Advice on Canadian Rockies [Jul 2005] pls.

hi

i am planning to visit the Canadian Rockies (start from Calgary to
Banff up to Jasper then to Vancouver) on July (2005), can anyone tell
me:

1) what is the temperature? rainfall?
2) is it the most crowded period for the whole year?
3) is it only the Icefields Parkway charged? i plan to stay for 5
days... i know it is charged to enter the national park, but where
exactly are the toll gates?
4) i plan to stay in motel. do anyone has cheap but reasonable quality
motel recommend? 'Travelocity' has quite some 'expensive' options
(CAD140-200 /night).
5) easy to find gas stationa along Hwy 1 & Icefields Parkway?

Thank you.

Hunter wrote:
hi

i am planning to visit the Canadian Rockies (start from Calgary to
Banff up to Jasper then to Vancouver) on July (2005), can anyone tell
me:

1) what is the temperature? rainfall?

Depends...I've seen snow in July in Banff...mostly depends on where you are
and at what elevation...

It can get in the high 20's or go down to freezing...

2) is it the most crowded period for the whole year?

I beleive so...

"Hunter" wrote in message
...
hi

i am planning to visit the Canadian Rockies (start from Calgary to
Banff up to Jasper then to Vancouver) on July (2005), can anyone tell
me:

1) what is the temperature? rainfall?

Daily highs should reach at least the low 20's, but you may see 15-20 if it
gets nasty. Overnight it could drop to around the 5 degree mark. Not much
rain shold fall. Try www.weather.com and select "records and averages" link
for the city you want the forecast for.


2) is it the most crowded period for the whole year?

Yes, Canadians don't wait until August to take vacation. School is out in
July and August and since the weather is also the best in July it should be
a little more crowded than August.


3) is it only the Icefields Parkway charged? i plan to stay for 5
days... i know it is charged to enter the national park, but where
exactly are the toll gates?

You will enter Banff national park first, about an hour from Calgary, and
you will buy a National Park pass that will be good for yout entire trip.
You just slow down, drive up to the nice man/woman in the booth and pay for
a pass before driving on.

4) i plan to stay in motel. do anyone has cheap but reasonable quality
motel recommend? 'Travelocity' has quite some 'expensive' options
(CAD140-200 /night).


There is not a lot of developed accomodation in the National Parks - that's
why they are parks - and you are going in the peak season, so you won't do
much better than what you quoted. I don't have any specific recommendations
below that range.


5) easy to find gas stationa along Hwy 1 & Icefields Parkway?

You won't find a gas station, I don't think, outside of the towns in the
park - Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, etcc. When you are in a town, but gas.
Since you can drive from Calgary to Jasper and most of the way back on one
tank in most North American cars it is not an issue.






Thank you.

You're welcome
Now you should ask what you should see while there. There is a lot more than
the Icefields Parkway.

On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 12:13:18 +0800, Hunter wrote:

hi

i am planning to visit the Canadian Rockies (start from Calgary to
Banff up to Jasper then to Vancouver) on July (2005), can anyone tell
me:

1) what is the temperature? rainfall?
2) is it the most crowded period for the whole year?
3) is it only the Icefields Parkway charged? i plan to stay for 5
days... i know it is charged to enter the national park, but where
exactly are the toll gates?
4) i plan to stay in motel. do anyone has cheap but reasonable quality
motel recommend? 'Travelocity' has quite some 'expensive' options
(CAD140-200 /night).
5) easy to find gas stationa along Hwy 1 & Icefields Parkway?

Thank you.

I drove the Canadian Rockies starting at Jasper (Entrance)didn't pay a
fee(Park personnel were on strike). Suggest you find a nice set of
accomendation and just travel back and forth to the park, ( Pick
various sites you want to see and proceed from there.) Since we
entered the Park from the North East side-we stayed at the Folding
Mountain Resort ( East of Jasper), rates were very reasonable,this
gave us a jumping point to travel into the Park ( Muncho Lake) .etc.
The resort has cabins,motel, RV Park Campsite, and a excellent
Restaurant.( I believe we paid 85+ Can $ a night) We also used the
resturant facilities in the Town of Hinton a short drive away. The
drive from Jasper to Banff ( Icefields Parkway) is Excellent, seen a
lot of wildlife and visited other sites along the way.We departed the
park. We got off the parkway at Radium Hot springs, since we were
traveling on to Glacier NP in Montana. If I remember correctly the
Entrance cost was $10 CDN and was good for 48 hours.
We traveled the last week of AUGUST, weather was super,really enjoyed
the Park. Since it was the next to the last leg of a 2 month Journey
through Alaska, Yukon,BC, Alberta and US, we only spent 3 days at the
park, however I would highly reccomend it to anyone-I definetly could
spend a week there.
You can view the Folding Mountain Rates (High/Low) season at:
www. foldingmountain.com
Ted Elston

