Spring is the best time to visit Banff National Park

I've been looking forward to putting up some of these photos. @daveks who lives near by managed to take advantage of the glorious, summer like weather a day or two before - but we only had time to go out on the rainy days. The sunshine advantage is that you don't get wet, the rain advantage is all the beautiful low hanging clouds that make for some pretty pictures.

As you can see the ice still isn't off the lakes. There's some bare patches in the middle, but the edges are all still pretty frozen. Between heavy rains we spent a bunch of time like little kids breaking chunks of ice and throwing them into the middle of the lake. Even if you're old as dirt...you can still have fun. I think the tourists that were there thought we were crazy - they were too busy taking selfies.

As you know If you follow my other mountainy posts Lake Minnewanka is one of my favourite places. Given its proximity to Banff/Canmore (and the candy store) and some pretty epic mountains. It makes for a great place to go exploring. The front side is where all the tourists go, where the boat launch is and where all the cross lake boat tours are. But....if you hike around the back side of the lake it's all but empty. Most people don't bother...and on this day neither did we because we were wet and cold.

Driving up to Minnewanka there are two other lakes, the above lake is Two Jack. This one also has a nice walk around the far side of the lake to the camp ground. If you have kids, it's a great nature walk that isn't too strenuous.

Now is the time to visit

If you were planning a trip to Banff, Alberta. Get booking and come right now. I think spring is the best time to visit (even if the pictures above don't look like it). The parks aren't full of tourists yet, everything will be blooming, the animals are out and 'interested'. In the next couple of weeks the ice will break up and the scenery will be amazing. If you do end up coming, drop me a note and I'll give you some hiking tips.