This was a moderate nearly 7 mile hike with quite a bit of elevation gain. We were the only ones on the trail in mid-afternoon. It was a really hot day so we enjoyed a swim in Emerald Lake before and after this hike! 

We also encountered a black bear and a cub at the basin. The cub quickly scurried up a tree and mamma watched us closely from a distance as we continued on. ​

The Icefields Parkway is one of the most beautiful drives in the world! Mountain views all along the way and many glaciers and glacial lakes to stop and see also! Wish we had more time, but these were our stops along the way!

GyPSy Guide App
I highly recommend downloading this app for the Canadian Rockies. The guide will point out all kinds of interesting facts and worthwhile stops as you drive! It is amazing and extremely helpful!

One of my favorite stops was Peyto Lake, just stunning! Just a short walk from the parking lot you you get to witness this beauty! 

Athabasca Glacier
This was such a fun experience. We got to ride the ice explorer onto the Athabasca Glacier.

The Columbia Icefields Adventure includes the Athabasca Glacier and also the Skywalk. We loved the views from the Skywalk, but honestly there are beautiful views everywhere. We were amazed by the construction of the skywalk, what a huge feat it took to build the structure! We would definitely skip this if we come back to the area a second time though. 

We didn't come across a lot of animals on our trip. We did see grizzly bear and lots of big horned sheep on the side of the road. We came up on a black bear and cub on a hiking trail, but I didn't feel comfortable stopping to take a picture.

The Via Ferrata means "iron path." It is a trail made out of iron rungs, ladders, and permanently fixed obstacles. You can book a Via Ferrata tour at Mt. Norquay. There are a few adventures to choose from and you will have an experienced guide along the way. Unfortunately, Mia was not old enough for this adventure so the boys did the Alpinist 4-5 hour adventure while the girls enjoyed a day shopping and sightseeing downtown Banff. 

Moraine Lake
The color of Moraine Lake is just unbelievable. Surrounded by the Valley of Ten Peaks, the lake is just stunning. We rented canoes to get away from the crowds. This is definitely a difficult lake to see because parking is limited. With a little planning ahead, you can book a shuttle. We were lucky to get a parking spot one day, but we also had a shuttle booked later in the week so we took in the views twice! 

Lake Louise
Another very popular spot in Banff National Park is Lake Louise. You can book a shuttle ahead if you are worried about parking. Since the lake is a short distance from the parking lot, it was very busy. I suggest walking past the main entrance to enjoy the scenery. We also hiked up to the Fairmont Lookout (1.6 miles) to get away from the crowds. There were many more trails we wanted to explore, we just didn't have the time.

Consolation Lakes Hike (4.7 miles)
The sign at the beginning of the hike recommended to travel with 4 or more hikers due to bear activity. We did not see any bear on this hike. The trail was fairly easy until you get to the lakes. The kids had a blast hopping on the boulders around the lake. Climbing the boulders reminded us of Devils Lake in Wisconsin, only here we were surrounded by mountains! 

Johnston Canyon lower falls-1 mile
Johnston Canyon upper falls-3 miles
Ink Pots-7.3 miles
This is a very popular trail, so choose your timing wisely. We arrived around 2pm and there were only 12 parking spots left in both parking lots. The walk to the lower falls was extremely crowded. We chose to continue walking past all the view points for the lower and upper falls to try to beat the crowds. That strategy worked and once we past the upper falls lookout, we had the trail mostly to ourselves to the Ink Pots. At the Ink Pots, there were a handful of people, but not overly crowded. On our way back to the falls, we were able to stop at the viewpoints by about 5pm, the crowds died down. 

This is a fairly easy 6.4 mile out and back hike to Boom Lake. The lake was peaceful and no crowds! Not as popular of a hike, but still beautiful scenery! 

This was our last camping spot for our trip and it was our favorite! The campground is in a great location, great pull through sites, close to hiking trails, and beautiful mountain views! 

Camping
We camped at the St. Mary/East Glacier KOA Holiday for 6 nights. It was the perfect location to see a lot of the east side of the park, about 6 minutes to the entrance at St. Mary’s. It’s also about 30 minutes from the entrance of Many Glacier and 45 minutes from the entrance of Two Medicine. The campground also offers kayaking (the water level was too high for our stay), a nice pool and hot tub, and beautiful views of the mountains!

Going to the Sun Road (GTTSR)-This road is the only road that will take you from east to west through the park. It will take you over Logan Pass and the Continental Divide. It's opening is never predicted because it all depends on snow removal and avalanche danger. Two years ago, we missed the opening to Logan Pass by a week. Before it is open to cars, hikers and bikers are allowed to travel unless there is a hard closure. Two years ago, we biked to Logan Pass, with actual human powered bikes...no electric! Don't get me wrong, that was an amazing experience and one we still talk about often, but we were really hoping to drive the GTTSR this year. Unfortunately, mother nature did not cooperate! Glacier had lots of spring snow, and the GTTSR had its latest opening to date (July 13th). So once again, we were denied driving the GTTSR! Instead we parked at the Jackson Glacier Overlook, and walked to the hard closure at Siyeh Bend, no Logan Pass for us this year! Just means we will have to come back!

Many Glacier Boat Tour-We took the Many Glacier Boat Tour, which takes you across Many Glacier Lake, you hike about 1/4 mile to Lake Josephine and take another boat across to the other side. From there you have the choice to go back on the boat, or stay and hike and take a later boat ride back or walk back. Of course we hiked! ​

Hiking
These are the hikes we had time to complete. There are so many hikes in Glacier, you can’t pick a bad one!

