that situation.

But yeah, I am I I don’t have a problem with heights, I won’t deny that, but I don’t like glass bottoms that hang over the edge and so.

44:16

What was your experience on The Skywalker?

I fucking hated it.

I hated it all, every little bit of it.

Especially when people are like, oh, let me just jump and, you know, take the photos as I’m jumping on the glass, et cetera.

Jamal is having a freak out.

Not having a freak out, it’s just not really my thing.

44:32

But I told this to Brittany too.

Glass bottoms don’t really bother me ’cause I’ve stood on them and the apparently they do Well, I’ve stood on them in the CN Tower in Toronto, which is a really high tower, has a glass bottom floor.

We did it in Tokyo, tower in Tokyo.

It’s something about the fact that it hangs out over the edge glass bottom that just bothers me.

44:52

I don’t like it, especially when there’s that many people on it.

But good views.

I, I mean, I can’t deny that it gives you really good views, but just not like my thing.

But you ladies seem to like it though, yes?

Yes, but we will say that we thought the skywalk was going to be over the glacier and it was not.

45:09

It was 2 miles down the road.

So you’re not looking at the glacier at all, you’re looking overlooking the sun.

Wapta Valley.

Still really beautiful, but not what we were originally anticipating.

Well, river from the glacier is flowing through it though.

But yeah, not the glacier itself.

That is correct.

All in all, what would you rank the Columbia Icefield adventure that we did, ladies?

45:28

I would give it an 8.3.

I was going to say about an 8 because it was really epic to be on a glacier, but it was also very crowded and only 30 minutes and only in a certain coned off area.

Yes.

And no bathrooms.

But I would also say had we only done the skywalk, which was something that we were kind of contemplating, I think I would have been disappointed if we just did that.

45:51

I think the highlight was getting on the glacier.

Oh, totally.

Yeah, that was definitely the highlight.

So do keep that in mind when you’re driving through the Columbia Icefields Parkway.

This is a really good spot to go the Athabasca Glacier and do this adventure.

46:07

As we were driving, in a way, we did see people hiking in a row up the glacier where we were not allowed to walk, and I don’t know if that was some other kind of tour or what, but that would have been cool to do.

They started at the bottom where there was rocks and no ice, and we’re working their way up to the ice.

46:23

Yeah.

Now that doesn’t sound fun whatsoever.

Great.

I liked the bus taking us onto it and just being directly on it.

But being on that bus is half the adventure.

It really was.

And the bus to like the top of it.

There was like no roof really.

There was like windows at the top.

46:39

So the sun shined directly in and people were saying how hot it was.

And then he wanted the heater off and the guy was like, the heater’s not on.

It’s just like the sun coming directly into the bus.

So after the glacier, what did we do, ladies?

We went to the Messiah Canyon and we did a little hike there.

46:55

And so the Messiah River flows out from Pedo Lake, which is one of the lakes we mentioned earlier, all the way to the Canyon here.

And we got to see parts of the Canyon and the falls that were kind of there as well.

And we did do a hike and we went in a clockwise direction.

47:13

No one else was really on the trail over there.

It was really nice, really scenic.

It encloses you so you feel like you’re in a wooded area and even though at like the base of it there’s a ton of people, this kind of like secludes you from everyone.

Yeah, the Mastaya Canyon Trail was really, really fun.

If you’re not going to be doing the trail, which is just a little short one, it’s not going to take you very, very long to to do it whatsoever.

47:34

It’s worth the stop just to kind of see the water in this area and again, just get that appreciation for it.

These are cool little overlooked places should you not even want to do the hikes.

So highly recommend it nonetheless for you guys.

The next hike we did was at a lake called Waterfowl Lake and we we went out to the viewpoint.

47:56

We did the lower lake view and then we walked over to the Upper Waterfall Lake Trail.

It was only about a mile out and back, but I loved this lake.

Well, I loved it too.

And you called it a hike, which I guess it kind of was, but it really isn’t.

48:11

It was a trail.

It was completely flat.

So if somebody’s intimidated by, like, actual inclination, you know, don’t be.

This is, you know, yeah, maybe the mile out and back, but it is completely flat.

And what what I like about it is that parking lot’s kind of like in a little wooded area, right?

48:28

And then you work your way through the woods not very far, then you get to the lake edge, and then it opens into that kind of little Meadow area along the lake and Little River stream that it does have.

So it was really just cool, different scenery that we hadn’t been into quite yet, just that little Meadow area by the lake.

48:47

And I really did appreciate it.

