Bow Valley / Banff / Two Jacks Lake

Departures at 11am are perhaps the most stressful things these retired folks have because of you know who’s awakening time.  And it really was a Saturday today!  So it’s off to Canmoore in the Bow Valley to find a bike shop for John’s tire,  as well as a Propane,  refill of 26 Liters, about 6 gallon, good idea since our take is 8 gallons and our propane gauge has not worked for years indicating 80% or more all the time.  But this is the first refill of the trip since February while using a stove, hot water and let’s say 30 days of propane fridge use.  What does bike repair wait time equal, well that’s easy = brewery wait time..so off to the lovely Canmore Brewery on the outskirts of town where John had a Smokey Porter and I had a proprietary mix of a very dry apple cider along with a bit of hibiscus juice.  And another great Wi-Fi spot to back up my I-Pad.  Perfect wait time activity.  Canmore seems like a vibrant place where our favorite Birch bartenders said this is where the locals go.   A fussganger zone and lots of cute eateries around.

Decided that we wanted to paddle and the Barrier Lakes were recommended since you could also rent kayaks right there. There is a very strict vessel entry policy in Kananaski County,  Alberta where your personal vessel, including SUP,  must be cleaned and out of the water for 48 hours before transferring to another body of water; therefore deciding that renting is the way to go.  But the Barrier Lakes are man made and the shores were too man made sandy looking, and we decided to abandon the plan and do the short hike up to the lookout point which also was a bit of a disappointment as you saw the dam machinery and only a tiny little glimpse of the Blue Lake through the trees.  The hikes in the area all seemed underwhelming so we headed back toward Canmore and decided to go for the Ha Ling Peak. 

One of my bloggers had recommended it and we had been finding that the All Trails “hard” listed for both Parker Ridge and Wilcox Pass were well within our ability level.  We knew this would be harder as the elevation gain was listed as 2500 feet for the 2 miles and Wilcox Pass was only 1,400 for 3.5 miles.  So off we went on this first incredible no clouds, sunny day.  

Let’s call the experience an achievement and I was almost too tired to even take photos.  There was a halfway viewpoint with one side Valley view. 

We only went as far as the trail end,“the saddle” and did not scramble another 200 feet up the rocky slab to the top. 

We had held on to chain fences,  

rock slabs, two sets of wooden railed stairs

and interesting foot steps that somehow the Canadians blasted into the rock slabs making them somewhat flat like foot size indentations to ascend upward, all the while with Avalanche warnings posted along the way and lots of loose boulders and rocks all around. After sitting at the top and finishing our sandwiches, we had enough energy to scramble up about 20 feet to the otherside, and see the Canmore side of the valley, not the 200 feet to the top.  Here we talked to some people with two dogs and I found a nice seat in the rocks as we chatted and found out more about the area.  

We made our way down with our poles, chains, steps, footholds with no slippage or falling and even saw some big mountain goats.

As we made our way across the street into the Trailhead Parking Lot, a car with an opened window asked “You weren’t tired after hiking Ha Ling?”  We were quite confused with this statement and finally he said  it looks like your t shirt says “Not Tired”  but really this was the bottom  section of the John’s Ridgecrest earthquake T-Shirt that says “Shake Not Stirred” We had to laugh because we were more than exhausted.

Post assessment of Ha Ling is that effort was not with the payoff.  As we drove down the bumpy, washboard, road  and looked up at the peak, we were pretty impressed with ourselves, even though we only made it to the saddle.

The trail itself was really not scenic along the way with only one viewpoint half way up to the dam side of the valley, unlike Parker Ridge, Wilcox Pass, and Whistlers (Jasper Sky Tram Hike) where it was scenic walking through the alpine meadows. There were many of the beetle infested evergreens down low, and the need to look down all the time for safety made it not as enjoyable as these other trails. Exhausted, we headed to the Grizzly Paw Brewing Company where we sat outside in the lovely town of Canmore once again.  The highlight was the Korean Barbecue Cauliflower-move over Buffalo Air Fried Cauliflower!!

 Later that night my watch said I set my all-time high move record and burned just under 1200 calories !!

Bow Falls in Banff – we needed a low key day after Ha Ling !  The infamous fancy pants Banff was the mark, so we decided to hike Bow Falls (recommended by people on top of Ha Ling) which is a very manicured hike along Bow River where all the fancy hotels have entrance ways and there is an art in the woods exhibition and big tour buses park at the end.  

It was perfect and we realized that the “Garden of Time” was right nearby so we climbed up to the gate of this very stately building and gardens.  

The flowers were ablaze all over

 as we tried to keep out of the way of Asian families doing photo shoots of their petite young family members on the various perch-like features in the garden.  

