golden to banff
banff and lake louise are everything grand old canada should be: it’s beautiful, it has amazing history with gorgeous architecture that you can’t wrap your head being built so long ago in the middle of the mountains. the only downside is that everyone (i’m talking world wide) thinks it’s amazing too – and they were all there when we were.
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we stopped at lake louise on our way to the campground to get a sense of what was going on and were glad we did as it was our first heads up on the madness (crowds!) in store.
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we headed to the lake the following day to join roughly a bajillion of our closest friends on a hike 1/2 way around the lake. fortunately, an ice cream at the hotel was able to take the people-dodging edge off. still – totally worth it. the lake is beautiful beyond words.
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we followed our trip to the lake with one of my very favorite places, the post hotel. the most amazing food and experience every time. that said, if you’re going for a hike right before, remember the dress code. oops. thank goodness we were driving the rv!
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the following morning i snuck in a quick ride – the only trail system i could find that was accessible from the campground: the star wars system. short, quick but really fun!
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an exploratory bike with the kids around town and the trails beyond finished up our adventures in alberta!
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banff to fernie
if i could have a crush on an rv park, fernie rv resort might be it! right next to the river and the town bike path with views that don’t stop, it’s hard to think of what we would have added to our stay there to make it better!
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the town bike path makes getting everywhere so easy! we were close to a pond where we spent hours catching fish fry. parks were a quick ride down the hill and across the school field. we were even able to use mostly just trail to get across town to the rec center (i think you can go the “long way” and actually use the trail the whole way).
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the rec center is amazing and was almost enough to keep me there for the remainder of the month. they have a free, open splash pad outside of the swimming pool, a great swimming pool with hours for waves, inflatables and slides. behind the center is a pump track and bike park – off to the side is a super fun and friendly obstacle area (bridges, planks, low level teeter-totters – similar but even more friendly than Family Man).
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also behind the rec center is the start of (some of) the xc trail systems. i rode the castle mountain area – it was a super fun and flowy system that is a nordic trail system during the winter. i also hit a loop on the ridgemont system – hoping to find a rosie-friendly ride (“kiddie up” sounds promising!). she’ll be able to crush it in a couple of years, but while it was a very straight forward climb, it was a little too much for a then-7 yr old. the trails are ridgemont are exclusive mtn bike use from what i could tell and were more technical than their castle mountain cousins. there are 3 other xc areas to explore and the dh mtn bike part at the resort, which looked intimidating but amazing!
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the fernie resort had a ropes course for big kids and ziplines for littles (the little one was free, the big one was not). this was a huge hit and the kids came home requesting one in the backyard. we also did a fun hike from the top – the lost boys loop – with outstanding views.
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while all of our stops were great, fernie was the most closest we came to staying for the rest of the summer. i’m looking forward to heading back to check out all of the other trails and hunt for more fish fry! p.s. do not miss the bagel shop and tapas restaurant!
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fernie to hood river
we had rossland at the end of our schedule, but we were having so much fun in fernie we decided to stay there another day, splitting the up the drive back home. we’ll be back, rossland – and fernie!
