Hop on the Banffic School Bus

Today was an early morning as we had to pack up our rental car, say farewell to the lodge, and meet our bus at 7:50 am. We had a full day of visiting more lakes and mountains via the Hop on Banff tour bus. This was a yellow school bus which instantly reminded me of the Magic School Bus (hence my title). Though we did not have Ms. Frizzle as our tour guide, our bus drivers and staff were just as friendly. 

Our first stop was to Johnston Canyon to hike to the Lower Falls. The hike wasn’t too long and it was nice to have a tree shaded path to walk down. There were a few sections where the path narrowed and we would wait for hikers going the opposite direction to pass us before proceeding forward. We made it to the Lower Falls in about 30 minutes. There was an area where you could get closer to the waterfall, but there was a long line to take pictures, so I decided to hike up to the Upper Falls. This portion was longer and slightly steeper than the first hike. I kept checking the time to make sure I had enough time to hike back and meet mom and Joe, so we could make it back to the bus in time. I made it about ⅔ of the way up the trail and saw I was running out of time. There was a smaller waterfall near me that was technically an “upper falls”, so I took a picture and hiked back down to meet mom and Joe. After a quick stop at the gift shop and one blueberry muffin later, we were back on the bus to our next destination.

 

The Lower Falls

The "Upper Falls"

Our bus drove us to the base of Castle Mountain to take a few pictures. While the mountain is impressive, personally, I don’t think it really looks like a castle. Our guide did tell us that for a time, it was named Mount Eisenhower to honor Dwight Eisenhower, who was a WWII general at that time. It was changed back to Castle Mountain in 1979 after decades of public pressure. Sorry Mr. President. 

Does it look like a castle to you?

 Our next stop was to Lake Louise which had a gigantic hotel and resort close to its shores. I don’t want to imagine the price of a lake-facing room or any room at this hotel for that matter. We hiked along the lake for a couple hours, avoiding many puddles along the way. Further down the trail, there was an area right by the water you could get to by hopping along some rocks. We made our way over there and saw the lake from the other side as well as the resort which was much smaller from our current view. I noticed what turned out to be a frozen waterfall in the distance and decided to hike closer to it. It’s kinda crazy to see a frozen waterfall in July even if there is a nearby glacier and you're 1,600 meters in elevation. We headed back to the entrance of the lake and bought some sandwiches for a brief meal before boarding our bus again.

 

Moraine Lake was the next stop on our bus trip and the last lake we visited today. Right next to the lake was a huge rock pile of which the top could be reached via climbing some steps. We made the trek up to the top of the rock pile and enjoyed the view of the lake and the mountain peaks surrounding it. After taking a few pictures of the lake from the top of the rock pile and back at its shore, I looked through the gift shop until it was time to get back on the bus for our final stop.

 

That red speck at the top is my brother Joe

We arrived at the Lake Louise Ski Resort to ride the gondola. All three of us rode a chairlift up to the top of the ski resort. I carefully took my phone out to take a few pictures and held it tight the rest of the way up. The gondola stopped for a minute and our chairlift rocked back and forth for a moment as my grip tightened even more on my phone. We made it to the top and admired the view before riding the ski lift back down. Mom and I chose to ride in an enclosed gondola this time while Joe rode solo in the chairlift again. We could see Lake Louise and its glacier as we descended back down to the ski resort. We hung out in the resort for a little while until our bus pulled up to take us back to our car at the Banff Train Station.

Lake Louise & Victoria Glacier in the distance

Once we came back, we hopped in our car and drove to Calgary. We are staying in another Airbnb for the last two nights of our trip. While it isn’t as nice as the lodge, it suits our needs for the last leg of our trip. We ate dinner at a local restaurant called Foodyard. Joe and I both ordered the TikTok burger, which was a chicken sandwich with a cheesy tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and a syringe of cheese sauce on top. Needless to say it was delicious, but a bit messy. Good thing they gave me disposable gloves with my meal. I also ordered a strawberry lemonade which came in a donut-esque shaped bottle. Afterwards, we went back to our Airbnb and I got ready for bed after doing some laundry. Tomorrow is our last full day in Calgary and we are attending the Calgary Stampede. Yeehaw!

 

Photo credit: my brother Joe

If you want to read a different perspective of our trip, you can read my mom’s blog here.