Truly a beautifully manicured garden up on a hill looking over the city.  

Across the bridge and a blick into the bustling tourist city. 

Tunnel Mountain Campground on the outskirts would be ready to receive Vinny, we needed napping and showering.  

Ready for a bike ride into town trying to find a brewery with a Stout.  No such luck, but we found Bear Street Tavern and sat at the bar and talked to a ICU nurse who was on a 5 month hiatus to hike his way from Vancouver Island to Jasper, kind of like what we are doing but in reverse. He was delightful and recommended hikes and places along the way as he told us about intensive care nursing in Canada. Two early 20’s girls from North Dakota/Wyoming who were also delightful to meet and Johns decided on a Whiskey nightcap .  It was dark and to some degree we knew that we would be walking our bikes because it was all downhill from the campground. But it took 20 minutes to walk back.

Again needed to leave by 11am and can’t check in until 1pm.  So one more in-town of  Banff tourist excursion to climb Tunnel Mountain, afterall King George VI and Queen Elizabeth stood on this 5,543 ft summit in 1939, so we should be able to do it too.  

More Red Chairs and views all around Banff including the golf course. 

Atop a summit one finds answers to those pondering questions..And we finally found out that the Hogwarts Building across the valley is the Banff Fairmont Hotel, sister to the Lake Louise Fairmont which we had already visited upon arrival, and I guess we missed the Jasper Fairmont, Oh well. 

Tunnel Mountain was again a nice moderate short hike  after out Ha Ling experience. 

Byb, Bye Banff off to Two Jack Lake about which people have raved. Our hike had been warm and we thought it would be great to jump into the lake to cool off, but that didn’t quite happen.  I had in mind to paddle for two days, but google had sent us to bustling Lake Minnewanka Day Use and not Two Jacks.Lake.  Minnewanka adjoins Two Jack But is much bigger and has marina/motor boat action, and then the wind began to blow and decided against a Jojo launch. At least I got a nice Pic of me on Minnewanka

On our way to the campground we saw the Two Jacks Day Use and we got waved on by the parking attendant as the lot was full.  So we had an all time early campsite check in of 5pm and even visited the wood pile.  We drove down after check-in and by then the attendant had gone home, the parking lot was cleared out and I devised a plan which was a deviation from our leisure morning.  Our campsite was on the edge of the campground and we were hoping that a moose or bear would finally show their faces but no such luck as I played the Uke and we sang songs. 

As I pulled out of the campsite at 7am, Paddle Boy was still sleeping in bed.  A quick, 2 minute drive and Vinny was backed into the lakefront parking spot where we enjoyed the entire day, I even made dinner here.

Two Jacks Lake is a beautiful, small paddling lake that is much warmer for swimming than the glacier fed lakes surrounded by the towering Rocky Mountains. 

After doing our microbe prevention permits,  JoJo and I did a 2 ½ hr  paddle to the other end of the lake that really narrowed into a 100 ft wide stream toward the opposite end.

I had to slide under a wildlife bridge at one point and coming back the wind was with me and little effort was required to just laze on my board surrounded by beautiful peaceful mountains.  Luckily, a woman had told me to slide under the bridge, and I watched others do it, so why not me?  

John did a bit of paddling too, but the wind had picked up. Still no bears because I forgot my bear spray – a woman who had launched her kayak early morning said she had seen bears around the lake during other paddles.  

Early in the morning the lake was glass and the mountain reflections were amazing, but as the day wore on the distant ranges disappeared into the smog probably caused by all the British Columbia Fires that were burning.  I understand, like the US West, this is a common theme in this area during August and September. 

Toward the end of the evening, we met Martina, an Austrian solo camp-in-you-car young woman on a yearlong sabbatical traveling around.  She was wondering if you could park in day use all night.  As this is generally not allowed, we offered her our campsite  number alternative for parking overnight in case she got booted out.  She arrived at 10:30 pm and was happy to have a place to stay. She was off early as she had a Lake Moraine shuttle bus reservation at 10am  and  it’s an hour drive.  She was just another lovely young person, like the ICU Nurse, Adam, who we met on the way.  

Two Jack Lakeside Campground, not Two Jack Main would have been more optimal as driving was right on the lake, but those campsites had all been taken by the time it was my turn in the que.  The Two Jacks Main was beautifully wooded and we were on the outskirts and our evening fire roasting dogs was so peaceful.  Both Lakes have no electricity or showers, but are beautiful.  Coffee,  Two Jack Lakeside,  was amazing in the early morning and our two blue chairs were right next to the iconic Canadian Red Chairs marking the most beautiful views.