But what I appreciated more is how pretty it was and how absolutely nobody was there.

And we just got to appreciate that little point where they had the picnic bench all by ourselves.

What did you love about it, Kim?

I loved walking along the lake privately.

There was nobody else out there.

49:03

The picnic table at the end was like perfect for us to just sit down and chill.

We actually spent a lot of time there just taking it all in.

We did, and the lake is created from the paid Oak Glacier.

When we were sitting here, we were sitting on the picnic bench.

I love to take off my shoes and ground, put my feet in the water, all that sorts of stuff.

49:21

But we had just left Jasper.

It was so hot in Jasper 80 80s almost 90s when we got to this spot, this is when the weather started to turn and we could just feel like it completely cool off and we could tell that it could it would be probably be raining later that day as well.

49:36

So we got there when it was nice and sunny and then the weather weather started to change and that’s when we left.

But having it all to ourselves was really nice.

We actually encountered another couple coming back from this trail and I said, oh, how was the lake?

Was it worth going to?

And she said we didn’t make it there.

49:52

It’s too far away.

We’re like, oh, OK, And then I’m looking at the trail.

It’s like one mile round trip and completely flat.

So I think they were just looking for what we had previously gone to, which was just the waterfowl lakes viewpoint where you literally park and you’re right on the lake edge.

50:09

They weren’t looking for an adventure going deeper in.

And then from Waterfowl Lake, we stopped at Pedo Lake for Kim again.

If you remember, we were talking about how beautiful this one was.

It’s where they have that boardwalk kind of like overlooked, like really, really high up overlooking the lake.

50:25

But you know, we had more planned for the day already had done so much.

So we did do that little squad tip.

We told you where we kind of like parked in that upper little parking lot.

But you know, in fairness, other people were doing it too.

We did not park in a bus spot and no, we did not park in a handicap spot.

50:41

I would not do that.

We found a little opening area and we just kind of went in there real quick just to give Kim that 5 minute peek of the the overlook.

But at the same time, you know, highly recommend if you’re there during a busier time, which I thought it was going to be busy.

50:56

You know, we see all the stuff about Banff, Jasper, et cetera, and this is supposedly the time that people start to go.

I think we were maybe there a week or two before that really happens and we got really lucky.

So if you’re there when it’s busy and the parking lots are full, don’t try to do anything like that.

But literally no one except for like 3 people was in that upper parking lot and those open spaces that weren’t designated for bus or handicap.

51:17

So earlier this day and earlier in the trip, we had seen signs for a National Park called Kootenay National Park, and it was not even on our itinerary at all.

We had no plans to visit it.

Nothing was on the docket.

And then I just got the thought like, well, you know, how far away is Kootenai National Park and what is inside of it and what can we visit?

51:38

Because whenever we go on trips, we overestimate how long things will take because you never know how traffic’s going to be.

You don’t know if a hike’s going to take you a little bit longer if you’re going to stop for lunch and it’s going to take a little bit longer than anticipated.

But we were like on track or early every single day by this point and we had been go, go, go.

51:56

So I did a little research in the morning and looked like Kootenay National Park was right next to where we were going to be in Banff because that’s where we were ending.

And so we decided to add that on, but we were all getting a little tired and we needed a little pick me up.

So we stopped to get coffee, water and booze.

52:14

Very important things.

Well, the booze wasn’t for now, the booze and drinks were for later because again, we were going to be picking up Charlotte.

Where we actually stopped for that was back in Lake Louise Village, which is a little bit of a town that you would say right outside, you know, Lake Louise.

52:30

And we were going to be staying in that vicinity that night.

So we picked up water, which we for sure needed coffee for that pick me up and then the adult beverages for later in the evening.

And then yes, we did head on to Kootenay National Park.

But one thing I thought to myself too is just like all these national parks are closed, why do they have them?

52:49

Why is it not all one, like yeah, I could see Banff, Jasper, et cetera, But like I said earlier, we are literally on the straddle line of Alberta and British Columbia, which are two provinces in Canada and Banff all falls within Alberta, Kootenay, Yoho in British Columbia and Jasper and Alberta too.

53:09

So like literally it could be Banff.

But I really think how they designated is once you cross the province line, which provinces in Canada are basically like our states, it just becomes a new National Park.

So one in the same but yet not hitting off a new one.

Kootenay National Park and.

Kootenay National Park also has a a lot of glaciers, grasslands, valleys, canyons, also known as like the land of fire and ice.

53:32

Really beautiful scenic drive.

We stopped at Marble Canyon.

