Banff National Park is one of Canada’s most popular parks with so many things that you can do that can leave you wanting for more adventure. In this episode, host Kit Parks interviews outdoor enthusiast John Bowden of Kootenay Cycling Adventures whom she met during her trip there. He shares some of the key details that make the park extraordinarily amazing and what part of it strikes him the most. John talks about the nature and the flora and fauna species in the area. He recalls the beauty of the hike and bike paths and the experience of being away from civilization and from the crowd.

—

Listen to the podcast here:

Banff National Park Visitor’s Guide

One of Canada’s most popular national parks, Banff is a readily accessible, stunningly gorgeous park that can be visited year ’round!  The charming town of Banff sits INSIDE of the national park – how cool is that!  A UNESCO World Heritage site, it is worth your time to plan at least one visit to Banff.

 

When to Visit Banff

For warmer weather activities, head there from late spring through early fall. Note that this popular Canadian national park will be crowded then, so you may prefer the shoulder season, or if you enjoy winter sports, head there when it gets cold!  Here’s the average Banff weather to help plan your visit.

How to Get to Banff National Park

Banff National Park is super easy to get to – best of all, you don’t even need a car!

If you are flying, fly in to Calgary International Airport.  Then you can take the bus shuttle directly to Banff.  There is ample public transport in town and it is a VERY walking friendly place to visit!

Or you can take the scenic Rockie Mountain Train into Banff!  

Here’s a link to more info on getting to Banff Park.

Things to Do at Banff Park

Wildlife Viewing

Boat tour

Canoeing

Cycling

Downhill skiing

Golf

Ice climbing

Mountain biking

Paddling

Ski touring

Tours and programs

Backpacking

Boating

Mountain climbing

Dog sledding

Fishing

Hiking

Ice skating

Museum

Photography

Snowshoeing

Bird watching

Camping

Cross country skiing

Dog walking

Geocaching

Horseback riding

Kayaking

oTENTik

Scuba diving

Swimming

Other Canadian Adventure Travel Podcasts from ATA

Glacier National Park (Waterton in Canada)
Quebec area with Jackie from the Budget Minded Traveler (now Jump!)

Where to Stay in Banff

You have lots of options when you visit Banff national Park in all price ranges!  Banff area accommodations.

Whether you splurge to stay there or not, be sure to save some time to visit historic Fairmont Banff Springs!

You can camp out in the backcountry or in a designated camp site, or upgrade all the way up to higher end historic Fairmont.  

The park itself has some interesting lodging choices from campsites to yurts to microbes!  The park even offers learn to camp classes!  Here’s a link to the Park’s accommodations.

The Crazy Tourist has done a great job summarizing Banff area accommodation options.  Here’s a link.

Banff Wildlife

 Like most places, the best time to see wildlife is early morning or later in the day.

 It is common to see elk, osprey, and bighorn sheep.  Banff wildlife includes both grizzly and black bears [see Bear Safety info here].  On occasion, you might see coyote, foxes or wolves.  

The Canadian National Park system recommends you use these guidelines for safely watching wildlife.  If you cause the animal to move then you are too close!  It is your responsibility to watch for defensive warning signs that the animal sends out.

• 100 m/330′ from bears (unless you are inside a vehicle);
• 30 m/100′ from all other large species;
• 200 m/660’ from coyote, fox or wolf dens.

Explore Canada’s Banff National Park

I consider it my mission to inspire and empower you to take some of the most amazing adventure travel trips around the world. We have a particularly beautiful one. We’re going to Banff, Canada. I know a lot of people may never have heard of it, but this has been on my radar for quite some time. I had heard repeatedly how absolutely stunning it is. I was lucky enough to meet somebody who once lived there, so we get the inside scoop. This is one of the great places that you’d go where the whole family can enjoy it because you can tailor your trip exactly to what your interests are, your skill levels. You can have easy days or hard days. You could have a base camp or you can go out in the backcountry. There are tons of opportunities to do everything from hiking, biking, paddling, horseback riding, hot tubbing, stargazing and just eating major good food. It’s also a foodie destination as well. This is an epic destination and one that you can tailor it to fit your budget. Let’s get started with the interview with John, who I was fortunate enough to meet on my trip to New Zealand.

—

John, we met at a mountain cabin in New Zealand, but I don’t know a whole lot about you. Can you please introduce yourself and perhaps tell us your age and where you’re from?

