Short trips from Calgary

Here is a list of some of the interesting visits we made around Calgary:

Banff town is in a valley of the Banff National Park. It is at the right distance from any place (Calgary/Golden/Jasper) and a good stop over for some delicious food or drink. For all the foodies, this is a go-to place as the town is filled with all kinds of restaurants, bars and cafés due to the high volume of visitors all round the year. People like us would love to just drive to this place as both the drive and the meal would be worth the visit. Being a tourist place, there is something for shopoholics too. Also, in winter, Banff is close to many popular ski lodges.

Lakes of Banff National Park: If heaven is a place on earth, it probably would be in the Canadian Rockies and Banff is in the heart of it all. This bewitching place is a must visit for nature lovers. This park is home to a host of flora, fauna and lakes. Be it the massive Lake Minniwanka, serene Lake Louise, pristine Bow Lake or the blue-green Moraine Lake, each comes with its own charm and grandeur.

Columbia Icefields Experience: One doesn’t need to fly or sail to Alaska to experience Glaciers. Situated on the ice fields parkway of Jasper National Park, Athabasca Glacier presents a unique opportunity to visit a glacier on specially designed vehicles. The trip from the base to the glacier also allows one to experience the glacier on foot once you reach the summit. Though the glacier is slowly receding over the past decades, the colossal Athabasca Glacier is still quite a spectacle.

Note: A Glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. It forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth. Glaciers move constantly. So every few years, they have to make a different approach road to the Glacier. Receding glacier is different from a moving glacier. (Source: Wiki)

Edmonton: This is the capital of Alberta province. The North Saskatchewan River flows right through the city, giving a panoramic view of downtown Edmonton. Though not many people like visiting Edmonton, we’ve always found it to be a pleasant place. We visited the Royal Alberta Museum and Muttart Observatory apart from checking out the Legislature and Old Strathcona area (including the very popular Whyte Avenue known for its resturants). There is a good arty feel about downtown as well. Edmonton houses 1 of the largest shopping malls in the world (largest in N.America) – the West Edmonton Mall. This mall hosts more than 800 shops, a hotel, an amusement park, a water park and other attractions – all indoors. We also managed to go for a late night standup comedy show as well. (Refer an older post on Edmonton here). 

Drumheller: Also known as the dinosaur valley, Drumheller has the largest deposits of dinosaur fossils in the world. The Royal Tyrell Museum here is considered as an authority on the subject and is often invited to other parts of the world during excavations, symposiums, etc. Allow for at least 2 hours at the Museum (we took 3), which has an excellent collection and is very well maintained. Apart from dinosaurs, Drumheller is also known for its unique terrain – the badlands and hoodoos.

Badlands is a type of arid terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It can resemble malpaís, a terrain of volcanic rock. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands. Badlands often have a spectacular colour display that alternates from dark black/blue coal stria to bright clays to red scoria. (Source: Wiki)

A Hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, and earth pyramid) is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos are composed of soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements. (Source: Wiki)

Saskatoon Farm, Okotoks: A 45 minute drive from downtown Calgary, this place is a 1 stop shop for organic needs. The farm is mainly known for growing Saskatoon berries and hence you get ample of jams, sauces, pies, ice creams - all made from Saskatoon berries. The farm has a huge nursery selling seasonal & perennial flowers, plants and trees. They have an interesting shop sells bits and odds including garden accessories, paintings and furniture. They also sell farm products and their Saskatoon berry food items. Apart from all the above, they have a lovely restaurant on site. We had a scrumptious brunch here before we toured the farm.

Head-smashed-in-buffalo jump: A UNESCO world heritage centre which showcases customs followed by native Indians for 1000s of years. Due to their vast knowledge of topography and of bisons in general, they killed these bison by chasing them over cliffs and subsequently carving up the carcasses in the camp below. They would use the carcasses to make food, clothing, jewelry, items for trade. Though the cliff itself isn’t a great sight, the interpretive centre is definitely worthy of a visit.

Waterton Lakes National Park: Also called as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, is to the South of Calgary and borders US. Infact the huge Waterton Lake is mostly in Canada (Alberta) and partly in the US (Montana). If you take a cruise around the lake, it is probably one the easiest borders to cross without paperwork (just kidding). This park is popular for wildlife including hosting a Bison Paddock. A variety of camping sites and hiking trails are available including Crypt Lake hike which is one of the most popular hikes in Canada!

On the way to Waterton or Head-smashed-in-Buffalo Jump (or Southern Alberta) and you have the time, it is worth dropping by the Aviation Museum in Nanton. This museum has a decent collection of war planes including Lancesters. The other place worthy of a mention is Cardston which is home to the Remington Carriage Museum. It is the largest horse drawn carriage museum in North America and gives a wonderful insight into travel before cars.