"Claim Guy" ) writes:
"Hunter" wrote

i am planning to visit the Canadian Rockies (start from Calgary to
Banff up to Jasper then to Vancouver) on July (2005), can anyone tell
me:

4) i plan to stay in motel. do anyone has cheap but reasonable quality
motel recommend? 'Travelocity' has quite some 'expensive' options
(CAD140-200 /night).

There is not a lot of developed accomodation in the National Parks - that's
why they are parks - and you are going in the peak season, so you won't do
much better than what you quoted. I don't have any specific recommendations
below that range.

Many private homes in Jasper rent out rooms. Most of these are
not bed & breakfasts, though some do offer breakfast. They're
generally cheaper than hotels. Some people are turned off by
the idea of staying in somebody's home, so it's not for everybody,
but I've stayed in homes on two visits to Jasper, and would do
so again. Listings are at URL:http://www.stayinjasper.com/.

One place I can particularly recommend is
URL:http://www.visit-jasper.com/cabincreekcorner.html.
A nice place with very helpful and friendly (but non-intrusive)
hosts.

Tom Box or
Toronto, ON, Canada

Hunter wrote:
hi

i am planning to visit the Canadian Rockies (start from Calgary to
Banff up to Jasper then to Vancouver) on July (2005), can anyone tell
me:

1) what is the temperature? rainfall?

Varies quite a bit, but in general daytime highs will run between 20 and
25 Celsius in July. Might rain 1 day in 5 on average.

2) is it the most crowded period for the whole year?

Very much so. Banff is wall-to-wall tourists from early June to early
September, which is peak season. BTW, most summer visitors are not
Canadians, as one other poster has suggested. The preponderance of
overnight visitors to Banff are Americans, Brits, Germans, and Asians
(Japan has traditionally dominated this field, but increasingly affluent
tourists from Korea and China are now becoming major constituents.)

3) is it only the Icefields Parkway charged? i plan to stay for 5
days... i know it is charged to enter the national park, but where
exactly are the toll gates?

You can actually enter the national parks without being forced to buy a
pass. This is because traffic driving non-stop through the parks on
their way to other places do not have to pay park fees. The exception,
as you noted, is the Icefields Parkway -- everyone who drives on that
road must have a valid pass. In any case, it makes no sense to visit
any part of the national parks without a pass, as without one you cannot
legally stop anywhere in the park -- even for a bathroom break or to
ogle the scenery.

The only 24-hour toll gates are at the eastern entrances to Jasper NP
and Banff NP, respectively. You can also buy passes at any Parks Canada
visitor's centre in the parks, such as the one in downtown Banff, but
their open hours are limited. You can buy single-day or annual passes.

4) i plan to stay in motel. do anyone has cheap but reasonable quality
motel recommend? 'Travelocity' has quite some 'expensive' options
(CAD140-200 /night).

$140 - $200 a night is not at all expensive in Banff and Jasper NPs, at
least not in peak season (they drop to about half that the rest of the
year.) Consider that at the five-star resorts such as the Banff Springs
and Chateau Lake Louise a very modest room with no view starts at around
$475 a night in summer.

You will find prices slightly lower immediately outside Banff National
Park at Canmore, and it's a bit nicer place than Banff to relax at the
end of a busy day as it is not quite so busy and crowded.

For about the only economy lodgings anywhere near Banff, your best bet
is the little cluster of motels at a tiny village called Dead Man's
Flats, which is just a few KM east of Canmore, and about 1/2 hour drive
to downtown Banff. (Don't let the name of the village concern you, as
there have not been any cattle-rustlers lynched there for a very long
time now -- probably twenty years at least.) Bighorn Motel is the
largest; the others are the Green Acres Motel and the Pigeon Mountain
Motel. Rates run around $80 a night at these places. I've stayed at
the Bighorn and it's perfectly clean and comfortable.