My name is John. I originally grew up in Ontario and then moved out west and lived for about five years in Banff. It’s an absolutely wonderful place to be in the Rocky Mountains. Nowadays, I’ve moved a little further west into a little town called Nelson, British Columbia and I’m in my mid-30s. Having operated a tourism organization, Pam, for a number of years, I now run a road biking tour company based in Nelson, BC.

I know we’re going to be talking about Banff in particular, but if you could tell us a little bit about how you got into this whole adventure travel. I met you on an adventure. How did you get into this whole adventure travel shtick?

I can trace it back to a fall many years ago after graduating from university. I headed out a little bit west of Banff, to a little place called Lake O’Hara. I worked at for a season up there, a little lodge where the only distraction, essentially, were hiking or paddling on the lake and being outside. It was a real revelation for me as a bit of a city boy and cemented my love for nature and the outdoors. I moved back to Toronto after that. I did a bunch of things and then the calling of the western mountains was always there. That’s what brought me back to Banff and that’s what stoked my love of wild places. Since then, we’ve had the pleasure and the opportunity to do a lot of cycles touring in different parts of the world, including Cuba and Patagonia in Europe and so forth. We went to New Zealand and had a great trip there.

That was probably one of my best trips ever. I’ve been to a lot of places but that was spectacular, wasn’t it?

Yes, it’s just a beautiful landscape with wonderful, kind people and so much to see. Our common answer was British Columbia has a lot of that same rugged natural appeal. We’re lucky to have lived in a place like British Columbia and travel a place like New Zealand too.

A lot of people may never have heard of Banff. Can you tell us a little bit about what is Banff National Park and where is it? If you can give us a brief overview of where it is that we’re heading to?

Banff is a little town about an hour or so west of Calgary, Alberta. It’s right in the Rocky Mountains of Canada. Although the name of the town is Banff, it’s contained within Banff National Park, which is the third oldest national park in the world. Only Yellowstone and Royal National Park in Australia came before that. It’s unique and there are very few places in the world that are within a national park setting. The key thing is that it’s a destination that’s protected, contained and extraordinarily beautiful as well.

When you say extraordinarily beautiful, what does the landscape look like there? I’m sure there are many parts of it but what strikes you the most?

To me, the combination of mountains, glaciers, rivers, valleys, forest. It has everything you could possibly want in a mountain area, so much so that Banff and its surrounding national parks together form a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Canadian Rocky Mountains National Park, I believe it is, which has been recognized for its scenic beauty. It’s that whole stretch of national parks up and down that corridor there. The hiking is incredible. It’s so accessible. There’s so much to do, but more importantly, there’s so much wildlife and so much protected area because it is such a gem of a location.

I’ve never been in that part of the Rockies. How tall are the mountains we’re talking about here?

Exploring Banff National Park: Banff National Park is a destination that’s protected, contained, and is extraordinarily beautiful as well.

 

They are tall. However, they’re not as tall as you might expect in places like Colorado or certainly in Nepal, the Himalayas. They’re tall in terms of their relief from valley level, but it’s also just the sheer, the beauty of them, the ways that there are glaciers all over the place, the streams that wind through there, the valley bottoms. It’s an intersection of everything without being 8,000 meters or anything like that obviously. The tallest peaks are only around 3,600 meters. The sheer beauty of them is what impresses most people.

Usually, the altitude is not going to be an issue for people that are hiking up these mountains.

Banff itself is located around 1,300, 1,400 meters. Lake Louise is another community nearby. It’s about 1,700 meters. Your starting points are not that high and any mountain you’re going to hike up to or summit. Generally, most of the hiking trails aren’t too much above 2,000, 2,200 meters. If you’re summiting mountains, a lot of those are around 3,000 meters. You’re right, elevation is not a huge concern for most people. You might find yourself a little thirsty than usual, but that’s probably the biggest change.

Those are my favorite kinds of mountains. I get that the joy of earning that view at the top without having to worry about second wind so badly, with the lack of oxygen. I think that’s a cool feature. You talked a little bit about wildlife. What kinds of animals might we see there?

The Banff National Park and the surrounding parks there are well-known for their amazing preserve of habitat, which has allowed for species like grizzly bears and black bears to be able to flourish there. It is extraordinary that there are very few places left that have that same density in North America. We’ve also got things like elk and bighorn sheep, mountain goats, deer are some of the big ones that people might find. I know they’ve got smaller animals, but those megafaunas are the ones that most people are drawn to.

I think it’s cool about the bears, but a lot of people are afraid of bears. Can you talk a little bit about bears and particularly the grizzlies?