Apart from the above mentioned sights, there are a host of other national and provincial parks worth visiting. Apart from their sheer beauty, nature and outdoor lovers have plenty of activities they can choose from in these parks. Experiencing and exploring this part of Canada can easily take weekends off your calendar very easily.

Places of visit on map:

View Folks visit Calgary in a larger map

Waterton National Park

The first thing anyone in Alberta tells you about Waterton is the wildlife spotting. So when Mujir and Avanti suggested we accompany them and Avanti’s mom, we happily agreed. Moreover Sharan colleagues let out the secret – it’s the pre-hibernation time for the bears so they’ll be out there gorging on berries before they disappear for winter. That nailed it for us. We have been fairly luckily in Bandipur and Panna in India. So definitely wanted to check what it was here.

As always we decided to leave early. Waterton is a minimum 3 hr drive (borders USA) and if wanted to make the most of the day in the place, we had to be there early. We got up late making others wait, so we were running around scampering for things. In all the early morning commotion, both Sharan and I forgot our camera – A blunder and not just a mistake we found out later.

We reached our 1st destination – a hiking trail just before Waterton Village called Bear’s Hump around 9:30. As we got off the car, we heard girls screeching and screaming. When I turned around to check what the hullabaloo was all about, it was our first bear sighting for the day. It was a fully grown black cinnamon bear 12 feet away, looking straight at us. Thanks to all the noise it scuttled away before Avanti or her mom could get the camera. That pretty much defined the rest of the day for us.

We happily started the ascent to the Bear’s hump. The board read that it was short but steep. Knowing our fitness level both Sharan and I got instantly cautious. The climb was quite sharp but we trudged along slowly. We reached the hilltop within an hour. And it was the windiest I’ve ever seen – Sharan was almost knocked off his feet, so one can imagine the plight of the rest J But it was all well worth it as the view of Waterton lakes (upper and lower) and the village was stunning. We missed our camera but 2 other point n shoots were available atleast for witness. The downhill hike was much faster as always but not as fast as it would be for the Canadians. We met several hikers who were on the way up when we were going downhill. The entire lot crossed us again and we hadn’t reached the base yet. Speaks a lot about our and their fitness and speed, huh?

We decided to have packed brunch on the banks of the river nearby. Though there weren’t appropriate seating available, we hungrily devoured the sandwiches. The mood got even better after a stomach fill. We decided to head to the village and see if we could get onto the cruise around the lake. On the way back from the river to the village, we saw that the car in front of us had stopped. We weren’t sure if it had broken down or they were lost, looking at maps. We were in the middle of nowhere – with the valley on 1 side and forrest on the other. The driver then pointed out to a nearby hillock. It was our second bear sighting for the day. It was another fully grown black cinnamon bear looking at down at the car in front of us – just 20 ft away. This time we were able to capture it on camera. Oh but there is a difference - it wasn’t our camera. Anyways, guess there was another bear nearby (we couldn’t see), so this one ran back into the jungle.

By now everyone agreed that luck WAS on our side - we reached Waterton village in time for the cruise. The cruise was quite good – the commentator was even better. But I’d not recommend it for the 2nd time. The 2 highlights of the cruise were –
A. Part of Upper Waterton Lake is in the US, so we crossed borders with NO FUSS.
B. Spotted bald eagles nesting.
The other interesting point we noted was that the 7 hour difficult hike up to Crypt Lake, the most popular hike of Waterton, started in the middle of nowhere and the only way to get to the starting point was this cruise.

Once we were off the cruise, we roamed around the main streets of the village. We spotted some wild deer roaming around just like us – that definitely was an unusual sight. It was almost 6pm and we hurriedly got to our next destination – red canyon. The drive up to the place was very scenic. But the canyon itself was disappointing because the river was almost dry. But it was definitely red – due to the color of the mud and the dusk. We headed to our last destination for the day - bison paddock. A vast space where wild bisons are found, fenced though. We saw more than a dozen of them – quite ugly creatures I must admit.

On the way back, just as we took a turn into the highway I spotted a coyote trotting along a farm fence (I thought it was a fox till I looked it up the next day). Unfortunately since it was the highway we couldn’t stop. And by the time others saw it, we had zoomed past L

We stopped at Pincher Creek Village for some gas and a quick bite. It also had gotten much cooler. We reached Calgary late evening, tired and sleepy. That was the end of a satisfying trip. All of us did have a smile as we went to sleep dreaming of bears but not bulls for a change.

More info on Waterton is available at:
http://www.watertonpark.com/
http://www.watertoninfo.com/

Photos: will be uploaded/ updated once I get the pictures from other cameras.