Christmas Torture: Banff & Jasper 2018
- Kjerstin Roberts
- Jan 13, 2020
- 16 min read
Updated: Jan 16, 2020
For our 2017 Christmas trip, we got to take a massive camping trip as a family. We camped in Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada as well as my favorite national park of all time, Glacier National Park in Montana. We took the trip with the same cousins we went to Florida with in 2017. For the rundown of the whole family structure, you can refer to that post. This trip did not include Brett and Kelsey because Brett had to work, but we did add in Matt's best friend, Garrett.
Day 1
I know you're about to be shocked, but we left on a Thursday afternoon after a full day of swim lessons, so I was exhausted. I had been up since 4:30am cleaning the pool deck and doing report cards before teaching the whole day. We left late afternoon and drove to Butte, Montana. Our car was absolutely PACKED full of stuff because we were going camping for nearly two weeks and were not planning to make any additional stops for supplies. Pretty much everyone had stuff on top of them. We also filled the back of the car, the car topper, and the seat between Bri and Dave so high that they could not see each other.
It was a pretty uneventful drive, other than Ashlyn spilling a milkshake all over herself when we stopped for dinner. She had to sit in it for the remainder of the drive until we made it to Butte. We went right to bed when we got there, so it was a really mellow day.
Day 2
We finished driving all the way up to Banff National Park from Butte the next day. When we got to our campsite, Cole told his mom that this felt a lot more like Christmas torture rather than fun. We all thought that was absolutely hysterical. We set up camp in the light (a first for the Roberts family). This might have had something to do with the fact that the sun does not set until like 11:30 or 12 at night. We rode bikes around the campsite for a while, played some games, and had shrimp pasta tinfoil dinners.
My favorite part of the evening was the ranger program. We showed up expecting an informational ranger program. This was that but completely in song. The best song was when they sang about where to put the trash. We were supposed to repeat what they said. So they'd go, "put the trash in the bin!" Then, we would yell back, "in the bin!" It was hilarious. They went on and on about that and where to put other things. Our whole family was dying of laughter. We think we are hilarious. Cole was just confused about the whole thing and had no idea what was going on. He's such a little cutie.
Day 3
Because we were in such a beautiful national park, we knew we wanted to go explore as many different places as possible. We left our campsite mid-morning and headed on a scenic drive up to Two Jacks, a lake filled with really blue-green glacier water. We ended up eating lunch there and hiking around for a bit. It was absolutely gorgeous with the nearly Caribbean-blue water and massive pine trees.
When we left Two Jacks, we took a scenic drive before going on a couple of hikes. On the first hike, we walked around a lake. The little boys were really convinced that they had to go in the water if they wanted to have any fun at all. The slope was really steep, so we ended up holding them by their ankles to keep them from falling in. It was hilarious.
Before the second hike, we went on a quick scenic drive. We ended up near the cave and basin. We had tickets to go to the cave tour, but we were there way too early. We took a quick hike to go down by some rivers. One river was a water from glacier water. The other was a normal river. The glacier water was a bright green-ish blue (pictured above) while the other was a normal river color. The two rivers eventually combined. I got to watch Cole and Jonah while we walked. Cole wanted to take pictures of me on my phone. He called himself my personal "tophogerger." It was hilarious. He did take some good pictures though.
The cave and basin tour was pretty dumb. The cave was teensy tiny. There wasn't much involved. We did get to use some fake lanterns though as well as see the rangers dressed up in old time gear and try to act it out. We did enjoy the part where they explained to us how the Canadian national parks system got started. Essentially, the cave and basin kicked off the interest and the rest is history.
We headed home and ate some delicious dinner before building a massive campfire. We sat around the campfire for a longgg time. I love my cousins so much and we all get along really well. It was so fun to just get to sit and chat with them. We were up until the sun went all the way down. The sky stays light still though, even at the darkest point in the night, which is incredible to see.
Day 4
We slept in the next day. We also planned what we wanted to do a bit more. Because the area around Banff is essentially all national forests and parks, we were not sure what to do. We ended up driving to Kootenay National Park and going on a hike called Marble Canyon. Honestly, this was one of my favorite hikes the whole trip. The glacier water carved a beautiful canyon through this super yellow canyon covered in moss and trees. It was stunning and an easy walk.
After Marble Canyon, we ate a picnic lunch before heading out. Dad really wanted to go to some hot springs, so we set out on a hunt for hot springs. Unfortunately, most of them cost money. We really did not want to spend any cash on going to the hot springs. We ended up getting some bad intel and could not find ANY hot springs. We just drove around for four hours. At least we were with people we liked.