The grizzlies are impressive creatures. Most bears are not super keen on hanging out with humans. They’re even less excited about you than you are about them perhaps in terms of getting to meet them. They are wonderful species to see. They’re super impressive. Generally, they’re going to be further up into the alpine, especially as the summer goes on. Although early in the springtime, they do come down and that’s where the valley bottoms open up first in terms of some of the feeding. They’ll come down and they’ll look for food sources. That’s generally where you’d get the most common visitor interactions with bears. A place like Banff, parks in Canada is great at being able to manage that and to protect corridors and to be able to close areas off. One of the most important things for people to know is to keep your distance from wildlife and to give them healthy respect. Whether you’re out there hiking or whether you’re out there to photograph a bear, “Give them at least ten bus lengths,†that is the common term.

Do you have any cool bear stories you’d like to share?

I’ve got a couple. I was up hiking in a place called Sunshine Meadows, which is quite close to Banff. It’s a ski resort in the wintertime, but at summertime it has these spectacular meadows. We were hiking up along the trail and we saw a few tourists ahead of us and they just started freaking out and panicking. I said, “What’s going on?†They pointed across and there was this big grizzly bear. Sure enough, we looked over and saw this grizzly bear stand up on its back legs. It’s one thing to see a grizzly bear on four legs and you get a sense of its size, but when they stand up, you notice that these things are significantly large. It did a bit of a bluff charge towards us. It was still quite far away, but enough that we certainly were quite concerned and cautious. It pulled up and kept going on its way. That was one instance of being out in the wild and hiking that reminded you of the power of grizzly bears and how impressive they are.

Secondly, very early on in my relationship with my partner, I had taken her camping in the lake near Banff. We had brought a canoe over and we had put the canoe in the water. As we started to paddle off, we heard some splashing behind us. Sure enough, we looked back to see this huge grizzly bear emerge from the lake. We were maybe fifteen feet away from it. It was so close. I don’t know how we got into the canoe and didn’t see it in the first place. We watched this grizzly bear amble across the waterfront. We were so close that we could see these multiple inch claws on this bear and it tracked its way right through the heart of the campground. Not to scare your readers, but this bear, it certainly had a mission which had nothing to do with people. It wanted to literally get from one side to another and couldn’t care less about people. Another impressive memory of seeing how determined and how independent these bears are.

About how tall do you think it was when it stood up?

I’d hazard somewhere in the range of seven to eight feet. It was enough that it certainly felt bigger than I did.

The only wild bears I’ve ever seen in all my time was when I was in a very remote area checking out some migratory birds that over winter down here. The mama bear, the two cubs saw me. I didn’t see her at all and so they just ran from us. They don’t want the encounter most of the time. I think up in the grizzly area, aren’t you supposed to make noise if you’re rounding a bend so you’re trying not to surprise them?

Yes, that’s a big part of it. Make yourself seen. The best strategy to avoid a grizzly bear encounter is to do that, is to avoid one. Making yourself loud whether it’s chatting loudly, singing, traveling with other people is helpful too. Just make sure that the grizzly bear knows you and you don’t sneak up on it and you should be all right.

Any other animal stories you’d like to share?

Those are the big ones that stand out for me. I think partly living in a place like Banff, you get used to seeing deer and elk in the townsite and they become a bit of a common occurrence. When you live in a place like that, you have to remember that for people visiting there, it’s often a very new experience for them. It’s very exciting. What I would caution most people too is that’s wonderful and we encourage people to enjoy that wildlife experience, but keep your distance. It’s easy to forget that when you’re in a townsite that maybe you feel like you can get up close and almost like pet the deer, feed the deer or something like that. These are still totally wild creatures and oftentimes, people forget to give the space the animals that they need to be safe and secure.

I was in the area just outside the Grand Tetons and this man in the campground, a moose had come into the campsite area. He was within five feet of this enormous moose or elk. I can’t remember exactly what it was. I was like, “That thing, if it decides it’s mad at you, it’s going to get you.†I thought it was crazy. Literally within five feet of that animal, trying to get the photos for Instagram or something. It was ridiculous.

That happens more than it should. I think that’s part of public education and visitor’s responsibility to keep wildlife safe, keep themselves safe. Think about the value of trying to get that perfect picture and give the animals more respect instead.

Let’s move from wildlife and let’s get into some of the activities. My personal favorite is hiking. Can you talk a little bit about some of the trails that you might see in Banff?

