June 11, 2026 Wasa Lake Provincial Park, BC to Wilcox Creek Campground, Alberta

Quiet and pretty empty campground this morning. We took showers which it seems runs off the passive solar panels on the roof which did a good job of dissipating any heat it collected yesterday, that is to say, we had cold showers this morning. Coffee and tea and then hit the road looking for a Tim Horton’s, because we are in Canada after all. Milo had Tim Horton coffee and a bagel and Deb had a London Fog Latte and a breakfast sandwich. The young guy at the counter told us about a beautiful stop at a scenic lookout which we later stopped at and it was indeed very scenic. We drove up Rt 93 until it hit Rt 1 and then headed to Banff, the town and the hotel. The town was swarming with people shopping mostly, and filled up with gas ($1.80 per liter as opposed to the usual $1.72). There are not many gas opportunities on the Icefields Parkway so we take no chances.

We found a coffee shop (Wild Flour Coffee and Cafe)  and then found the Banff Springs Hotel (the castle looking pace) but we were ready to get on the road. But it turned out that the train that runs through town ran through town but the lights and crossing gates did not return to the vertical position, so the whole town locked up. Over an hour went by with nobody moving, just sitting in our cars. After about an hour we noticed that there was a back way out of Banff about 5km east (I think). So we escaped and another train was just coming into Banff as we left so maybe they are still there trying to get the gate open.

It sprinkled off and on all day but mostly off. The mountain scenery is just never ending. As soon as you get your jaw off the dashboard from one mountain view, another one comes around the corner, then another and then another, all day long.

We stopped and hiked into Peyto Lake, about 700 meters, along with quite a few other folks. Snowbanks were still everywhere so some of the trail was on packed snow but the view of turquoise Peyto Lake was well worth it.

For lunch we had cheese and crackers and apples and then we played the “where do we camp tonight” game. Some campgrounds were full and some were closed, probably due to snow but the furthest one, Wilcox Creek was open with plenty of empty sites ($33.50).

We made a fire, cooked soup and made sandwiches for dinner and popped popcorn in our new microwave experiment (works great).

Reading and bed.