We eventually made it home and cooked ourselves some dinner. We joked and laughed about how we were actually eating while the sun was still out. As the Roberts family, we rarely eat before the sun goes down. Eating before is really rare, so we had to celebrate it. To be honest, it might have had a little something to do with the fact that the sun doesn't go down until really late, but we won't mention that because it seems to downplay our accomplishment.
Day 5
We woke up really early the next day at 7am (really early for us at least). We ate breakfast and headed straight to Lake Louise. We had heard you wouldn't be able to get a parking space if you went late, so we figured we'd better leave early in the morning. Even at 7am, we had a somewhat difficult time finding a parking spot. They had traffic cones and policemen directing traffic. It was a little bit wild, but eventually we made it into the parking lot and were able to park a fair ways away. We jumped out of our cars and headed to Lake Louise.
After taking some pictures with Lake Louise and the massive hotel on the grounds there, we decided to take a hike up to the top of a surrounding mountain and a tea house up at the top there. In one of Mom's guidebooks, it said the tea house was an easy-moderate hike. It was only 5 miles roundtrip, which is fairly simple for two families that go hiking frequently. Savannah was coming so we knew we couldn't do anything super nuts with her handicap. Plot twist: the hike was actually really difficult and turned out to be 2.5 miles straight uphill followed by 2.5 miles downhill. My mom's FitBit said we hiked 111 flights of stairs.
On the way up, I hiked with Parker, Cole, Jonah, Abi, and Gage. We played a game where I would speak in Spanish to Abi. Abi would then translate into English. Then, one of the boys would respond in Chinese with another as a translator. This helped our language skills and was a really fun way to pass the time. Cole also decided he wanted to do "parkour" and was jumping off every stump, rock, and other things surrounding the trail.
About three quarters of the way up the trail, there's a nice little stopping point called Mirror Lake. I stopped with the boys, who were very frustrated when I wouldn't let them go in up past their ankles. Cole almost "accidentally" fell in the water. They had a good time chasing around water bugs as well as a squirrel. We also saw a squirrel attack a man purely for the food in his pack, so that was definitely a highlight of the day. We stayed there until Savannah and crew had caught up a little bit.
We finally made it up to the top with both Lake Agnes and the Tea House. Ashlyn, Trevor, Matt, and Garrett had made it up to the top way before us because they did not care to stay with the family. When we got up there, they were all drinking tea and chatting with some super hot girls (in their minds). They hiked down with them. Everyone else stuck together and waited for Savannah, Mom, and Aunt Sarah to crest the top off the hill.
When everyone was up at the Tea House, we ordered some cookies. They were really expensive and quite honestly subpar. It's all part of the experience! Right before we were about to start hiking down, it began to rain. We rushed to begin the trail down. Apparently there were two ways down. One had a lot of stairs but was shorter. Savannah wanted to go the shorter route because she was tired, but she couldn't do all the stairs because they were slippery. We ended up taking the longer route.
On the way back down, it started to rain HARD when we made it back to the tree coverage. Abi, Cole, Jonah, and I ended up running the rest of the way down the massive hill while trying not to trip on anything. There was no parkour like on the way up.
When we made it to the bottom, we decided to stay under the cover of the trees while we waited for Mom, Savannah, and Aunt Sarah. At this point, there was some lightning and a bunch of fog had rolled in. Savannah wasn't moving that quickly because of the strenuous hike up. We ended up waiting there for a while because we wanted to make sure they got down safely. Our car was quite a ways away because of the parking problem that we had earlier in the day. Dad was in the car, but there was no way to call him and ask for a pick up because we didn't have any cell service, which was normally quite nice but inconvenient at this point.
When we all made it back to the cars, we ate some sandwiches in the car while driving to a bunch of different sites. Because it had been a very active morning, we did short walks or drive up sites for the rest of the day. We also wanted to make sure we included Dad because he can't come hiking with us normally.
The first site we hit was a mountainside where the trains created a figure eight to get up the mountain. We watched for a while as the trains went in and out and all around the mountain. Dad really loved it because he's so mechanical himself.
After that, we went to river where calcium deposits made the whole river appear completely white. Unfortunately, the river color doesn't photograph super well on an iPhone, so you can't see what it really looks like. I decided not attach any pictures of that purely because it looks like dirty water. You can kind of see the water color attached to the picture of Takakkaw Falls.
The next stop we hit was Takakkaw Falls. The "hike" there is really a quick half mile long walk to see this massive waterfall. It's actually the largest waterfall in North America at 1250 feet high. We actually visited twice. You can see a rainbow in the mist if you get there when the light is right. We missed the rainbow the first time and were able to see it the second time we walked out. This is also the driest part of Banff that I saw the entire time we were visiting.