One of the appealing things about Banff National Park and the Banff town side is the sheer number and scale of hikes available. Banff is fortunate in that a lot of these are literally right from the townsite. You don’t even need a car. There are a number of hikes that are a short drive away as well. There are a range of hikes that are flat little walks around town that are around a meadow or a ravine or other ones where you can get up small mountains. There’s even one in town called Tunnel Mountain, which is a short 300-meter hike up. That’s a scenic 45 minutes to an hour round trip. You have all those things and then you’ve got your multiple-day backcountry hikes as well, which are quite a different scale. That’s a big part of the appeal to Banff. You can do a short little hike or you can work yourself up to something far more significant.

I saw too that you can even do heli-hikes where they’ll transport you out into the backcountry and there’s a lodge or something out there as well.

Those happen a little bit more just outside side of the national park and to some of the provincial parks as well. In my mind, I think one of the real appealing parts of it is to go on these multiple-day backcountry hikes and there are spectacular campgrounds. There are a few alpine huts scattered around as well. The beauty of going on these hikes is that you get far enough away from the crowds from civilization. You’re going to get out of internet and cell phone connectivity pretty quickly. You can unplug and reconnect with nature. That’s when you can feel the breeze in the trees, you smell that freshness. You can taste that fresh alpine water and it reminds you of your vulnerability and your connection to nature. That is an important, significant thing for people to be able to re-embrace in this day of Instagram and Facebook and spending so much time on our mobile device. When you get out to places like this, there’s no Instagram-ing out there. You’re out there and you’re enjoying it, I think that’s a profound moment for most people.

You have almost zero light pollution out there too. I hear the stargazing is amazing.

It can be, particularly these particular times when the auroras are prominent that you can see those colors flashing or dancing across in the sky. More often than not, the Rockies are generally quite clear as well for the most part. You’re going to be more than likely blessed with some super starry nights.

Exploring Banff National Park: When you get out on some of these deeper back country hikes, you’ll be leaving the crowds behind pretty quickly.

 

Any favorite camping sites you want to share?

There are a couple. Generally for me, more than ones that take a little more getting out too. There are a couple of ways to approach a place called Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. They call that the Zermatt of Canada, a little Switzerland. It’s got a quite prominent peak there. It’s about a 25 to 30-kilometer hike, depending on which way you go in. There are just some wonderful camping opportunities out there too or camping right there. There’s also another place very close to Banff called Egypt Lake. It’s one of the largest campgrounds in the national park, at least from a backcountry perspective. Probably because there are a number of different trails you can take to get there. You can turn that into multiple-day trips and stop at some campgrounds along the way that are quite beautiful. Part of the beauty to me of these campgrounds is that you meet wonderful people, some like-minded people and people are in such good spirits that it’s such a great communal experience.

Banff is quite well-visited. I believe it’s five million visitors a year. How far in do you have to go and all of a sudden you’re away from the crowds?

I think that’s what a lot of people would like to know too. You’re right, there are certainly multimillions of people that come to the park and that’s particularly in the summertime. That being said, if you’re downtown Banff, Banff Avenue, they call it, you’re going to see a lot of people and that’s the reality. However, if you step even one or two blocks off of downtown Banff Avenue, it’s amazing how much quieter it gets. When you get out on some of these deeper backcountry hikes, same thing. You’ll be leaving the crowds behind pretty quickly. That to me is part of the appeal that although some people might think that Banff is pretty heavily visited in the summertime, it all depends on where you go.

Banff is a year-round destination. I don’t do the cold very well. The cold there is also exciting because there are all sorts of things to do. Can you talk about the different seasons and why you might want to go spring versus fall versus winter versus summer?

Spring is a great time in terms of the days are getting longer. You’re going to be there a little bit before the crowds. The only challenge of spring is if you’re in a hiking. Generally, the snow lasts a little bit longer. It’s a better time to go if you’re keen to stay in the valley bottoms to do some paddling, perhaps do some walks around townsites to discover. The culinary scene in Banff is a great option too. Getting into the alpine, that’s where summertime shines. These trails open up. There are all sorts of things to do for those few months. As you get into the fall, you get this brilliant color change. The tamaracks start changing their colors into this bright golden yellow that’s in mid to late September.

In October, you start to get some early snow and the fall can be a wonderful time for those winter enthusiasts to come out. You can start cross country skiing by early November. The ski resorts are open by mid-November onwards. The ski season lasts all the way up until mid-May in some cases. The wintertime is maybe lesser-known but equally wonderful time to go both in terms of the activities of skiing, but also the scenic beauty. There’s something quite significant about seeing these beautiful white snow cap peaks contrasting against the brilliant blue sky. You can avoid a lot of the crowds that you’ll see in the summertime by coming in the wintertime to enjoy these wonderful sites.

