The Icefields Parkway and Jasper Weekend
A two-night summer weekend from Calgary up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper and back. Friday is the drive north past Bow Lake, Peyto Lake and Mistaya Canyon, with a hike up Parker Ridge to a glacier view. Saturday is Jasper's day: a cruise to Spirit Island on Maligne Lake, the SkyTram and an evening at Pyramid Lake. Sunday heads home by Athabasca and Sunwapta falls and a ride onto the Athabasca Glacier.
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In July and August Jasper usually sees highs around 22 °C (72 °F) and lows near 7–9 °C (45–48 °F). The Parkway climbs to over 2,000 m (6,500 ft) at Bow Summit and Sunwapta Pass, where it is much cooler, and the Columbia Icefield makes its own cold wind; expect 10 °C (50 °F) or less on the glacier, and near-freezing nights even in summer. Afternoon thunderstorms are common, snow can fall at the passes in any month, and late-summer wildfire smoke can haze the views. These are seasonal expectations, not a forecast for your travel date; check the Environment and Climate Change Canada forecast the evening before and the morning of your trip.
Admission and parking are separate. Check current conditions before departure.
A full summer day in Banff from Calgary: the big blue lake and Stewart Canyon at Lake Minnewanka, Mount Rundle over Two Jack Lake, lunch on Banff Avenue, the hot spring cave where Canada's national parks began, Bow Falls, and an evening ride up Sulphur Mountain on the Banff Gondola.
Ride Parks Canada's shuttle to Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks, take the Lake Connector to Lake Louise, hike up to the Lake Agnes Tea House for lunch, then drive home along the Bow Valley Parkway past Morant's Curve to the falls of Johnston Canyon.
Drive the Kananaskis Trail, Highway 40, south from the Trans-Canada: turquoise Barrier Lake, a short forest walk to Troll Falls, a picnic and a climb to Rawson Lake above Upper Kananaskis Lake, the top of Highwood Pass, Canada's highest paved road, and dinner in Canmore on the way home.
Drive out of Calgary across the prairie and drop into the Red Deer River badlands: the rim of Horseshoe Canyon, the dinosaur halls of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Canada's last wooden coal tipple at the Atlas Coal Mine, the capped sandstone pillars of the Willow Creek Hoodoos, and a swaying miners' footbridge over the river at Rosedale.
A day in the ranch and prairie country south of Calgary: the Cowboy Trail to the Bar U Ranch, the North-West Mounted Police fort at Fort Macleod, and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, the UNESCO World Heritage Site where the Blackfoot people drove bison over a sandstone cliff for thousands of years. Dinner on Fort Macleod's historic Main Street.
One full day of the Calgary Stampede: the downtown parade on opening Friday (or a free pancake breakfast on other days), Elbow River Camp and the barns at Stampede Park, the afternoon rodeo, a walk through the site of Fort Calgary to dinner in Inglewood, and the chuckwagon races and fireworks of the Evening Show.
Two nights in Waterton, where the prairie runs straight into the mountains: Cameron Falls and the Prince of Wales Hotel on Friday evening, a hike to Lower Bertha Falls, a cruise down Upper Waterton Lake and the red rock of Red Rock Canyon on Saturday, and a calm early morning at Cameron Lake before the drive home. The park is still growing back from the 2017 Kenow Wildfire, and the guide says where you'll see it.