We loved our visits to the Canadian Rockies the past two years, so we decided to return for a third consecutive year.

In the past, our visits have been in mid-June.  While nice, June presents some challenges with deep snow on the hiking trails at higher elevations.  So, this year we decided on the first week of September, in order to still see summer-like weather, but hopefully without the crowds of tourists seen in mid-summer.  Our plan for this year was for 4 nights in Banff followed by 4 more nights at Lake Louise.

To make the most of our limited time, we were flying Business Class with Air Canada and our flight from Toronto to Calgary was to leave at 7AM.  After breakfast in the Maple Leaf Lounge, we made our way to the gate and boarded our plane for Calgary.  Due to some mechanical problems with our scheduled aircraft, we ended up having to deplane and eventually left about 90 minutes late on a replacement aircraft.  Our Airbus 321 was replaced with another aircraft of the same type, which meant all passengers retained the same seating assignments and boarding passes, likely saving the gate agents a lot of work and time to reissue new seats to everyone.  After the aircraft change, it was an uneventful flight and we still arrived in Calgary early enough to get our rental car and make our way out to Banff in the early afternoon.

The weather was rather overcast, but we weren’t planning on doing much on our first day anyway.  We checked into the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, our hotel of choice in Banff, and had the same suite as last year; #647 – the Nicholas de Grandmaison Suite.  We like this suite for its large size and beautiful views out over the Bow Valley, and were pleased the hotel was able to honour our request for this specific room.

The photo below was taken from our room, however, it was actually taken the following morning, as our first day here was mostly cloudy.

We enjoyed a nice lunch in the Rundle Lounge while waiting for our room to be ready.  After getting settled and freshened up, we headed down to Castello, which is our favourite restaurant at the Banff Springs.

While it started to rain outside, we had a fantastic meal inside.  After dinner, we returned to our room for the night.

The sunny weather that came yesterday continued today.  We started the day by heading into town for some breakfast and to look around a bit more.  Below is a photo looking up Banff Avenue.

Although the weather is good, the rain from days earlier that have caused so many road closures across southern Alberta are limiting our activities somewhat.  We’re still unable to get out of the area to the east toward Canmore or north past Lake Louise.  Also, many low lying places in the immediate area are also closed off.  Therefore, we decided to just explore whatever we could.

Below is a nice picture of our hotel, the Fairmont Banff Springs, from across the Bow river.

We took a drive up toward the Norquay ski area for a view of the area.  The photo below shows us why access to the Vermilion Lakes has also been closed off.

We then drove out to the Cave and Basin National Historic Site.

The discovery of the Cave and Basin was the beginning of Canada’s National Park system.  This site has recently opened after a three-year renovation by Parks Canada, and is very well done.

Below are some photos from inside the sulphurous cave first uncovered in the late 1800’s.

There is an excellent museum and interpretative centre here.

Following are some photos of the area outside.

We then returned to the hotel for another nice dinner in the Rundle Lounge.

At this point, it’s confirmed that we will have to cut our time in Banff short by a day.  The Trans-Canada Highway #1 east of Banff is still closed and unlikely to open any time soon.  Because the only alternate routes to Calgary involve a very long drive, we don’t want to leave Banff on the same day that we need to catch our flight.

The only officially open route now involves driving up to Lake Louise and then west through the Kicking Horse Pass into BC, turning south at Golden, turning back east into Alberta through the Crowsnest Pass, and then north into Calgary on Highway #2.  This route will take about 11 hours, or possibly more depending on detours through some of the other flooded areas south of Calgary.

A better option, and it is now looking hopeful, is a 6-hour drive up the Icefields Parkway to Saskatchewan Crossing, east to Red Deer, and then south into Calgary on Highway #2.  Still much longer than the standard 1-hour drive through Canmore, but better than the southern alternate route.

Whichever route we end up taking, it looks like we’ll be checking out of Banff tomorrow morning to spend tomorrow night in Calgary.