I really liked this Canyon.

You cross this bridge, you see these beautiful blue waters.

Of course, you hike up, you get to see a waterfall.

There’s several different crossings where you just really get to like appreciate the scenery and I think it’s definitely work.

53:51

Worth a stop here.

There’s seven bridges that you’re able to cross on this little Canyon area.

And I usually say this, I don’t think I’ve said it yet in this episode, you know, just to get a little bit of context of these places and what we’re talking about.

Be sure to Google it because, you know, Marble Canyon, I really did enjoy.

54:07

You are following along a Canyon, but at some point, like once you climb up a little bit, it gets to the point where they have multiple bridges that crossover the Canyon so you can look on and walk on either side of it.

Then you come across, you know, a waterfall that’s at the very end of it and so very scenic and really almost a surreal experience.

54:26

I don’t know if I’ve ever done a trail that was kind of like that, and I really did appreciate it.

So everything that we’re talking about, guys, you know, we could only describe it so well with our words, you know, Google it.

And we always say this, two pictures do no justice.

So just imagine what it looks like in person.

From there, we just wanted to see another waterfall.

54:43

It was called Numa Falls, literally right across from the parking lot.

I had downloaded a trail map and this is sometimes where like all trails can steer, you’re wrong or trails can steer you’re wrong.

It said that it was like a one mile hike.

So we were like, OK, let’s go do the hike.

It literally ended us in the middle of the forest, not at any sort of destination or landmark or anything specific.

55:05

It was just like, oh, the trail ends here when obviously the trail continued, but where we were was like, we’re not going to get a view of the waterfall again.

And that’s what we came there.

So this was could have been a 5 minute stop but we made it a little bit longer.

Well, from 5 to 10 minutes, you know, not not too much longer from where?

55:21

Like, it’s crazy.

You know, the trail on all trails seem to go longer.

And of course it did compared to where the GPS point like had us.

But so odd that it just ended almost like a fucking cul-de-sac in the middle of nothing in the forest.

We found that to be quite odd.

Yeah, that.

Was so random.

55:37

And our last stop in Kootenay was the Continental Divide sign.

This is a fun quick little stop because they have the sign and it shows.

This is a line that divides Alberta from British Columbia.

It also divides BAMP from Kootenay.

So you can we saw on different sides of the signs that Kim’s on like the Alberta side, on the on the British Columbia sign or vice versa and just like fun little viewpoints dot point.

56:01

And that’s also like on the Continental Divide.

So you know that water from there on one side flows to the Atlantic and then the other side flows to the Pacific, and it sits at 5382 feet above sea level.

Just 100 feet over a mile, look at that.

Almost could be the next Mile High city here in the Canadian Rockies and we have one in the US Rockies in Denver.

56:22

So pretty close in that sense of things.

But after our journey working our way South and joined parts of Jasper, parts of Banff Kootenay, we were like, we’re hungry, we got time to kill till Charlotte arrives this evening.

And so we decided to eat at Bill Pato’s Cafe and I enjoyed it.

56:40

I I won’t lie, I know your pasta didn’t really sit too well with you, Kim.

I shouldn’t say it didn’t sit too well.

It was good.

It just didn’t have a lot of sauce on it.

And if you’re going to have a white sauce pasta, you need a lot of white sauce on it, don’t you?

Yeah, I would give the place about a 7 and I think a lot of places in Lake Louise had the same menu, like burgers and poutine and.

57:00

Pastas.

Pastas Pizzas.

It was like a lot of American food, pastas, pizzas, burger, and then they would have like 1 Thai dish, 1 Indian dish and you know, like one other.

Fish and chips.

Yeah, ethnic dish and something like that.

So all the same type of menu though.

I would have eaten here again.

57:16

We were struggling the next day to find somewhere and we kept throwing Bill potatoes back around.

But it was good.

It was a rustic inside.

It had good ambiance.

It definitely did.

I, I enjoyed it.

I mean, I did did I absolutely love it.

But it’s one of those things when all the minis look the same.

I knew what I was kind of getting.

57:32

But you know, there are options that you can have.

But like we’re saying, you know, if you’re staying in this area, which was kind of like Lake Louise Village area where we were staying and where Bill Payto’s Cafe is, a lot of the menus of all the restaurants kind of look the same.

So do keep that in mind.

It can create that dilemma of when you’re trying to figure out what it is that you want to eat.

57:52

So Kim, tell us about the hotel we checked into.

We stayed at the Paradise Lodge and Bungalows and this place is so cute.