For those that are not familiar or don’t want to drive in the snow, can you still take the train in and then just walk wherever you want to do so you don’t have to worry about driving in the snow?

You can certainly. Part of the beauty about staying in a place like Banff or Lake Louise, which is just 45 minutes away, is those townsites have hotels and restaurants to stay at. You can walk literally at your front door and do a whole bunch of different trails and walks from there. There are some providers that will shuttle you out to take you on scenic tours, go for short walks with them. There are all sorts of way to be able to get out and discover the park.

Let’s go into your love, biking. Can you tell us a little about the biking opportunities there?

There’s some wonderful biking out there, both for road biking and mountain biking. I was a little more partial to road biking. That to me was what stoked my love of road biking. There’s a wonderful side road between Banff and Lake Louise. It’s about 60 kilometers. It’s called the Bow Valley Parkway. You’re liable to see some wildlife out there. It’s a beautiful, relatively flat road, got a couple of little hills in it, nice turns, a very scenic ride. There’s also a beautiful loop just outside of Banff to a nearby lake. It’s about a twenty-kilometer round trip. That’s a wonderful hour, hour and a half ride if you like. The mountain biking trails are what we call it more cross country. There are going to be a little more relatively flat as opposed to the downhill biking that you might get a little further into British Columbia, which is scenic. They’ve done a great job in Banff of constructing a number of trails which are officially designated, well maintained. They’re generally shorter trips that you can do in half an hour or an hour or so. It’s not necessarily day-long epics, which is nice because you can get a taste of this, a taste of that and do some other things.

Can you tell us about the Moraine Lake Highline? I’ve read that was considered a cool trail.

There are a couple of trails right out of Moraine Lake and part of the beauty of Moraine Lake is you’re quite high up in elevation. Your starting point gets you pretty quickly up above tree line. You can get up to a pass up there, which is called Sentinel Pass, which is from my understanding arguably the highest trail feature in the national park. You can get some wonderful views on both sides of the paths there. You get up in the large area, so particularly in the fall, that’s a scenic place to go. You get the best of everything. Looking down Moraine Lake, you’re going to get some other little alpine lakes up there. You’re going to get a tree in the forest and then you’re also going to get up above that and just get wonderful views up in the alpine.

I’m going to ask you about one more trail before we move on. The Spray River and the Goat Creek. It says that you can get a shuttle up and then just ride downhill. That sounds nice for those that may not be hardcore bikers.

That’s a great way to go. The nice thing about that trail is it’s almost like a railway grade. You could either have a nice good sustained pedal up for a couple of hours or you can take the shuttle and bomb your way down. The beauty of that trail is it brings you right down into the Fairmont Banff Springs. That trail is the starting point for what was becoming a popular ride called The Great Divide, which starts in Banff and goes all the way down to the border between USA and Mexico. Every June, you’re going to see increasing numbers of people that come up on their mountain bikes, all set up to ride this huge trail. You can get a little taste of it, just doing it from the Goat Creek trail.

Another love of mine is I love to raft. I know there’s some whitewater rafting opportunities and also some regular canoeing and kayaking and stand up paddle boarding. Can you talk a little bit about that?

The beauty is as you keep asking all these questions about things that you’re absolutely right there. There is so much to do in Banff National Park. You can do a little whitewater rafting, which generally the more intense whitewater rafting happens a little bit outside of Banff, but Banff is a great hub for that. Otherwise, there’s some milder gentler paddling that you can do both in terms of rafts that people will take you down the bow river, right down by the Fairmont Banff Springs. It’s a scenic raft trip there. You can do some paddling a little upper on the river, which is right near the Banff townsite. It’s nice, flat, calm water up there river meanders. You can take a canoe out and wind your way along the river and you might see some moose. Beavers are pretty common around there. You’re likely to see some birds. That’s a great way to get out from the busyness of Banff Avenue and lose yourself in nature and enjoy the scenic surroundings.

I see too they also offer some horseback riding tours as well.

It seems like there’s nothing you can’t do in Banff and it’s true. There’s horseback riding right in town. Like the hikes that we were talking about, there are short horseback riding tours of about an hour or so where you can just get a taste of it in the local area, all the way up to multi-day trips where they’ll take you out way into the backcountry. There are lodges that they have. You can get the full meal deal, quite literally have a nice day in comfort or you can go a little more rugged as well. There are all sorts of horseback options, depending on what you like to do. There are also a number of providers up in Lake Louise and that’s a spectacular place to do some horseback riding too.

