A parks Canada warden was once asked by a visitor, "If you had only one hour to spend in Banff, where would you go?" "Madame," he replied, "if I had just one hour to spend in Banff, I would go sit down beside the Bow River and weep." Keep your eyes dry by staying a week in the Canadian Rockies, where still, blue lakes reflect glacial peaks and high meadows are gilded with larch trees turning their leaves for autumn.
Straddling the border of British Columbia and Alberta, a 90-minute drive west from Calgary, are 7,814 square miles (20,238 square kilometers) of contiguous national parkland—Banff, Yoho, Jasper, and Kootenay. The Rockies have unique appeal for hikers, climbers, and bikers. A century-old railroad infrastructure and the region's rich history of mountaineering ("Why go to Switzerland?" reads one classic Canadian Pacific ad) mean a standing network of roads and trails and established backcountry hostelries that springboard you easily into the most remote wild country.
Banff | Yoko | Jasper | Icefields Parkway
Banff
Live Off the Grid
No disrespect to the stately lodges of Banff—they're fine for a photo-op view and a pleasant day hike. But the wild essence of Banff National Park is best experienced out of a comfortable rustic inn. Solar-powered Brewster's Shadow Lake Lodge is airy and modern. Access, however, is old school: either a nine-mile (14-kilometer), mostly uphill, deeply woodsy hike along Red Earth Creek Trail just west of the Trans-Canada Highway; or a seven-and-a-half-mile (12-kilometer) mountain bike pedal, with the last short stretch conquered on foot. The reward is a civilized afternoon tea and one of 12 cabins facing a broad meadow, Mount Ball (10,863 feet [3,311 meters]), and Isabelle Peak (9,600 feet [2,926 meters]). Beneath these peaks lies mirrorlike Shadow Lake, a half-mile (one kilometer) hike away. From Ball Pass, 4.3 miles (7 kilometer) out from the lodge, you can ogle the lake and its nest of meadows below. To the northeast, in the Slate Range, hike-in-only Skoki Lodge dates from 1930. Its main building and three cabins are tucked into a wooded valley, seven trail miles from the Lake Louise ski area. The approach to the lodge is itself the signature hike—7.1 miles (11 kilometers) in open alpine country, cresting at Deception Pass (8,117 feet [2,474 meters]) with its commanding views of 11,625-foot (3,543-meter) Mount Temple, and skirting peak-ringed Ptarmigan Lake before dropping down to base camp.
The Vitals
Do: Banff National Park ($8 entrance fee; www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff)
Sleep: Brewster's Shadow Lake Lodge: ($164, including meals; www.shadowlakelodge.com); Skoki Lodge ($168; www.skoki.com)
Yoho
Hike a Lake District
The landscape around Lake O'Hara, in Yoho National Park, distills everything compelling about the Canadian Rockies into a single lake-dotted, trail-laced basin hemmed by soaring peaks. In fact, reservations are required to enter this quota-protected Valhalla. At the heart of it all, at 6,620 feet (2,018 meters), stands 80-year-old Lake O'Hara Lodge and its 11 log cabins. Day visits require a shuttle-bus ride (42-passenger max capacity) or a walk up the six-mile (ten-kilometer) dirt access road—a short distance to go for big lake country. From the lodge environs, a four-and-a-half-mile (seven-kilometer) loop heads out of mountain meadows, ascends a steep, rocky ridge (listen for the "eep" cry of the region's resident hare-like pikas), and culminates at Lake McArthur, Yoho's biggest, bluest, deepest backcountry watering hole. Another two-mile (three-kilometer) hike circumscribes O'Hara's shore before grinding up the Opabin Plateau to the head of a hanging valley and 7,500-foot (2,286-meter) Lake Opabin, with panoramic views, valley ponds, and meadows along the way. Thanks to the basin's loops and forks, there's no need to retrace your bootprints on return.
The Vitals
Do: Yoho National Park ($8 entrance fee; www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/bc/yoho); Great Divide Nature Interpretation leads all-day Lake O'Hara hikes ($352 for groups of five: www.greatdivide.ca)
Sleep: Lake O'Hara Lodge ($357, including meals; www.lakeohara.com)
Jasper
Pack It Into the Backcountry
Fewer than 5 percent of Jasper National Park's visitors ventures beyond the blacktop into its 4,200 square miles (10,878 square kilometers) of wild space and 750 miles (1,207 kilometers) of trails. "There's more here than you can accomplish in a lifetime," says Wayne Robinson, owner of Jasper Adventure Centre. "My goal is to die trying." This September Robinson will be leading two Centennial Trips (the park turned 100 this year) between Whirlpool Valley and Athabasca Pass—a route pioneered in 1810 but little used since the heyday of the fur trade. On this 30-mile (48-kilometer), one-way trek, figure on meeting more bears than people, catching rainbow trout, and exploring the remote Scott Glacier Basin. A helicopter return knocks the circuit down to five days. Or opt for their Ultimate Jasper Adventure, a 7.5-mile (12-kilometer) paddle on the Athabasca River and a climb of 5,497-foot (1,675-meter) Morro Peak. Equally spectacular is Jasper's Skyline Trail, the definitive DIY backpacking trip: 27 miles (43 kilometers) and six trail camps between Maligne Lake and Jasper Townsite that link alpine meadows (good for caribou-spotting) with rocky passes. The crux col is the Notch (8,733 feet [2,662 meters]), with its view past Curator Lake to alpine country unfurling down to the Icefields Parkway.
The Vitals
Do: Jasper National Park ($8 entrance fee; www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/jasper); Jasper Adventure Centre's Centennial Trip ($1,689; September 4 and 8);
Ultimate Jasper Adventure ($183; www.jasperadventurecentre.com)
Icefields Parkway
Roam an Endangered Glacier
For 144 winding, climbing, plummeting miles (232 kilometers), the Icefields Parkway links Banff to Jasper and serves as a conduit to the eastern escarpment of the Canadian Rockies and the vast Columbia Icefield. Strap on crampons for a five-hour guided Icewalk Deluxe with Athabasca Glacier Icewalks. Travel the length of the lower Athabasca amid towering seracs and hidden crevasses. For a less risky thrill, opt for the 3.4-mile (5-kilometer) hike along Parker Ridge. After a switchback up a forested hillside facing the parkway, you crest the ridge and emerge into a whitewashed world overlooking the full extent of Saskatchewan Glacier, its outflow, and Mounts Athabasca (11,454 feet [3,491 meters]), Andromeda (11,319 feet [3,472 meters]), and Castleguard (10,138 feet [3,090 meters]) looming behind. During the less trafficked months of June and September, cyclists can sign on with Backroads and take to the parkway's spacious six-foot shoulder on a 242-mile (389-kilometer), six-day ride out of Banff—one of North America's iconic road bike pedals.
The Vitals
Do: Icefields Parkway (www.icefieldsparkway.ca); Icewalk Deluxe ($61 for five hours, including gear; www.icewalks.com); Backroads Canadian Rockies trip ($2,398 for six-day bike tour, including meals; www.backroads.com)
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