Calgary and Banff

After being without internet for weeks at our campgrounds in Glacier, Waterton and Dinosaur Park we were yearning for some city services. We headed for Calgary which is the biggest town around here. It is kind of hard to camp in a city so the thought of staying at a hotel with wifi and unlimited showers was very appealing.  When you see the Canadian prices, things seem quite expensive compared to what we are used to in Phoenix.  However, you have to take into account the conversion rate which is in our favor at the moment, you can get $1 CAD for $.77 USD.  So a hotel for $200 CAD is really about $154 USD, not as bad.  Unbeknownst to us, the Calgary Stampede was going on, which is a big deal in these parts, so I am sure that raised the hotel rates as well. The Calgary Stampede, also known as the “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” is a 10 day event featuring a huge rodeo, parade, concerts and exhibitions.  In the end Tim got us a deal by the airport for $107 USD, but that is equal to about 5 nights in a campground! It sure was nice to have some indoor luxuries.  When we are in the city we long for the calmness of the wilderness and when we are in the wilderness we long for the availability of services in the city.

While in Calgary we were able to get together with a friend that we met on our Tour de France trip back in 2011 and his wife who live in the area.  It was great to get a glimpse into their lives here and to share our crazy van life with them.  Another highlight in Calgary was the Calgary Farmers Market. Lots of fresh produce and natural products.  A lot of the produce we saw was grown in British Columbia, not too far away.  There were lots of delicious berries – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, yum!

Moving west from Calgary toward Banff we have a quick overnight stay at a provincial park campground near the highway. Very few campers there.  The next day we head to Banff.  This part of the trip was planned back in January when we knew nothing about van life.  We heard Banff was really crowded so we made the camping reservations for a random week in July and now it just so happens rain is forcasted all week here.  We do have flush toilets and showers in our campground and there is local transit into the town of Banff.  Like Waterton there is a town in the middle of the National Park.  It seems strange to us with our experience of US National parks which are more rustic, less commercialized.  Here in Banff they are trying to sell something at every turn like hotels and tours.  The park service employees are working side by side with the commercial employees.  The availability of restaurants is not good for our eating-out addiction!

Our first full day in Banff we were lucky and had very little rain.  We left our campground on foot following the Hoo Doo – Bow Falls trail along the river down toward town.  We did not bring the bear spray and there were some sections where there were no people so I started getting nervous about bears!  Especially since we saw a carcass that had been picked clean, may have been a deer,  on another trail near our campground the night before.  We also hiked Tunnel Mountain Summit which is a short steep trail that starts in town.  The trails are integrated into the town, not what I expected, although I am sure there are many trails in the backcountry as well.  At the top of Tunnel Mountain we found the red chairs.  Canadian National Parks have these red chairs placed in special locations to encourage visitors to stop and take in the view.

Carcass near our campground

Bow River

Trail sign in town

Tunnel Mountain Summit trail

Tunnel Mountain Summit

Tunnel Mountain Summit