Mount Robson to Calgary: Jasper, Banff and the Icefields Parkway

8 cycle days

560 km

4786 m ascent

4 bears

_{The route we’ve covered from Mount Robson Provincial Park to Calgary.}

A day after our hike on the Berg Lake Trail, we were back on our bikes and on our way to Jasper. It had rained over night (once more…) and in the morning, everything was wet, sandy and full with small slugs. Ew! We have never been looking forward to doing laundry that much. At least packing was quite easy as we were both nearly out of food. We seldom have that much space in our bags!

But before leaving the Mount Robson Park, we tried using the wi-fi at the visitor center to confirm Sebis appointment at the dental clinic. There was no cell phone reception in the area. Unfortunately, the wi-fi was uselessly slow and so Sebi ended up using the payphone – and paid ridiculous 20 CAD for less than five minutes! We also met two hikers and two other cyclists and after wonderful conversations we left a lot later than anticipated. 

We got to Jasper early in the evening. A lot of the area in and around Jasper burned in a big wildfire last year and the destruction was visible as soon as we got to the entrance of the park. As we had little to no reception the last couple of days we weren’t able to book campsites. We were lucky and probably got the very last spot on the local campground (the campsites are always full in Jasper). Last years wildfires didn’t stop for the campground and it now looked super interesting – burned trees everywhere, and looots of elk/wapiti were roaming around (a species of deer).

We planned a day off in Jasper, which we used for doing laundry, Sebis dentist appointment and route planning. In the evening, we went to the supermarkt in Jasper to buy something else for dinner than pasta and everything was so expensive that we just went out for dinner instead. We accidentally found such a good restaurant that Sebi still raves about his amazing desserts weeks later.

From Jasper, we would spend the next five days on the Icefields Parkway, cycling towards Lake Louise and Banff. The Icefields Parkway is a popular scenic road, passing the Columbia Icefield and featuring lots of things to do or see along the road. Unfortunately, that also means it is super busy and we were overwhelmed by the amount of campervans on the road. Fortunately, the shoulder was wide enough to feel safe nevertheless. Most of the campsites along the Parkway are first come, first served only, meaning that we couldn’t arrive too late. We planned shorter days for the Icefields Parkway, to be able to enjoy some of the things along the way and to arrive at the campsites early enough. After all the rainy days the week before the weather had changed completely and we had amazing weather ever since we arrived at Jasper!

The next morning, Sebi did the food shopping while I sat in a coffee shop to work on the next blog entry. Jasper is such a cute town, but somehow we forgot taking pictures. We went out for icecream and by the time we left Jasper, it was late afternoon. We stopped at the Athabasca Falls and despite the late time, it was fairly busy. As expected, the first campground on our way was fully occupied and we were grateful for the bike group camping spot on the next one.

When we got to the Icefield Visitor Center late afternoon, it was super busy and way too many people for what we were accustomed to. It even had a Starbucks… The lower level featured a photo exhibition on glacial retreat due to climate change. Unfortunately, the exhibition was already closed and we didn’t get to see it. At the same time, you can book a ride on a huge “Ice Explorer” that drives right onto the glacier, which felt kinda.. ironic to be honest. We used the wi-fi to plan our stay in Calgary and sort our accommodation.

The next day was an adventurous one. We stopped somewhere of the road, where a river disappears into a canyon. We took some pictures and saw a gravel road in front of us. After a quick look on two maps we were quite sure it would bring us back to the main road after around three kilometers. It started out fairly beautiful, with hidden waterfalls and a view onto the highway above us. Unfortunately though, the road turned into a path and that path eventually turned into – nothing. We ended up in a forest, lifting our bikes over endless fallen trees, fighting our way through the trees and bushes, guided by signs and scratches of other poor cyclists who must have had the same glorious idea as us. After about two hours we got out on the other side, more than relieved to have made it back to a proper road.

Despite the lateish hour, we found an empty site on the next campground. On the way there we got see a black bear mom with two cubs, and I finally had enough time to snap a quick picture! We met three lovely Germans (son, dad and grandfather) and spent the evening talking around their campfire.

The next morning we made it to Bow Summit and went to a viewpoint overlooking the beautiful Peyto Lake. We were there fairly early in the morning and it was already full with people! We followed a path through the woods and got to a less visited viewpoint where the view was even more beautiful. When we left, the parking lot was crammed full with cars and they parked nearly all the way to the street.
We got to lake Louise early in the afternoon. Unfortunately, our Airbnb booking hadn’t been accepted and we spent some time trying to find another option. The campground in Lake Louise is divided into soft sided and hard sided camping, and the entire soft sided campsite is enclosed by an electric fence. Not only due to bear activity, but also because of mountain lions, coyotes and wolves. Even the cattle stop is electrified! We didn’t see anything during our time there, though.

From Lake Louise, we followed the Bow Valley Parkway into Banff. The road was incredibly gorgeous with little to no traffic and with a lot of shade. The day was hot, so the last point was especially appreciated. We stopped at the Johnston Canyon for lunch and were overwhelmed by the amount of people. It is only a short drive away from Banff and we noticed that. There’s a walk up the canyon to a beautiful waterfall, and although hesitant, we decided to go for it. It was crowded to the point where it wasn’t enjoyable anymore and at the top the people stood in line to wait to be able to go to the waterfall and take a picture… We did our best to enjoy the views and returned to the bikes. Banff was equally as full, although beautiful. 

We spent a whole day in Banff. I had a dental appointment scheduled, and we had to take care of some logistical things. As we frequently had to buy food for five days or more, we regularly maxed out the capacity of our ten liter mini panniers. A couple of weeks ago we made the decision to upgrade to one size bigger, just to make it easier to pack food for longer stretches. We had the bags delivered to a Warmshowers host in Banff and after receiving the new ones, we had to send the old ones back home (thanks for your help, Ed!).

From Banff it wasn’t far to Calgary. The landscape was interesting – super dry, the vegetation was not really high and it kinda made me feel like I’m somewhere in the Netherlands, only a few dunes away from the sea. We camped around 60 km out of Calgary. The next day turned out quite different to what we had expected. We had not even cycled ten kilometers and had already found two Alberta license plates. Two fast road cyclists overtook us and we briefly talked. They later overtook us a second time and one of them asked where we needed to go. It turned out that our Airbnb was super close to his home and he invited us to his place for lunch. We gratefully accepted and enjoyed being guided into the city, with stops at beautiful locations. We had not cycled that fast in a while and had a hard time not loosing his rear wheel! He and his wife were absolutely lovely and we ended up staying at their place way longer than planned. We even went back the next day, had a lovely dinner together and with his help re-waxed all our chains as fast as never before.

The Airbnb we had booked was incredible and exactly what we needed to have a proper rest for the first time. We kept extending and in the end stayed there for a week. We went out with Jon one night, worked on a few blog posts, cut our hair, ate really well and a lot… One time we went to the supermarket and a shoplifter tried to run away and nearly ran us over! Wildfire smoke hung over the city one day, but nearly disappeared by the time we were on the road again.