After the Takkakaw Falls hike(s), we headed down back towards Lake Louise. On our way, we went to a beautiful small town next to Emerald Lake. The water color there was legitimately emerald. If I were going to move to a small town, I would want it to be that one. I love anything lakefront with massive pine trees, and that place fit the bill perfectly. The three little boys also had a really good time running over the bridge there a million different times. Dad also liked it, although I think that may have something to do with him being unable to see a lot of the sites because he doesn't hike.
When we made it back to Lake Louise, we drove by a little ways to go to Lake Moraine. This lake was my FAVORITE of the whole trip. It's probably my favorite lake ever, which is saying something because I've seen a lot of lakes in my lifetime. The parking there wasn't terrible, which was super unexpected. It also was like 8:30pm at this point, so most people had already gotten their fill of nature before heading home.
At the base of Lake Moraine, there are tons of logs just floating as driftwood. We entertained ourselves greatly by watching so many cocky people thinking they could stand on these logs in the middle of the water without falling in. A lot of them were also trying to move across the logs for a shortcut to the top part of the hike. Like we all knew no one there was a professional in those log twirling races, but everyone was attempting it. So many people fell in, which is absolutely hysterical because it's glacier water and absolutely freezing. You could hear a splash and then an immediate scream, even though the water only came up to people's knees. We all had a good laugh.
Eventually, we found the hike up to the top for a view. No one really wanted to hike up to the top any more because we were all exhausted. Uncle David took one for the team and headed up. He came right back down and said we all HAD to go up to the top because the view was drastically different. Skeptically, we hiked the quick quarter mile to the top.
You would not think the tiny change in vantage point could change the look of the lake that much, but WOW it was INCREDIBLE! From up top, the water was the bluest water I have ever seen in my entire life. We sat up there for the longest time just marveling at the beauty before us. We took so many pictures. We also were lucky enough to have the top completely to ourselves at sunset. It was the perfect storm of a hundred small factors that made it one of my most memorable moments of the trip.
As we hiked back down the mountain, we also were met with a beautiful sunset mountain view facing the other way. Overall, I just felt really lucky to be alive in that moment. You know those moments when you just can't believe that it's even real life? This was one of those for me. I felt completely at peace with my choices and decisions that had gotten me up to this point. Even Ashlyn wasn't complaining, which was a rare thing for her at this point. Luckily, she was riding with Matt, Trevor, and Garrett, so we didn't have to listen to a lot of it. It made our trip a lot more relaxing.
We eventually headed home and eating dinner. We still ate when it was light, so we considered it a win on the day.
Day 6
We woke up late the next day. We had decided to ride bikes throughout the mountains of Banff. We headed downtown to rent our bikes. In Banff, the downtown area is this cute tourist town filled with various shops and restaurants. We didn't go very often, but when we did, the vibe seemed really cool. It seemed almost ritzy in a way, which is odd because a large majority of people who visit are camping.
We rented our bikes in the heart of downtown. We then had to follow this trail through downtown to get to the nature trail. Some points of the trail even were combined with the road, which was a little scary when you remember we had an eight year old, a ten year old, and an eleven year old. We got to cross several bridges and streets, all while being stared at because of our massive group.
When we finally made it to the nature trail, it was BEAUTIFUL. We were riding up and down hills all over the place and looking at all the scenery. We found a couple red chairs, which Canada puts in national parks at the twenty best viewpoints within the park. For some reason, I can't find my photos from that trip unfortunately.
We had a few people who had a hard time with the biking. Cole ended up having to quite after like 5 or 6 miles. He was riding a bike with no changes in gears, which is really difficult when you're riding up and down hills constantly. I rode up ahead with Gage, Jared, and Dave. Mom and Abi stuck together and took care of the smaller kids. Abi didn't learn how to ride a bike until she was like 10, so she hasn't been doing this as long as everyone else. Mom just stayed behind like the saint she is to make sure everyone was okay.
On our ride, we went through some marshes, some mountains, and over tons of hills and things. It was stunning. I would ride my bike there any time. It even started raining lightly towards the end of our ride, and I didn't even mind because it was so pretty. It also felt pretty nice because we had been riding for around 15 miles by that time.
After finishing our 22 mile bike ride, we were picked up by Dad and Uncle David. We then got some delicious ice cream from the Old School Bus, which was literally just a school bus full of boujee ice cream flavors. I love ice cream, so that was amazing. We headed back to the campsite. When we got there, a massive log was covering the entrance to the campground. There were some Mennonite women in dresses trying to lift this like 40 foot tall massive pine tree out of the way. It was hilarious to watch them. The rangers eventually came and cut it into pieces and pulled it out of the way.
