Driving the Most Beautiful Road in the World: the Icefields Parkway
When I first saw the map of the road we would take to get from Banff to Jasper National Park, it showed a long drive dotted with multiple spots that I figured we’d stop at briefly, take a few photos, and continue on to our destination. I had no idea that the drive itself IS a destination. After two days (you can easily do the drive in half a day, but we stopped frequently to explore numerous stops along the way) of driving it to get to Jasper, I can honestly and confidently say I’ve never said the word “wow” more times in 48 hours in my life. As someone who absolutely adores the Rocky Mountains in America, I expected the same kind of beauty. What I did not expect, was how huge and quite different they would be. Although they’re not as high as the ones in America (which is due to the base being at lower elevation to begin with), many people say they’re more visually stunning because of the steep, jagged mountaintops that come from being more glaciated. They’re incredibly rugged and the weather is insane, even more-so than any mountain weather I’ve experienced in the continental US. There’s truly not enough words to describe how awestruck you’ll be, so I guess you’ll just have to go! I hope this guide helps you prepare for the drive of a lifetime. There’s no cell service at all on the drive except for one spot where you can successfully use the guest wifi, about halfway down the drive at the Icefields Centre, so take some screenshots of this ahead of time if there’s some special spots you want to remember!
If you’re starting your drive from the south, you’ll first head north from Lake Louise Village on Highway 1. The rest of this guide goes over stops in order along the way, but you can read it in reverse if you’re heading south from Jasper.
Herbert Lake: the first real stop you’ll come across is Herbert Lake. It’s a great area for a picnic, and it’s also the only lake on the drive that isn’t glacial fed, meaning it’s likely the warmest if you want to go for a swim. A cool fun fact about it is there’s actually a diving board here right on the rocks that you can jump off of.
Hector Lake and Molar Pass: we didn’t stop at either of these areas so I can’t comment on it much other than that some of the locals recommended it for hiking if you want somewhere that’s less busy than some of the other trails on the drive.
Mosquito Creek Hostel: a very clean, affordable (often <$60/night even during peak season) option with bunk beds, full kitchen, sauna, and a rustic feel. It reminds me of what you’d expect a traditional bunkhouse to look like at summer camp. A super cool way to meet people and have somewhere warm and dry to sleep!
Bow Lake and Bow Glacier: a gorgeous lake fed by a gorgeous glacier. You can either pull over just at the lake for some views and a nice swim, or you can do the hike to Bow Glacier Falls. I highly recommend it as it leads you to a waterfall, and is easily the most diverse hike we did on the trip. There was an open meadow, a river, rock scrambles, and of course, the huge waterfall - it seemed like the landscape changed around every turn! We went in June, so we appreciated a quick dip in the cold lake at the end of the hike! Here’s the view where we stopped to eat our lunch on the hike.
Peyto Lake: although it’s heavily visited by tourists, I highly recommend stopping. Peyto Lake is a well-known, beautiful glacial lake that does justice to the famous turquoise-colored waters found in the Canadian Rockies. You don’t have to spend much time here, but it’s worth the stop to see. There’s pictures on my Instagram that we took right below the observation deck, and I recommend heading down there if you want to take pictures without people in them. Just be careful not to lean too far over the ledge and hold onto your equipment, we saw a man nearly lose all of his expensive camera gear right off the edge!
Waterfowl Lakes: a beautiful set of lakes that are very popular to canoe or paddleboard on if you’ve got one. It’s not nearly as touristy as Lake Louise and Emerald Lake, and feels more like you’re really out there in the wild. There is a campground here as well if you want to stay the night.
Note: camping anywhere directly on the Icefields Parkway is illegal without a reservation at a designated spot as the entire drive falls within national park boundaries, but if you’re like us and travel without a plan, keep scrolling and I’ll share with you where we stayed!
Mistaya Canyon: a sparkly blue river flowing through a canyon that’s only a short hike, about 40 minutes or so to do the entire thing. A great place for a photo-op, but it is heavily trafficked. If you have time it’s worth the stop, but not necessarily a ‘must-see’ for me on this trip. It would be a great hike to do if it’s raining as it’s easy to follow and doesn’t require as much time or elevation gain to complete.
Saskatchewan River Crossing: what a neat little place right in the middle of the mountains! It’s the only place on the drive to stop for gas and grocery items. There’s also a little diner, restaurant, and motel. They sell movie-theater popcorn which was amazing at the end of a long day of traveling!
