Road to Alaska Stop 5 - Banff, AB Canada - Ms Fix It and The Pool Man

We wanted to stay in Calgary (population 1,361,852) for our next stop, but I couldn’t find a full hookup campground on the west side of town. We had been to Calgary on a business trip some years ago and really enjoyed the vibe. Our route paralleled the Canadian Rockies as we headed toward Calgary, and we skirted through the city’s southwest corner.

We hopped onto Trans Canada 1 and headed into the Rockies and Banff (population 7,847), which is the only municipality incorporated within a Canadian national park. Who knew? The mountain views were stunning, and fields of flowers often lined the highway. There was even a long “horse tail” waterfall to greet us at our exit.

We stayed at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court Campground, Banff National Park, one section of a number of national park campgrounds, which I calculated could easily accommodate 1,500 RVs.
Despite this size, our site was spacious, sat amongst trees, and had mountain views in every direction.

We had previously visited Banff as a part of the Calgary business trip. It is a popular tourist town that captured the feel of a european ski village (in my opinion). On that first visit, we enjoyed a great cup of coffee downtown but couldn’t remember the name of the coffee house. Fortuntely, we ended up at Wild Flour, where you can get some outstanding fresh-baked breads in addition to amazing coffee. As we walked around the central business plaza, I noted the mountain views everywhere you looked.

It had been almost a week since MFI injured her hand, and it was time for a follow-up appointment. We had purchased medical insurance (GeoBlue) to cover our time in Canada and thought a ski village would certainly have orthopedic doctors who handled hand injuries. We walked to the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital, but sadly they couldn’t accept GeoBlue coverage and recommended we go to the hospital in nearby Canmore (population 13,992). We spent about four hours in Canmore General’s emergency room waiting our turn. Procedurally, they also couldn’t accept GeoBlue (we can but have yet submitted a claim), but MFI needed to be seen, so we paid the going price for an x-ray and doctor’s consult. The doc thought things were progressing nicely but added that instead of a 6-week recovery, we should think more in terms of 6 months, and be sure to see an orthopedist as soon as we could. Woefully, “soon” was at that time a fat chance. This news was emotionally devastating to MFI. The hand was soon back in the splint and wrapped.

The swelling in her hand was slightly less, but the palm and fingers were still yellow with bruising. Her palm and finger tips were red from blunt trauma, and the half-inch cut on her ring finger was healing slowly. This cut (painful memory) was from the male nurse who brutishly removed her rings back in Whitefish.

There were many trails available in the Banff area. My first hike was a leisurely stroll on Tunnel Campground Loop. I hadn’t gone a quarter mile when I encountered wildlife.

The rest of the hike was picturesque, and I encountered a half dozen elk, most grazing at the campground entrance.

My second hike was on the Tunnel Mountain Hoodoos Lookout trail. We’d seen signs and parking for the hoodoos near our campground and wondered what they were. The textbook definition was: A hoodoo is a tall, thin spire of rock that’s formed by erosion over thousands of years. Hoodoos are also known as fairy chimneys, earth pyramids, and tent rocks. That’s all I needed for inspiration. The hike was moderately strenuous with more lovely views of mountains, the Bow River Valley, and another grazing elk. Because Hoodoos was plural, I expected more than what was there, but still found them impressive.

Before leaving Jasper for good, we drove to Lake Louise and hiked the 1.4 mile Fairview Lookout Trail to appreciate the scenic lake and Fairmont Chateau complex on the northeast shore. We’d visited before during the Calgary business trip, but MFI had not hiked to the lookout until now. The trail was wet, muddy, icy, and snow covered in spots; yet the view made it worthwhile (at least in my opinion). For MFI, there was hiking involved, so need I say more?

Before leaving Jasper for good, we drove to Lake Louise and hiked the 1.4 mile Fairview Lookout Trail to appreciate the scenic lake and Fairmont Chateau complex on the northeast shore. We’d visited before during a Calgary business trip, but MFI had not hiked to the lookout until now. The trail was wet, muddy, icy, and snow covered in spots; yet the views made it worthwhile (at least in my opinion). For MFI, there was hiking involved, so need I say more?

From the Lake Louise visit, we also got an initial scenic taste of what the next day’s drive might have in store for us.

Three-day stops were really starting to feel too short. But rewording Robert Frosts’ Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, “The woods were lovely, dark and deep; but we had [set travel goals to meet], and miles to go before [we could] sleep”…in Alaska. Yay!