Texas to Montana and Canada (Banff and Jasper National Parks)

[TexasIsHome]

We made it back from our road trip! We didn't get to do the off-roading that I wanted to do, but we had a great time. This was my first time out of the country, but my wife has been to more countries than I have states. We drove through 6 states and 2 Canadian Provinces totaling 5,714 miles. We hiked about 55 miles in four days, kayaked about 22 miles in one day, rafted class 4 rapids, and drove about 45 miles off-road. We visited Glacier National Park (Montana), Banff National Park (Alberta) and Jasper National Park (Alberta). We filled up the tank 26 times, averaged 15.69MPG and spent $1,031.47 in gas.

Google Maps wouldn't let me map out the specific route we took, but this is close enough. We took the Forestry Trunk Route (FTR/Hwy40) in Alberta, Canada.

Day 1: The first day was simple, leave our house near Fort Worth, TX and make it to Denver, CO to stay with a friend for the night. We had dinner together and tried to go to a little amusement park, but it was closed by the time we finished dinner.

Day 2: We left our buddy's place drove straight through Wyoming, and headed for Lewis & Clark National Forrest where we had a nice quiet camp site all to ourselves.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 3: The next day we made it to Glacier National Park. It was overcast and the clouds were low. We made our way over to the Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake for our first hike via Going to the Sun Road (GTTSR) which luckily opened the day before we arrived. Avalanche was one of the prettiest hikes we did on the trip, but also one of the most crowded.

Trail of Cedars

Avalanche Lake trail

On the way back down from the lake it started raining pretty good.

We camped at the St. Mary Campground that night.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 4: We woke up to sunshine and clear skies!

Part of GTTSR

We made our way over to Many Glacier to hike up to Grinnell Glacier.

Lake Josephine

Just before where the trail is supposed to have pit toilets it was closed off due to the snow lingering and avalanche danger. As we rounded the final corner before the trail closure we noticed two grizzlies, approximately 30ft away from us. They looked up at us, and then thankfully went back to eating. We snapped a picture and quickly headed back down the trail.

As we were headed back to camp at the Avalanche Campground, we spotted this Mountain Goat on the GTTSR.

Camp for the night.

 

[TexasIsHome]

edit for dupe

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 5: We woke up extra early this morning to go to the Hidden Lake trail. We initially planned on doing Highline Loop Trail, the trail I was most excited for, but discovered that it was still closed due to remaining snow. On the way up there we saw another bear up in the hills, this time from the safety of the 4R.

Hangin out on Hidden Lake trail

View of Hidden Lake

As you can see, the trail still had a lot of snow remaining. Several sections were fairly narrow and it just so happened that a section of snow I stepped on gave way and sent me sliding about 10-15ft on my butt down the mountain. I was able to stab my heels into the ground and come to a stop. Kelsey nearly had a heart attack as I crawled back up laughing at the fact that I almost died.

This fella did not seem bothered by people and even walked directly down the trail as our guide for a while.

This is a view from the furthest point before you go down the "stairs". The little specs on the left are people.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 5 continued We stopped by Lake McDonald on our way over to Polebridge/Bowman Lake. We stopped at the Polebridge Mercantile/Bakery for a huckleberry bear claw.

Set up camp

The mosquitos were BAD

Bowman Lake

Nosy neighbor

Day 6 On our way out we stopped by the bakery again and got a yummy cinnamon roll to eat on the road. We made our way north and made it to the Roosville border crossing. I tried to do a lot of research before making this trip on how to make border crossings go smoothly. The agent asked for our passports, and for me to roll the back window down. He asked where we were from, where we were going, how long we would be staying and when we were leaving. He asked if we had any alcohol, firearms, or tobacco. We were there for maybe two minutes max, and then he waived us on through!

Quickly made our way though British Columbia and over to Alberta.

We got gas in Crowsnest Pass and headed north via the Forestry Trunk Route (FTR/HWY 40). We saw loads of deer, free range cattle and available camp sites.

FTR is a messy highway. We took it all the way up to the Trans Canada Highway (HWY 1) and into Canmore for our first hotel of the trip. Warm showers were much appreciated.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 7 Another early morning as we made our way up to Lake Louise. We'd hoped to get the awesome blue/green and sunshine photos that you see online, but the weather was not cooperating with us. There weren't too many people when we got started, but as we returned the crowds were ridiculous. We were unable to get to Moraine Lake; the next shuttle would be at least two hours, and the parking lot was full.

Lake Louise

We ended up hiking the Plain of the Six Glaciers trail. (Lake Louise)

Pot6G Tea House

This was one of the only times where we really needed CAD cash. They did allow credit card use, but added a large convenience fee because someone would have to run it down to the hotel to charge it. Employees at the tea house hike up, work 5 days and sleep on site, then hike down for their 2 day weekend, and hike back up again for the next work week.

Pictured is their hot chocolate, three bean "chili" with chips, caramel apple pound cake and chocolate cake.

View of Louise from the Highline connecting trail.

Highline brought us over to Lake Agnes and the Agnes Tea House.

Time of day may've had something to do with it, but the Agnes Tea House was packed! Everyone told me we had to go to the Agnes Tea House and hardly mentioned the Pot6G Tea House. I definitely recommend the Pot6G.

The sun came out and the clouds went away as we were hiking, but sure enough, as we made it back down to Lake Louise the clouds had returned.

