Canadian Rockies: Banff National Park

Banff National Park, Canada's first national park, established in 1885, is about a 90 minute drive west of Calgary. The park encompasses 6,641 sq km (2564 sq mi). The highest point in the park is Mount Forbes at 3612 m (11,850').

Banff is the highest town in Canada, elevation 1384m (4540'). The hamlet of Lake Louise, at 1540 m (5052'), is the highest permanent settlement in Canada.

The Fairmount Banff Springs, a huge grand railway hotel, opened in 1888. The Fairmount Chateau Lake Louise originally opened in 1911 and was finally winterized in 1982.

The park is very crowded and busy in the summer season, necessitating busses to get to the most-popular sites in Lake Louise and Banff. Parking is very limited.

The beautiful 230 km (140 miles) Icefields Parkway (highway 93) links Jasper and Banff National Parks through spectacular mountain scenery, waterfalls, valleys, and glaciers. This is some of the most beautiful scenery in Banff. Sunwapta Pass, at 2034 meters (6675') the second-highest driveable pass in the national parks system, marks the boundary between Jasper and Banff parks. The southern part of the Icefields Parkway is very busy, especially with tour busses.

The Weeping Wall, 126 km (76 mi) southeast of Jasper on the Icefields Parkway near the northern border of Banff National Park, is a series of cascading waterfalls off a set of cliffs about a thousand feet tall partway up the western base of Cirrus Mountain.

Waterfowl Lakes, a popular campground.

Bow Lake, at an elevation of 1920 m (6299') at the base of Bow Summit, is formed by runoff from the Bow Glacier in the Wapta Icefield. It is one of the largest lakes in Banff.

Crowfoot Glacier, on the northeast flank of Crowfoot Mountain, is part of the Wapta Icefield.

The Bow Valley Parkway is the scenic route between Banff and Lake Louise.

Storm Mountain is a 3158m (10,361') peak on the Continental Divide near the north end of the Ball Range in the Bow River Valley opposite Castle Mountain. It overlooks Vista Lake.

Castle Mountain (Miislukskoowa in Blackfoot) is a 2786m (9073') mountain halfway between Banff and Lake Louise, the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley.

Wildlife overpasses and culverts connect habitat on either side of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Mount Rundle, 2948m (9672'), overlooks the towns of Banff and Canmore. Its Cree name is Waskakigan Watchi, meaning "house mountain". More a range than a mountain, it extends for 12km (7.5 miles) on the south side of the Trans-Canada Highway between Banff and Canmore with seven distinct peaks.