AB Staycation 2020

We took a quick week trip driving from Calgary to Edmonton, Spruce Grove, Jasper, Lake Louise , Canmore and home. Read more

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October 3, 2020
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Day 1
Saturday, October 3, 2020 at 1:20 PM
☀️ 17 °C
Altitude: 669 m
Canada Terrace Heights 53.53847, -113.43845153°32’18” N 113°26’18” W
First stop Edmonton!
October 3, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
We had a pleasant and uneventful drive to Edmonton. We arrived at Barb & Mikes in time to enjoy a snack and drink out back on the deck. I forgot how nice the neighborhood is that they live. Established with mature trees and easy access to everything.Read more
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Day 2
Sunday, October 4, 2020 at 11:00 AM
☁️ 14 °C
Altitude: 649 m
Canada Rossdale 53.527399, -113.4905153°31’39” N 113°29’26” W
Lost & Found
October 4, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
Today we enjoyed breakfast and headed out for a walk along the river path. Yup we got lost; and found again. We managed to rack up 10km. Lost might be an exaggeration considering we never knew where we were going from the beginning. The whole plan was to go for a walk, and we did that through some nice neighborhoods and we eventually found the car again.

Matt and Megan joined us for dinner and conversation!Read more
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Day 3
Monday, October 5, 2020 at 10:00 AM
⛅ 8 °C
Altitude: 699 m
Canada Spruce Grove 53.5517, -113.8974653°33’6” N 113°53’51” W
Look at Us!
October 5, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
Mike set us up with bicycles (nicest bikes we have ever been on) and the 4 of us went on a city tour led by Barb!
We went by the river, over bridges, up the funicular, down some hills, in and around downtown. We stopped for lunch and Megan & Matt stopped for a visit. Then we had the ride home. Just over 20k. Exercise done for today,Read more
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Day 3
Monday, October 5, 2020 at 3:00 PM
☁️ 15 °C
Altitude: 686 m
Canada Spruce Grove 53.559502, -113.87300153°33’34” N 113°52’23” W
Heading west!
October 5, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Heading to Spruce Grove to visit Brenda, Les, Trevor, Niomi & Jesse

