Bow Valley Parkway (91 km)
Banff to Lake Louise · back a different way, via Icefields Parkway
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Why this ride
A 91 km one-way ride from near Banff, about 1 h 30 of riding. It goes by way of Johnston Canyon and Castle Junction. The highest point is about 2,300 m. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Roadbook
- Banff
start
Banff in the morning has a particular feel: cold air coming off the glacier-fed Bow River, mist clinging to Mount Rundle, and the smell of pine and woodsmoke from kitchens. The town sits in the heart of the Canadian Rockies at about 1,400 metres, hemmed in by peaks, and it exists because of hot springs. In the 1880s railway workers found warm water at Cave and Basin, and the government made the area a reserve that grew into Canada's first national park.
Today Banff is a resort town, busy and polished, and it handles tourists very well. Shops, restaurants and hotels crowd the main street, Banff Avenue, with views straight down to Cascade Mountain. The Banff Springs Hotel, a castle-like structure built by the Canadian Pacific Railway, overlooks the valley. Wildlife wanders freely: elk graze on lawns, and bighorn sheep, black bears and sometimes grizzlies appear along the roads, so take warnings seriously.
For riders, the real prize is the Bow Valley Parkway, the quieter older road to Lake Louise that runs parallel to the main highway. It has a low speed limit, wide views and a good chance of seeing animals at dawn or dusk. Parts of it close seasonally to protect wildlife, so check before heading out. A park pass is required for stops in the national park. Weather in the Rockies can change by the hour, with snow possible even in early summer, so carry warm layers and waterproofs. The best months are late June to September.
Banff has fuel, supermarkets and every sort of restaurant, though prices are high and summer weekends are crowded. Canmore, eighteen kilometres east, is a larger place with a more local feel and often cheaper options. The hot springs on the hillside are there for tired legs, and book rooms months ahead in summer.
- Johnston Canyon
scenic
Johnston Canyon is a slot in the limestone of Banff National Park, and the whole attraction is that a path has been built into it. Steel catwalks bolted to the canyon wall lead you over the creek, with turquoise water rushing below and the rock close enough to touch. After about a kilometre you reach the Lower Falls, a small drop into a pool, and after a longer walk, the Upper Falls, a taller plunge of about thirty metres. Further on, the Ink Pots are a cluster of cold green springs in a meadow, a pleasing finish if you have the legs.
The creek has cut its gorge through the Rocky Mountain limestone over thousands of years, using the force of meltwater and the grinding of stones. The rock is pale grey, streaked with orange and black, and in places the walls close over your head. Spray cools the air, moss grows in the cracks and in winter the waterfalls freeze into tall blue columns, which draw ice climbers and people with cleated boots. Dippers, small grey birds that walk underwater, are sometimes seen hunting insects in the creek.
The canyon is on the Bow Valley Parkway, which runs along the north side of the Bow River between Banff and Lake Louise. It is a quieter, slower alternative to the Trans-Canada Highway, with a speed limit of sixty kilometres an hour and long stretches of forest broken by views of the Bow and the ridge of Castle Mountain. For a rider, it is an easy, relaxed ride, ideal for early morning when wildlife, from elk to black bears, grazes beside the road. There are seasonal restrictions to protect wildlife, which can close sections of the parkway to vehicles at certain times, so check Parks Canada's current notices before you go. A park pass is needed for any stop in the national park.
Johnston Canyon is one of the busiest sites in the park, and the car park fills quickly in summer. Arrive before nine in the morning or after five in the evening to avoid the worst of the crowds, and keep an eye on the bike when you park. Do not approach any animals, particularly bears and elk, and carry bear spray if you intend to walk.
Services are limited. Banff, about twenty kilometres away, is the nearest large town, and Lake Louise has a station further west. Fill the tank in Banff before you set out, and enjoy the cool air under the pines.
- Castle Junction
scenic
Castle Junction is a crossroads in the forest at the foot of Castle Mountain, and the mountain is the reason you remember it. The peak rises as a long, battlemented wall of layered limestone, about 2,700 metres at its highest, with ledges and towers that really do suggest a fortress. It was named in the 1850s by a geologist who saw the shape from the valley, and in 1946 Canada renamed it Mount Eisenhower to honour the general, an unpopular change that was partly reversed in 1979 when the name was restored to the main mountain, with the Eisenhower name left for one tower.
The junction is where the Bow Valley Parkway meets Highway 93, the road that runs south through the Kootenay National Park toward Radium Hot Springs and the Columbia Valley. It is a quiet place, with a few buildings, a little roadside accommodation and the ghost of a larger story. During the First World War, a camp near here held Ukrainian and other European immigrants who had been declared enemy aliens, and who were made to work building roads and clearing land. A small marker remembers the internment, and it is a sober thing to read in a place of such beauty.
For motorcyclists, this is a good point at which to decide between two excellent rides. Go west along the parkway toward Lake Louise and the road is an easy, flowing route through the forest. Turn south on Highway 93 and you climb to Vermilion Pass, cross the Continental Divide into Kootenay National Park, and descend into a landscape of burnt forest, bright flowers, and a red-stained canyon. The tarmac is generally excellent, with long smooth curves, and traffic is moderate, though in summer it can be busy with campers.
The Bow Valley is wolf, elk and bear country, and the forest here has been shaped by fire. Look for the grey snags of burnt trees and the carpet of fireweed that follows. Weather in the Rockies is very changeable, and a bright morning can become rain or hail by afternoon, so carry waterproofs and a warm layer, even in July. Dawn and dusk are the best times for light and wildlife, and the lowest for traffic.
There are no big services at the junction. Lake Louise, about thirty kilometres from here, and Banff, farther in the other direction, have fuel, and Castle Mountain's roadside lodging runs a small cafe in season. Remember that you are in a national park, and a pass is required. Buy it at the gate, keep the receipt, and take a moment to enjoy the view of the mountain in the evening light.
- Lake Louise
finish
Lake Louise is a lake the colour of milky turquoise, set under a wall of rock and a hanging glacier, and it is one of the most photographed places in Canada. The colour comes from fine rock flour, ground by the glacier and carried into the water, which reflects the blue-green part of the spectrum. At about 1,500 metres, the lake is surrounded by the peaks of the Rockies, with Mount Victoria and the Victoria Glacier at its head, and the old château at the foot, a large hotel that has stood here in various forms since the 1890s. The lake was named for Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, a daughter of Queen Victoria, and the province of Alberta also bears her name.
The way here is the Bow Valley Parkway, the quieter road that runs alongside the Trans-Canada Highway between Banff and Lake Louise for about fifty kilometres. It is a rider's delight if you are in the right frame of mind, because the speed limit is low, the road is narrow and lined with tall spruce, and there are lay-bys for wildlife. Elk, deer, bighorn sheep and the occasional black or grizzly bear all use the corridor. Please keep your distance and never stop to approach an animal. At certain times of year, part of the parkway has seasonal restrictions to protect wildlife, so check with the park before you set off.
Banff National Park charges an entry fee, and you need a pass on your windscreen or, for a bike, carried on you. The weather in the mountains changes fast, with snow possible any month of the year, and high passes and roads can close with little warning. Summer is the busiest time, and the car park at the lake fills very early, so arrive in the morning or in the evening.
Fuel and food are available in the village of Lake Louise, a short distance from the lake, with a petrol station, a grocery and a handful of cafes and restaurants. Prices are higher than in Calgary or Banff, so fill up in Banff if you can.
Beyond the village, the Icefields Parkway continues north toward Jasper, one of the great mountain roads of the world.