Before dinner, we went to hike Johnston Falls. We were staying at the Johnston Falls campground, so we thought we better do it. The falls were awesome! There were two different falls that you could hike to. You could even get close enough to one that you could feel the spray. You had to hike through a small cave-like tunnel to get there, however, so that was a unique experience.
After the hike, my family left behind the Evans family to go into town. Dad really wanted to go to hot springs on this trip, so we headed up to Banff Hot Springs. The Evans family didn't want to spend the money for an activity the little boys probably wouldn't enjoy. Our family loved it. Because it's not particularly warm in Banff, it was a nice change in temperature. When we had finished there, we ate some subway from downtown before heading back to our campground to go to bed.
Day 7
We spent the day driving up to Jasper National Park after breaking camp in the morning. On the way up, we tried to hit all the best tourist spots. One of my favorite was this beautiful lake called Wolf Lake, which has crystal clear glacier water in the shape of a wolf.
We also stopped at the Athabasca Glacier and Icefields. You could take a vehicle up and hike a glacier as well as spend like $30 to stand on a see through walkway over 1000feet of nothing until the snow below.
Our families were way to cheap to do this, so we didn't end up trying it. We did, however, see a massive avalanche fall off one of the nearby glaciers, so that was interesting to see happen. Mostly we just drove, so I don't have anything spectacular to write about. I slept a lot of the way. We took one of my favorite pictures of the trip there. I've attached it for your enjoyment. It turns out that glaciers high up in the mountains can be pretty windy. Who knew?
When we eventually made it into our campsite, we saw a bear on the way in. We hadn't really seen any wildlife up until this point, so that was a nice change of pace for us.
While we were setting up camp, the Evans boys had the brilliant idea of creating a three layer hammock. Jared ended up sleeping in the top of the hammock. We had to film him trying to get into it. I have a few other videos that are longer of him just swaying until his brothers eventually decide to jump in and help stabilize the hammock. It's hilarious. He even said he had to pee the whole night but didn't want to get out of the hammock because it would be too difficult to get back in when he was done.
Our campsite was also right on a river, so I got to go watch the three little boys while we biked around and went to visit the river. You could carefully climb down to a shallow crossing to get to a mini island in the middle of the river, so we had a good time crossing and building dams. We also played a fair amount of bocce ball oddly. I can't remember where we got the balls from, but we used them! It's one of my favorite memories of the whole trip.
Day 8
We woke up the next morning ready to explore. We went to Lake Maligne and hiked around for a bit. The lake was big enough that you could rent a canoe there. We didn't because it was expensive, but we did hike to Moose Lake, where we saw a baby moose. Cole kept wanting to go into the water and was gravely disappointed when I wouldn't let him. The water didn't look that clean and I didn't want to risk anything.
We also hiked around the nearby canyon, Maligne Canyon. It was raining and kind of foggy. It made for some really pretty pictures with all the gray rock and various shades of green in the trees and moss. One of the pictures we got there was Ashlyn's screensaver for months afterwards because it was just THAT pretty.
On our way back to the campsite, we saw Medicine Lake. The lake was around 5 miles long. When we did some more research into it, we found out the lake actually fills to a depth of about 12 feet every June and is completely drained through an underground cave system by September every year. It drains into what is believed to be the largest underground cave system in North America, but no further research has been done into this.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at home. The parents cooked a massive dinner of dutch oven potatoes and ribs. We had like 6 racks of ribs. We didn't finish one of the packages, but you can't leave food when camping, so my dad made all the boys come back and eat more. It was the only time Jared said he got all the way full this trip. The man can put food DOWN.
While everyone was food prepping, I entertained the kids with a trip to the river. We played some more bocce ball and just enjoyed our time on our miniature island. The water was freezing, so you didn't really want to touch it. We had a good time nonetheless!
After dinner when the little boys went to bed, the older kids and my dad sat around the fire telling jokes.The Lofgren side of my family all have dirty minds, so there were some quite interesting jokes told. It's always a good time with the Evans family! We eventually ended the night when my mom thought we were too rowdy for quiet hours. Quiet is not our strong suit;) Overall, it was a wonderful day full of nature and some amazing family.
Life Lessons
Family can be really fun to travel with, but only if you all have the same travel style.
Personal tophogergers are great.
Maybe don't trust the guidebook when they say a hike is medium difficulty. You might end up hiking all the way to the top of a mountain for a mediocre snack before running down in the rain.
Biking can be hard but really fun.
Triple decker hammocks are difficult but good with the right people.
Trying to do all the activities can be exhausting but so so good.
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