After all this activity, we’re going to be a bit sore. Is there a hot spring around there that we might be able to get our muscles loosened up a little bit?

They thought of that as well. There’s an original hot spring, which is called the Banff Cave and Basin. The Cave and Basin is the actual original hot springs that was found there. That’s why Banff was designated a national park. It’s certainly a beautiful place and all that, but these hot springs were appealing. They’ve since made that a national historic site, so you’re no longer able to bathe in those hot springs. However, the good news is there is what they call the Banff Upper Hot Springs a little further up the mountain there. That’s quite a big pool. It’s outside and people are welcome to come there and all throughout the year. That’s a warm, refreshing hot spring with wonderful views looking out across the valley.

I heard they even let you go there at night so you can go there and watch the stars as well.

If you come there in the wintertime, to my mind that’s the best time to go. It’s going to be a little bit quieter. You feel that sharp, cold air out there, balanced with the nice warmth of the pool. The nights are longer at that time of year too. That would be my insider take on when to go.

Any more about action or activity in the park before we go into the townships?

Exploring Banff National Park: One of the big appeals about Banff is that there’s something for every taste and budget and you can camp right in town.

 

I think you’ve covered the big ones there from hiking, biking, paddling and rafting. Those are the main activities that most people tend to do.

How about telling us a little bit about the village of Banff itself?

There’s a little less than 10,000 people that live in Banff. Although if you come there in the summertime, you might be forgiven for thinking it’s a small city. The population swells to somewhere in that 30,000 to 40,000 range during the summertime. It attracts an outdoorsy type of person who wants to live there or wants to visit there. It’s a beautiful historic downtown to it. It’s been planned that the main street of Banff Avenue contains your main retail, dining, the heart of the downtown along a couple of blocks. It’s nice and centralized and compact. The hotel continues out from that in one direction and you cross the bridge. On the other side of town, there are a couple other hotels over there. The beauty of Banff is because it’s within a national park, the size of the town side has been capped and contained. There’s very limited development permitted beyond what’s already there, which essentially prohibits any sprawl. As a result, anywhere that you live, if you’re coming to Banff to live or you visit, you can easily walk around pretty much the entire townsite or bike around and there’s no need to have a car.

Tell us about Lake Louise and then compare or contrast why you would choose one over the other as a base or do you do both?

Some people say that Banff is the place to go to look and observe the mountains whereas Lake Louise is the place to go if you want to get yourself up into the mountains. There’s some truth in that. Lake Louise is a little higher up in elevation. It’s a much smaller community. There’s less to do in terms of the downtown ambiance, shopping and all that. The real appeal for Lake Louise is to get out there and go hiking and biking and summit mountains and to embrace that mountain spirit. In my mind, I think Lake Louise is that much more spectacular just because you’re right there at a wonderful lake. The mountains and glaciers come up right up against it. The number of hikes that you can do right around there and up around Moraine Lake, you could spend a week up there and you still feel like you’re scratching the surface.

It looks like you’ve got a pretty good foodie scene in Banff. Is it the same at Lake Louise? Is it good eats no matter where you go?

I think that’s fair. You’re certainly going to find more with a larger population base, so you’ll certainly find a lot more options when you go to Banff, as opposed to Lake Louise. The places that are in Lake Louise are quite good as well. You’re going to get everything from your small cafe, which are locally owned and run, which had been longstanding places too. Some fine dining experiences at some of the nice hotels there in Lake Louise. Banff got all sorts of food options and culinary tastes, just as you find in the big city. Plus, one of the big appeals for most people is to dine in lodges and get that real mountain type feel. When I say that, you can picture those wood strewn interiors, the roaring fireplace, the rock, and this feeling of being in a rustic backcountry chalet almost. There are a number of places in Banff and Lake Louise where you can get that real, genuine feeling. That’s a special and unique experience.

Speaking of accommodations, you can do the whole gamut from backcountry camping to deluxe lodges. Can you talk a little bit about the different kinds of places that people could stay?

I think that’s one of the big appeals about Banff is that there’s something for every taste and every budget. You can camp right in town. There are a couple of campgrounds right on Tunnel Mountain. That’s a wonderful view up there and make your own food and have that camping experience. You can stay at some more mid-range hotels that are going to give you everything you could possibly need, access to all the restaurants in town all the way up to the more resort feel. The Fairmont Banff Springs is perhaps the most iconic place. Some of your readers may have even seen the photos of it. It’s the castle in the Rockies and it’s like a Disney world of being in the Rocky Mountains. There’s something like eight or twelve restaurants on-site there. There is wonderful food, great service, and just a spectacular vista there as well. Those are the options.