Grinnell Glacier and Grinnell Lake Trails-These are the hiking options from the boat ride. We did both. First, we took the trek up to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook, the complete trail was not open yet due to avalanche risk. It was our first sight of the beautiful blue/green glacial lake, just stunning!

Unfortunately on this hike, Mia ate a protein bar that didn’t agree with her stomach. She made it all the way to the top, before she started feeling yucky. We brought hammocks in our packs and Mia enjoyed a snooze at the top of the Grinnell Glacier Overlook, not a bad place for a rest and snack. Thankfully, she felt much better after that!

On our way back down, we spotted our first moose from a distance in the marshy area near Lake Josephine. After getting the amazing view from the top of Grinnell Overlook, we hiked over to the base of the lake and had another rest in the hammocks!

Since we took the boat tour, we had the choice to ride the boat back to the Many Glacier Hotel, or walk the extra 3 miles back (the shorter trail on the East side of the lake was closed due to bear activity, otherwise I think it would have been 2 miles back). We missed the boat and had to wait another hour, so we decided to just walk back instead of wait. It was a pretty easy, flat trail. We ended our day with 11 miles hiked.

Cracker Lake-This hike was our favorite! It was a long and challenging hike, about 13 miles round trip and 1600 feet of elevation gain. The first two miles of the the trail is also a horse trail, so we experienced how much hiking on a horse trail stinks…both figuratively and literally!

On our way back, we also had our first bear encounter on the trail, yikes! The only time we saw others on the trail was when four men, stopped us to tell us they just turned back because a grizzly and her three cubs were on the trail ahead! So all 8 of us moved forward slowly, with bear spray in hand, on high alert. Sure enough, we turned a corner and there she was, this time with only one cub. The last thing we wanted was to get between her and her cubs. We all started making noise and she started to walk away. We continued forward, and spotted her once again along the trail, but this time she ventured back into the woods and allowed us to pass! Very scary experience and I'm glad those four men were there to warn us!

Mia's response after the bear encounter was "mom, did you get any good pictures?" My response "No Mia, I didn't get any pictures...I was too busy playing mama bear myself!" 

All of these things combined definitely made the Cracker Lake hike memorable. My kids are starting to appreciate the hikes we have to work the hardest for because those are usually the most rewarding and memorable ones!

Baring Falls, St. Mary Falls, Virginia Falls-If you had to skip one of these, I would say you could skip Baring Falls, but to do them all was about 7 miles and fairly easy hikes. St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls are awesome! Definitely don’t skip those! We also spotted our second moose on the island right before St. Mary Falls. Virginia Falls is so powerful and you can get pretty wet! It was really roaring when we were there! 

Fishercap Lake and Red Rock Lake and Falls-This was our only rain day in Glacier, and it was an all day steady rain, unlike the brief storms that rolled through quickly. We really weren’t planning on going very far on the Swiftcurrent trail. Our goal was just to go to Fishercap Lake to look for moose. We did not see any, but lots of people say this is the location to spot them. We all had rain gear on and the trail was wooded, so we decided to just start walking and before we knew it we were at Red Rock Lake. We then went a litter further to Redrock Falls. If we were more prepared with snacks, we would have kept going to Bullhead Lake. But, since we have a teenage boy that eats every 15 minutes, we decided to head back to the car where the snacks were!

Two Medicine Lake

Paradise Point and Rockwell Falls-These trails are about 45 minutes south of the St. Mary entrance in Two Medicine. If you do not hike in Two Medicine, you have to at least drive to the lake. The drive is very scenic and a little scary if you are afraid of heights!

​At Two Medicine Lake we saw our 3rd moose, this time swimming across the lake and came out to Paradise Point! It was pretty cool!

Beaver Pond-This was our last day and we were looking for something close and easy. I really didn’t have high expectations for this hike since it is so close to the Visitor Center. To my surprise, we walked up to a bull moose enjoying an afternoon snack in a pond. We were way too close, but decided to just sneak by while he was enjoying his lunch break. We then walked down to the lake and when we came back, the moose moved and was now on the trail. We took a detour through the woods to give him his space. This was a nice easy trail, with beautiful wild flowers in the prairie and views of St. Mary Lake. 

We did see a few black bears as well, but they were elusive. I never caught a good picture of them! All of these pictures were from the truck, I never got a photo of the grizzly and cub we encountered on the trail. 

Camping and the town of Medora
Our first stay was in North Dakota, our 28th state! We camped at Medora Campground. This was the perfect location for a one day and night stop. The campground is located right next to the entrance of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We were lucky to get a nice pull through, full hook-up, shaded campsite. The campground is small and quiet and gives good views of the badlands. It is right along the Missouri River and families were enjoying swimming in the heat of the day. The water level was low and allowed for a little beach area at the campground. There is a city pool right next to the campground as well for a small fee.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park
This is our 13th National Park visited! We enjoyed the views from the Painted Rock Canyon Visitor Center. We also drove the scenic loop on the North Side. 

Rock Formations
This park provides a lot of cool rock formations. My favorite was the capped rocks which looked like mushrooms. Driving through the badlands makes you feel like you are on a different planet. It is just so vast and you can see for miles and miles.

Sunsets
Wind Cave Nature trail offered a spectacular sunset! The views of the badlands with the Missouri River and bison in the background was unbelievable! Thankfully, we were able to get out of the bison jam in time to run up the trail to see the sunset!