It has like cabin looking bungalows you can stay in.

It also has more of the hotel style buildings which is where we stayed.

But what was so cool about it was one of the bedrooms opened up to its own private balcony that overlooked a gorgeous mountain.

58:14

It was the perfect spot to view wildlife.

Although we didn’t see any but it was a great great place.

It was super cute, rustic.

I really love hotels or unique stays that fit the ambience of the place in which you are staying and this place here, the Paradise Lodge, definitely did do that.

58:33

It felt like our little own cabin bungalow in a way.

And I hate to use the term bungalow because you kind of think of that like jungle beach, but it really good mountain vibes that this hotel was giving off in terms of the atmosphere.

But it had lots of cool things with it too, minus how cute and quaint it was.

58:49

You know, it was a 2 bed, 1 bath bungalow area that we had, but they did provide, you know, oatmeal, granola bars, Cafe Coffee.

It did have a toaster, plates, cups, etcetera.

So if you were bringing in your own food, you can use that.

They had food that they were selling in the lobby that you can microwave.

59:07

So in an area where options of food are limited, they had these kind of give you a little bit of help should you actually need that.

So I did appreciate that aspect of it just as well.

But one of the main reasons why we stayed here and I kind of want to bring this up because we talked about about Lake Louise when Brittany and I had stopped originally working our way up.

59:27

The reason why we actually chose this place is it’s a 20 minute walk to Lake Louise and everything that you will see on reviews will say the Lake Louise parking lot small during busy season, it fills up fast.

Don’t even think about trying to find a parking spot, blah, blah, blah.

59:42

And like I said, I think we were here a little bit early into the start of the season.

So maybe in two weeks it could have been a different story.

But if it is a different story and you are unable to get that spot in there, otherwise you’ll have to take a shuttle bus.

Park in a specific area kills a lot of time.

59:59

So we chose this one for the proximity in case we actually had to walk to Lake Louise because we were doing a hike the very next day, which we’ll talk about in the next episode here, you know, after we pick up Charlotte and everything.

But I just want to throw that out there.

This is why we chose this spot and I would highly recommend it.

1:00:14

Charlotte came in pretty late that night.

I think we picked her up around. 10:30. 10:30 at night.

Yeah.

So she had a long stopover in band, just killing time.

We were communicating with her throughout her journey up and 10:30 at night, right?

1:00:29

We’re not too far away from the bus station, but it would be what, a couple minutes drive?

Three to five minute drive right, but a 40 minute walk uphill.

Yeah, and Charlotte actually thought we were going to make her walk to the bungalows.

1:00:45

I think we told her to get some water for hiking.

Yeah.

So in Lake Louise, the water supply was limited.

We went to in a grocery store.

It was like way overpriced for what we needed and we had forgotten to pick some up for her.

We had just gotten like a can for us.

And then Kim got a can thing too.

1:01:01

Or like I think it’s what, 2 or 4 liters or whatever it is.

And so then I message Shar as we get out of that area and I say, hey, while you’re in Banff, pick up yourself some water.

And she goes, oh, it’s going to be hard because I have to carry that in my suitcase.

And I’m thinking, well, it’s only going to be hard temporarily because you’re going to get on the bus.

1:01:19

And I’m thinking like, obviously we’re going to be picking you up.

So like, what do you thinking?

And then she like messages me back like hey, it’s going to be hard to walk uphill with that just mapped.

It looks like it’s a 3 minute drive for you to come get me, but it’d be a 37 minute walk uphill.

So like do you guys could pick me up?

1:01:35

And I’m thinking like Charlotte, of course we were going to pick you up.

Like that was the whole point.

It gave us all the good little laugh thinking that she thought we were going to make her walk up the the hill on that one and leave her alone at night at 10:30 for the Bears.

Little bear bait she would be.

Yeah, and then, you know, we brought her back to the bungalows.

1:01:52

We caught up just a little bit and pretty much went to bed just after that.

We didn’t stay up too late that night.

Had a big day the next day.

And we’re actually going to cut it right here and save the rest of the trip for our Part 2 episode.

Thank you so much for tuning in to this Part 1 episode.

1:02:09

You know, we’re going to come back at you next week, so keep the adventures going with us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok at Travel Squad Podcast.

And if you have a question of the week, send that on in.

And as always, guys, please subscribe, Rate your podcast and TuneIn every Travel Tuesday for new episodes.

1:02:25

Stay tuned for next week’s episode! You already know what we have coming for you: Part 2 The Canadian Rocky Adventure.