You’ve also got some backcountry lodges for people who want to get a little further off the beaten path, you can hike to those places. In some cases, you can even take a horseback ride. You’re going to have the real, true backcountry experience. There’s a place called Skoki Lodge, which is just behind the Lake Louise ski resort and it’s one of these historic cabins. It’s a national historic site. It only sleeps a little less than twenty people. It’s not that big, but that means that you’re going to have a personalized experience. The food is cooked by the chef in the house there. You can go hiking right at the front door there and you’re going to feel like you’re in the middle of the mountains, in the middle of the wilderness, but still having this wonderful gourmet experience.

Is there anything about the Banff National Park or that area that I did not ask you that I should have asked you about?

I’m racking my brain here, but I think you’ve got the big ones that’s for sure between the wildlife, the activities and the downtowns. Part of the beauty about Banff, they are so accessible. With the airport in Calgary being just about an hour and a half shuttle away, you can get to Banff easily. One of the key things that I know as Banff grows in popularity, the destination in the area is trying to encourage people, to remind them they don’t need to drive everywhere, that there’s public transport. Within town, there’s a whole bunch of bus networks. You can now take a bus between Banff and Lake Louise. The more that people can leave their cars behind, discover the area on foot, take public transit. That’s not only a positive environmental benefit, but that also helps the guest experience less traffic on the road, safer and more time to enjoy the scenery too.

To access the parks in Canada, you’re supposed to get a Canada Parks Discovery Pass. Can you tell us a little bit about that and what’s involved?

Anytime you visited National Park in Canada, you’re required to have a national park pass. For most people who come and spend a few days in Banff, it’s probably worth their while just to buy an annual pass. It pays for itself within a week or so. That gives you access to the entire national park or all national parks in Canada, all national historic sites as well. You can purchase a day pass if you need to as well. Those funds help go towards the park to be able to take care of all the services there, the infrastructure, the trail maintenance, the campgrounds, all sorts of things. That’s important that people understand that those funds go for a great cause and to be able to contribute towards that.

When you think back on Banff, when you talk with your friends over a fire, what are some of your favorite stories?

Probably just those. Sitting by the campfire, being outside, sharing good times with great people, going to places, challenging yourself as well. When I first moved to Banff a number of years ago, my hiking experience was more in the front country as they call it. Going up for day hikes and then eventually working my way up to go on an overnight hike. Over the years of living there, you get more and more comfortable and confident with your surroundings. By the end, going out on multiple day hikes at multiple overnight hikes by myself and pushing further and further into the backcountry, ticking off places that you haven’t been before. Being able to do that with great people and going on ski trips in the backcountry, those are the experiences when you get out of your comfort zone. You go to places that are a little more challenging to get to that are wonderfully rewarding and remarkable experiences.

John, you have a cycling company. Can you tell us a little bit about that please?

I run a business called Kootenay Cycling Adventures. We specialize in providing our visitors with fully supported road biking tours of the area. We’re based in Nelson, British Columbia which is a little bit further west of Banff. It’s only a few hundred kilometers as the crow flies by nature of the mountains, the glaciers and the rivers here. It’s a little more of a scenic drive. We’re more remote, which means that it’s a little bit quieter here, which is quite nice. We also have a number of different lakes in the area, so it’s the best of both worlds. You get those big mountain views that you get in Banff and the Rockies, but you also get these wonderful, beautiful lakes. You get a number of charming small towns which have a genuine community feel to them. We offer multiple-day road biking tours of the area on nice, quiet, safe roads and provide all the accommodation and all the meals. It’s a wonderful and remarkable experience cycling here.

How many days is the least day tour or the most? Tell us a little bit about the tours.

We can offer anything from a half-day tour, which is a pretty scenic, relatively short and flat, easy bike ride, including a little ferry crossing, all the way up to a three or four-day bike ride which is around 220 kilometers. There are nice challenging days every day. You’re going to get to spend your night at these scenic, beautiful little mountain towns, having great locally produced food. It’s a wonderful way to see an area when you slow down and you travel with the pace of a bicycle. You get to stop a little more, you to enjoy the views. You get to discover the area and you get to feel nature in the area in a way that you don’t necessarily get to when you’re in a vehicle. I think this area excels at providing this relatively undiscovered feel that’s just wonderfully beautiful. It has everything from hot springs to charming towns to great hikes and everything you could possibly want in a mountain destination.

