Two Medicine Valley and the Banff Legacy Bike Trail

We arrived at Two Medicine valley, Glacier National park, on Monday, August 4th, ready to enjoy our first camping inside a National Park – We were not disappointed!  We had a great site for four days, on the inner loop so quiet and a short walk to both Pray and Two Medicine lakes. On our first evening we chatted to a family who had been north to Jasper and Banff, and they gave us some great recommendations. We checked Canada Parks reservations again and managed to put together a plan for 12 days, with two Canadian national parks, one Provincial Park and a few days of “hopefully we will find something off the road”.  We had been discussing changing our plans and skipping Banff since everywhere was booked, so we were delighted with the outcome!

The following morning there was a herd of mountain sheep wandering around the campground which we enjoyed. The cats were less enthralled and Zeke ran up a tree when they came too close. It was funny to see both the cats and the sheep staring at each other; both seemed to be thinking “what is that! I’ve never seen that animal before and I wonder if it is a threat!”.  It was a beautiful sunny day and Sara enjoyed a 3 mile hike along the north shore of Two Medicine Lake. We did sunset photos on both lakes, where it was quite windy. 

Wednesday August 6th started chilly, and after an early morning paddleboard we lit a fire and John modified his traveling backboard so he could stretch. In the afternoon we cycled to the main hiking area and enjoyed a boat tour of the lake on the Sinopah - a wooden boat built in 1926. Sara went to the evening ranger talk which was about the amazing mountain goats in the park. The ranger was hilarious – he dressed as a goat and made the talk very informative.  

The next day was still chilly and after a quick paddle board we lit another morning fire. It had been cloudy for a few days and we hadn’t been connected to electric power for six days and the problem of the day was how to handle a complete battery drain in the RV! With no power the generator won’t start, and the levelers won’t retract so you can’t drive. We waited for the sun to come out so the solar would recharge the batteries, and Sara went for a lovely 4-mile hike to Aster falls and a viewpoint where she could see the whole valley.  We later determined starting the RV provides enough power to retract the levelers and start the generator, so we wouldn’t have been stranded. There has been a lot of learning on this trip!

Friday August 8th we finally crossed the border into Canada at the Chief Mountain crossing! It was a beautiful drive and an easy crossing and no issues allowing us or the cats into the country 😊  

We spent two nights taking it easy at a campground surrounded by lovely green countryside with rolling hills and a river. The weather was gloriously sunny, and the campground hosts very friendly giving us a tip that the Saskatoon berries were ripe and ready to be picked. We enjoyed fresh berries with ice cream that evening.

Our next stop was Canmore in the Bow River Valley, just an hour southeast of Banff.  We had a long drive to get there, about 300 miles. The scenery was spectacular – something that would continue for many days. We stopped in town for a large quantity of groceries and then headed down to the road 25 minutes to what we thought was the campground. Opps – no we were actually in the campground closer to town! At least we had the spectacular mountains to enjoy since we drove that section of road three times!

One of our goals was to ride the Banff Legacy Trail which is a paved bike path from Canmore up to Banff. It ended up being about a 25-mile ride up and back and yes the views were spectacular! The only downside was being next to a noisy major highway and there were a few sections without a barrier, so we hoped no tourist got distracted by the views and drove off the road. The weather was perfect for cycling and we ended the day with a swim at the Canmore rec center and a lovely hot shower. 

Click here to see the photos and videos!