You definitely want to go to www.travelalberta.com and order up a
printed copy of the Alberta Tourist Accommodation Guide. It's free, and
it will prove invaluable. Order a 2004 copy now; you can pick up a 2005
copy once you're actually in Alberta, although very little will change
between now and then except for a slight increase in prices, perhaps.

5) easy to find gas stationa along Hwy 1 & Icefields Parkway?

There are a couple of stations along the route, but you do not want to
buy gas on the Parkway as it's priced at a premium (it's expensive to
truck gas out to remote service stations on the parkway, and there's
virtually no competition around to encourage low prices.) Gas is
generally competitively priced in both Banff and Jasper townsites, and
even more so out in Canmore, so gas up there before you start out.

Finally, visit www.parkscanada.gc.ca, as this is your ultimate source of
reliable information on your visit to our national parks.


Thank you.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 02:23:05 GMT, Hinky
wrote:

Hunter wrote:
hi

i am planning to visit the Canadian Rockies (start from Calgary to
Banff up to Jasper then to Vancouver) on July (2005), can anyone tell
me:

1) what is the temperature? rainfall?

Varies quite a bit, but in general daytime highs will run between 20 and
25 Celsius in July. Might rain 1 day in 5 on average.

2) is it the most crowded period for the whole year?

Very much so. Banff is wall-to-wall tourists from early June to early
September, which is peak season. BTW, most summer visitors are not
Canadians, as one other poster has suggested. The preponderance of
overnight visitors to Banff are Americans, Brits, Germans, and Asians
(Japan has traditionally dominated this field, but increasingly affluent
tourists from Korea and China are now becoming major constituents.)

3) is it only the Icefields Parkway charged? i plan to stay for 5
days... i know it is charged to enter the national park, but where
exactly are the toll gates?

You can actually enter the national parks without being forced to buy a
pass. This is because traffic driving non-stop through the parks on
their way to other places do not have to pay park fees. The exception,
as you noted, is the Icefields Parkway -- everyone who drives on that
road must have a valid pass. In any case, it makes no sense to visit
any part of the national parks without a pass, as without one you cannot
legally stop anywhere in the park -- even for a bathroom break or to
ogle the scenery.

The only 24-hour toll gates are at the eastern entrances to Jasper NP
and Banff NP, respectively. You can also buy passes at any Parks Canada
visitor's centre in the parks, such as the one in downtown Banff, but
their open hours are limited. You can buy single-day or annual passes.

4) i plan to stay in motel. do anyone has cheap but reasonable quality
motel recommend? 'Travelocity' has quite some 'expensive' options
(CAD140-200 /night).

$140 - $200 a night is not at all expensive in Banff and Jasper NPs, at
least not in peak season (they drop to about half that the rest of the
year.) Consider that at the five-star resorts such as the Banff Springs
and Chateau Lake Louise a very modest room with no view starts at around
$475 a night in summer.

You will find prices slightly lower immediately outside Banff National
Park at Canmore, and it's a bit nicer place than Banff to relax at the
end of a busy day as it is not quite so busy and crowded.

For about the only economy lodgings anywhere near Banff, your best bet
is the little cluster of motels at a tiny village called Dead Man's
Flats, which is just a few KM east of Canmore, and about 1/2 hour drive
to downtown Banff. (Don't let the name of the village concern you, as
there have not been any cattle-rustlers lynched there for a very long
time now -- probably twenty years at least.) Bighorn Motel is the
largest; the others are the Green Acres Motel and the Pigeon Mountain
Motel. Rates run around $80 a night at these places. I've stayed at
the Bighorn and it's perfectly clean and comfortable.

You definitely want to go to www.travelalberta.com and order up a
printed copy of the Alberta Tourist Accommodation Guide. It's free, and
it will prove invaluable. Order a 2004 copy now; you can pick up a 2005
copy once you're actually in Alberta, although very little will change
between now and then except for a slight increase in prices, perhaps.

5) easy to find gas stationa along Hwy 1 & Icefields Parkway?

There are a couple of stations along the route, but you do not want to
buy gas on the Parkway as it's priced at a premium (it's expensive to
truck gas out to remote service stations on the parkway, and there's
virtually no competition around to encourage low prices.) Gas is
generally competitively priced in both Banff and Jasper townsites, and
even more so out in Canmore, so gas up there before you start out.

Finally, visit www.parkscanada.gc.ca, as this is your ultimate source of
reliable information on your visit to our national parks.


Thank you.