Are these custom trips? Are you going in a small group? How does that work?

Generally, it’s a weekly trip that we offer. It’s a regular offering like that with a regular planned out route, although we certainly offer specifically catered trips as well. That includes a rail trail trips too. We’re very fortunate to have a number of great rail trails located very close by here. People can do that if they want. Staying in some different areas nearby, you can create your own adventure from short days all the way up to big hundred kilometer plus days. There is something for everybody.

If I wanted to do it, I can go and I’m just joining other people that also want to do it. I don’t have to get together the six-rate people for the group?

You got it. You can do either way. You can join one of our pre-scheduled trips and you can meet some other great people along the way and that’s a wonderful part of these experience. Meeting like-minded people, sharing an intense experience with them, discovering each other, discovering a destination together. You can get a group of friends and people together and have a wonderful getaway all on your own. Either way, we can support that and make sure you have a wonderful time.

Exploring Banff National Park: Banff excels at providing the undiscovered feel that’s just wonderful with everything from hot springs to charming towns.

 

Are these difficult biking tours? Do you have to be a hardcore biker or could it be somebody like me that would train for it but it’s not something I do all the time?

That’s the beauty of these trips is because they’re fully supported, you can be a pretty dedicated road biker like this or you can just do it from time to time and feel like this is well above your ability level, in which case that sounds great. We’ll help you through that. If you want to start a little bit later in the day, we can drop you off to a later point. If you feel like you’re tapped out and you’re done for the day, we’ll put you in the shuttle and move you ahead to the next spot. The beauty of these days, as electric bicycles are growing in popularity, is we’ve got a couple of electric bicycles in our fleet. That’s a great option for people who want to ride the whole thing but don’t feel up to it on their own energy. You get a little what they call pedal assist and it can make all the difference between doing part of the day to doing the whole day.

John, if people want to reach out to you and find out more about what you’re doing and keep up with you, how do they find you?

The best way to get ahold of me is to go through KootenayCyclingAdventures.com and that will give you all the information about our tours. That’ll give you a little information about me and you can certainly get in touch with me there. If you have any questions about cycling out here or of Banff or just want to ask me any questions about some of the places where we’ve been, I’d be happy to chat more.

John, it’s been great having you. Any final thoughts or any words of advice for our readers?

All I would say is get out there as much as you can and enjoy the mountain environments. Anywhere you go out here between Banff, the Rocky Mountains and Nelson area, everybody are only too pleased to have you and to help you have a wonderful time. I look forward to welcoming you.

Thanks again, John.

My pleasure, Kit. Thanks so much.

It sounds like a dream place. I tell you, the hardest thing about this for me is that I keep learning about all these cool destinations and there just is not going to be enough time. This is definitely gotten moved way up on the list. When I first met his partner, I was at a cabin in New Zealand and she said she’s from Canada. I was like, “I’ve always wanted to go to Banff. I hear it’s so beautiful.†She said, “I’ve got to introduce you to John. He knows everything about Banff.†She was traveling with John. We spent the evening talking. I was so delighted to get a true insider’s point of view of the best way to explore this magnificent area. I hope you got a lot out of this and I hope you add Canada and particularly Banff and that western region of Canada to your bucket list as well.

I’d like to ask a favor. Could you please reach out to me either by email at Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com or go to the website and hit the Contact me button. Reach out to me on social media and let me know how and when you read this blog. I would love to hear from you about that. I will be back next time and I’ve got another special edition for you. We were talking a little bit about training on the biking. Speaking of which, if you have interests in other biking episodes, check out the Puglia, Italy one. It was a great biking episode as well as the Danube. If you’re worried about whether you can do some certain adventurous, I have connected with this guy, Marcus, who trains people specifically to go on adventure travel trips. I’ve got him coming on the show to give us some details about what we should be doing in preparation and how you can set up a schedule so you will have the confidence to know that you can do the trip. That’s the one fear that I keep hearing from people is, “I want to do it but I’m worried I won’t be able to do it.” With Marcus’ help, we’re going to figure out how to make sure that you can do whatever the trip is that you’ve chosen for yourself. We’ll break it down for you. That will be our episode coming up. I hope you enjoyed this show and I appreciate you reading. Until then, adventure on. 

 

Important Links:

• Kootenay Cycling Adventures
• KootenayCyclingAdventures.com
• Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com
• Contact tab – Active Travel Adventures
• Puglia – Previous episode
• Danube – Previous episode