About 3 pm we packed up and headed to Les and Brenda’s. Had a short but wonderful visit. Niomi and her boyfriend Jesse and Trevor caught us up with all their news. As for most; school is challengingRead more
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Day 4
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 9:27 AM
⛅ 10 °C
Altitude: 989 m
Canada Millers Lake 53.559319, -116.75546453°33’34” N 116°45’20” W
Onto Jasper
October 6, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C
Dianne and I have never been to Jasper together. We are going now from Spruce Grove through Edson and Hinton to the mountain destination of Jasper. Nice drive in good weather past lakes and forest in fall colours. A pretty day with the occasional deer to see.Read more
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Day 4
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 4:00 PM
⛅ 13 °C
Altitude: 1,069 m
Canada Jasper 52.886787, -118.0803352°53’12” N 118°4’49” W
Jasper Exploring
October 6, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
After checking into our hotel and paying a damage deposit we made our way to our room “the presidential suite” nothing Presidential about it. The space was large but very dated and only paper or plastic cups to drink out of. This, we were told when requesting cups was because of covid?
Next was a walk about to see the sights of the town. We stopped in to the information centre and talked about where to hike and bears in the area. The local who worked there said that the bears were all on holiday now so don’t worry about a thing. That was welcome news as we had left our newly acquired bear spray at home.
The town of Jasper has a number of essential services like a bakery and coffee shops. The Bears Paw bakery had excellent cinnamon buns. We had been told this by our nephew Trevor before we left Spruce Grove, so we took advantage of this knowledge in the following two days.Read more
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Day 5
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 9:00 AM
☁️ 0 °C
Altitude: 1,141 m
Canada Maligne Canyon 52.920189, -117.99846352°55’13” N 117°59’54” W
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Maligne Canyon
October 7, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C
The last time I was at Maligne Canyon was with my parents and I was about 11 years old. It is a bigger walk than I remember, but that might be because my parents were not big hikers.
Together we hiked for about 90 minutes and we both loved the views from the five bridges over the canyon.Read more
Traveler Wow, beautiful view!
10/13/20Reply
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Day 5
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 9:15 AM
☁️ 3 °C
Altitude: 1,172 m
Canada Maligne Canyon 52.919564, -118.00284152°55’10” N 118°0’10” W
more Maligne Canyon
October 7, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 3 °C
too many photos to choose!
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Day 5
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 12:00 PM
☁️ 6 °C
Altitude: 1,682 m
Canada Improvement District No. 12 52.680933, -117.57875752°40’51” N 117°34’44” W
Maligne Lake
October 7, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C
Continuing on from Maligne Canyon to Maligne Lake by car goes by an old forest fire area and Medicine Lake. The road climbs for most of the 36 kilometres and the temperature at the lake was definitely colder than the lower mountain.Read more
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Day 5
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 12:39 PM
☁️ 7 °C
Altitude: 1,419 m
Canada Watchtower Creek 52.869594, -117.79020152°52’11” N 117°47’25” W
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Medicine Lake
October 7, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C
On the way back to Jasper we stopped at Medicine Lake. Not much water in the lake this time of year. You could walk across most of it, as did some fisher people. I couldn’t tell if anyone was catching anything even using binoculars.Read more
Traveler Wow, beautiful!
10/13/20Reply
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Day 5
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 2:00 PM
☁️ 10 °C
Altitude: 1,082 m
Canada First Lake 52.821129, -118.01644152°49’16” N 118°0’59” W
Valley of Five Lakes Trail
October 7, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
10k hike. It doesn’t have to be 10k, you can take a short cut, but we decide to go for the full meal deal, and then supersized it.
It all started with a picnic and cinnamon rolls for dessert. We hiked to all five lakes, over hill and dale through rain and sun. Nice way to spend the afternoon.Read more
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Day 5
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 3:29 PM
☁️ 12 °C
Altitude: 1,094 m
Canada Second Lake 52.817879, -118.01005652°49’4” N 118°0’36” W
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Still finding Lakes...
October 7, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Valley of 5 Lakes. We needed a picture of the fifth lake so we backtracked a bit and got what we felt was a good one.
Traveler Really like this photo 👍
10/13/20Reply
TravelerThank you, the colors were wonderful.
10/18/20Reply
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Day 6
Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 10:40 AM
☁️ 10 °C
Altitude: 1,055 m
Canada Henry House 52.847988, -118.07167452°50’53” N 118°4’18” W
So long Jasper
October 8, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
The adventure continues...after breakfast, check out and a stop at the Bear Paw bakery we headed down the 93A to Mount Edith Cavell . The road was a series of windy switchbacks. We passed Mount Astoria on our 12 k climb!Read more
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Day 6
Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 11:00 AM
❄️ 3 °C
Altitude: 3,135 m
Canada Mount Edith Cavell 52.666401, -118.06500252°39’59” N 118°3’54” W
Edith Cavell mountain
October 8, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ❄️ 3 °C
This excursion was Dianne’s idea, and it was a good one. A switchback road up the mountain brings you high up to a spectacular view. Here is a glacial lake fed by a waterfall surrounded by steep, almost vertical mountain sides. We hiked around in intermittent rain on well maintained paths.
The area can be treacherous as we came upon a memorial dedicated to a pair of hikers. Matt Kozak and Zabrina Ferrier died in late September 2020 while hiking in the area.Read more
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Day 6
Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 12:25 PM
🌧 11 °C
Altitude: 1,160 m
Canada Athabasca Falls 52.664385, -117.88467352°39’52” N 117°53’5” W
Athabasca Falls
October 8, 2020 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 11 °C
A roadside stop along our way.
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Day 6
Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 1:26 PM
🌧 6 °C
Altitude: 1,991 m
Canada Sunwapta Lake 52.220373, -117.22419152°13’13” N 117°13’27” W
Along the Columbia Icefields Parkway
October 8, 2020 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
Wow!
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Day 6
Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 3:22 PM
⛅ 8 °C
Altitude: 1,925 m
Canada Bow Lake 51.674801, -116.45264451°40’29” N 116°27’10” W
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Bow Lake and Glacier
October 8, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
Beautiful setting...
Traveler So nice with all the autumn colors 🍂
10/13/20Reply
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Day 6
Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 3:29 PM
⛅ 11 °C
Altitude: 1,548 m
Canada Lake Louise 51.425137, -116.1779751°25’30” N 116°10’41” W
We are at Lake Louise!
October 8, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
We tried to book Chateau Lake Louise a couple of times, but each time we booked on line the rate they published was not available. We called reservations and found that it was the old bait and switch routine. So instead we are at the Lake Louise Inn. We noticed earplugs as part of the amenities when we got to our room. I wonder if we’ll need them.
We walked around the village and got to the tourist information just before closing at 5 pm. Turns out, the park employees are not adept at telling time because they had already closed. Stopped at the market for water and cheese and returned to our room for a picnic.
The train tracks are very close to our room so that’s what the ear plugs are for we’re guessing.Read more
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Day 7
Friday, October 9, 2020 at 8:45 AM
⛅ 3 °C
Altitude: 1,735 m
Canada Lake Louise 51.417088, -116.21694551°25’2” N 116°13’1” W
Hike to the Teahouse
October 9, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C
Busy area and a busy trail. It has been raining so the trail is a little slippery and we are being careful. The elevation gain is just under 400 metres.
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Day 7
Friday, October 9, 2020 at 1:30 PM
⛅ 7 °C
Altitude: 1,918 m
Canada Moraine Lake 51.321768, -116.18594951°19’18” N 116°11’9” W
Off to Moraine Lake
October 9, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C
Even busier at Moraines Lake. Got turned away twice but made it through the gauntlet on the third try.
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Day 8
Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 8:45 AM
⛅ 8 °C
Altitude: 1,305 m
Canada Canmore Creek 51.099541, -115.36066451°5’58” N 115°21’38” W
Breakfast at Chez Francois!
October 10, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
The Canmore Inn and Suites is where we are. It is a short walk to everything. Originally we planned to have dinner with Curtis and Civia, but due to their dog of 14 years getting sick and dying, dinner was cancelled. Mac was a good dog who will be missed.

Instead we rendezvoused at Chez Francois for breakfast. We all walked there and back and had a fine breakfast together talking about loss and covid and trips and tragedy.Read more
TravelerSo nice to follow your trip. We’ve rented a housecar next week to do a something similar. Going to the south of Sweden, not so dramatic nature though, but can be nice anyway 😊
10/13/20Reply
TravelerThanks Gunner, we look forward to following your Car trip.
10/13/20Reply
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Trip end
October 10, 2020