Since we couldn't get to Moraine Lake today we went over to Johnston Canyon, another fairly packed trial likely due to the ease of the terrain.

We made our way up to Golden, BC to camp for the night right next to the Kicking Horse River.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 8: Rafting day with Alpine Rafting.

Somewhere along the way we passed 50,000 miles after two years and three months of ownership.

We ran into town for breakfast before rafting. Canadian French toast...

Fresh dunk in the 39* Kicking Horse River.

Re-emerged. I hoped in the river and floated for a bit as we neared the end and the rapids calmed.

Rafting finished pretty early, so we decided to try our luck at Moraine Lake.

Then we hopped over to Emerald Lake.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 8 continued We drove up through Jasper National Park on our way to Hinton, Alberta where we would stay at our second and final hotel for the trip. We saw quite a bit of wild life along the way.

Another bear, making the 6th bear we had seen on this trip!

Weren't 100% on beaver vs otter, but we decided on beaver.

Day 9 We had to be at Maligne Lake at 0700 to pick up our kayak, which meant we had to leave our motel at 0500.

We rented a double sea kayak from Pure Outdoor in Jasper. They charge a $50 delivery fee, but we noticed that they have a rack where they keep their kayaks chained up at the lake. This kayak had a rudder system on it, but shortly after we left the dock and the employee left our rudder broke. No big deal, we can steer with our paddles, but a bit annoying.

Lunch break

We kayaked out by Spirit Island, but couldn't get any good pictures.

After kayaking over 20 miles we went to the town of Jasper and had dinner before setting up camp at Wilcox Pass.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 10: Things were starting to wind down. We drove back through parts of Jasper and Banff NPs.

Peyto Lake

July 1st is Canada Day! We stopped back in Canmore for lunch and to check out the festivities. Had to try the poutine, not a fan....

We ended up heading back into the states and crossed the border at the Chief Mountain crossing. Just as simple as the first border crossing, only this time they asked if we had any meat or fruit. We had neither, so we were in and out in under 2 minutes.

Pulled in late to Holter Lake in Wolf Creek, MT.

Day 11 We continued heading south, passing through Idaho, and stopping near Ogden, UT to see some family.

My uncle loves anything with an engine and currently has three project vehicles. A pair of 1957 Fords

And a 1968 Mustang. His first car was a 1968 Mustang convertible, exact same color scheme, the only difference being is this one is a standard and has a manual soft top. He had to sell it when he was a teenager and his dad (my grandpa) had to relocate the family due to the military. A few years ago, while my uncle was overseas in Kuwait, he saw this Mustang for sale online, purchased it, and had it shipped to his house sight unseen where it awaited his arrival. He even let me drive it before he let his own daughter drive it (my older cousin).

After dinner and car talk, we continued on to the Uinta National Forest where we found another quiet campground to ourselves.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 12 Moab bound!

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Our first stop in Moab was Dome Plateau. While not as difficult as the trails I take my Jeep on, it was still fun to get off the pavement and pull the transfer case lever and try out the new Falken Wildpeak A/T3Ws.

We hung around town for a bit; got dinner, dessert and stopped by Solgear to get a new mesh duffel bag with divided compartments before heading over to La Sal Pass where we camped for the night.

 

[TexasIsHome]

Day 13 Packed up camp and hit the trail, La Sal Pass. We didn't take any pictures as we were going on this one, until we got to a downed tree across the trail. The ladder on the RTT was just tall enough that we wouldn't quite fit. As we were discussing options, a Tundra with three Utah locals pulled up behind us. They tried standing on the passenger side to help compress the suspension, but it still wasn't enough. We ended up having to make a carve away a bit of the fallen tree to get my ladder to clear. Thanks for the help fellas!

There was a bit of snow still on the ground at the summit of the trail that we had to push our way through. At the top there is a little lake, and as this FJC stopped to let us know that there weren't any fish in it yet he forgot what was in front of him. As he pulled off, he placed his front passenger tire right into a deep rut and I was sure he was going over we the momentum he had. He was able to back it up a little bit, but couldn't get out of the hole. We hooked up my recovery strap and got him out no problem.

Finished up the pass and made it to my 2nd favorite state.

According to the Facebook experts, the San Juan area of Colorado had seen ~700% of their average annual snow fall this season and most trails were still closed when we arrived on July 4th! We ventured up to Alta Lakes, but it was packed so we ran Ophir Pass from the Telluride side after lunch. The damage from the avalanches was impressive.

That's some tall snow.

After Ophir we drove to Silverton, CO to stop at the Rocky Mountain Funnel Cake factory again. Keeping it simple with hot fudge, caramel, and vanilla ice cream.

We debated hanging out for the 4th of July fireworks, but there were just so many people that we decided it was best to get away. We continued driving towards home and decided to camp at the Angel Peak Badlands near Bloomfield, NM for another quiet night to ourselves.

Day 14: We booked it from NM back to Fort Worth, TX where we were happily greeted by our puppies.

 

[blanketslayer]

What an awesome trip! You hit all the places I need to get to at some point and made me miss my 4Runner. Looks like you guys had a great time and thanks for sharing the adventure on here.

 

[outdoornate65]

Nice trip report. That's a great loop you guys did.

BTW.....my money is on beaver.

Nate

 

[sg1]

Great trip to our backyard. We live in Canmore