Note: East of the Saskatchewan River Crossing you can take Highway 11 only a few miles to be outside of the national parks. Here, there’s several spots you can camp all the way up to Abraham Lake. We spent the night along the North Saskatchewan River on our two-day journey from Banff to Jasper, and at Abraham Lake on our way back from Jasper to Banff. They both are beautiful and free! We did see several bears, so as always, practice bear safety.
Rampart Creek Hostel: A cool hostel with similar vibes to the one at Mosquito Creek. It’s also similar in price, but at least when we were there, there was more snow on the ground at this one in the middle of June. It starts to become obvious you’re heading more into the higher elevation and glaciers right around this point when you pass the Wilson Icefield right next to the hostel.
Weeping Wall and Bridal Veil Falls: two pretty cool views worth stopping to take a peak. The road here has several points you can pull off and take pictures or just enjoy the view. There were huge ravens here scavenging around for what I assume would be dropped food of tourists. Despite them making me a little frightened, the birds themselves are pretty cool to see just because of how big they are.
Parker Ridge: I could not recommend this hike enough! Please please please if you don’t take anything else away from this guide, put a big star next to this one! This is my favorite hike I’ve ever done (and I’ve done A LOT). It’s a moderate hike, fairly steep with a lot of switchbacks (but not more difficult than anything I’ve done in the Cascades in Washington), but the view at the top is GORGEOUS. There’s 360 degree views of mountain ranges, icefields, and the huge Saskatchewan Glacier. There was snow, ice, and a grassy meadow all waiting at the top. We spent over an hour up here eating lunch, hanging out, and just being in awe at how cool this place is! This was easily one of my favorite parts of the entire trip.
Icefield Centre: Not that far after Parker Ridge you’ll get to the Icefield Centre. It’s quite touristy, has a gift shop, glacial tours, and even a Starbucks. We did get out here to hike up the glacier and it’s definitely worth it, and it didn’t take much time. The day we went was completely snowy, which is how I imagine it looks most if not all of the year. It felt like I was instantly transported to a January day in Michigan, if Michigan had mountains haha. Within twenty minutes of leaving the Icefield Centre, you’ll be out of the main icefields and back to green grass, and it’s definitely a cool experience to feel the changes so drastically.
Beauty Creek: Another hike we did not do, as well as a hostel here, but since we didn’t stop I can’t mention much about it. I’ll definitely update the page whenever I go back, as I hope to one day return and check out all the places we skipped!
Sunwapta Falls: a really cool, really busy, waterfall hike. There’s two separate falls you can stop at, with the first being populated. We almost left without hiking to the second falls, but it was raining a little bit, and we figured waterfalls were a good rainy day activity so we decided to hike to the second falls. I’m so glad we did! I highly recommend going the extra bit to the second falls where there’s hardly any people, but still beautiful views. You can have a nice, quiet lunch break or swim with the area all to yourself!
Goats and Glaciers: a turn-off spot along the road where you can often see the mountain goats licking the salt! Sadly, we didn’t see any out this day, but I’ll definitely stop there again as it only took about a minute to walk to the viewing spot from the parking lot.
Athabasca Falls: the second of the two large waterfalls on the drive, with Sunwapta Falls being the first. We stopped at both, and both are absolutely worth it! Sunwapta Falls was my favorite of the two if I had to pick only one, but if you have time to see both, you should.
Valley of the Five Lakes: Sadly, I didn’t get to do this hike. We stopped and actually started to head to the trailhead as a storm was rolling in, but only about a minute into the hike, the sky turned black and it started to pour, so we decided to skip it and continue on with the day. It’s definitely a hike I’ll be back for, and with how many people recommended it to me, I imagine it will compete for a place in my heart with the Parker Ridge hike.
Not long after Valley of Five Lakes, you’ll see Whistlers Ski Resort and start to come into the town of Jasper! Jasper is a really awesome town, and my favorite compared to Banff and Calgary - but I’ll save that for another post.
If you’re debating about a trip to the Canadian Rockies, DO IT! I thought for sure once I visited this place I could cross it off my bucket list for awhile - but I was wrong. We actually said how it’s going to be hard to encourage ourselves to keep traveling new places for a bit instead of always wanting to come back here. If you do have a trip planned, I know you’ll have an absolutely stellar time - who knows, maybe you’re there right now reading this for the Icefields Parkway drive!
Either way, happy adventures, and have a blast!
Brooke
