TRAVEL | BANFF | SUNSHINE MEADOWS | CANADA
Finding Ourselves One Step Closer To Heaven
Being a tourist in my hometown — exploring Sunshine Meadows.
It was back in May when I started thinking about some of the local experiences that we should try and have while we are here. We are currently staying in my hometown of Canmore. Canmore and nearby Banff are major tourist attractions in Canada.
I haven’t stayed here in the summer for over 20 years, so it felt like a good opportunity to take in the area and see some of the sights that I haven’t seen in so many years. We haven’t done much at all that is touristy and I was starting to think that we should try and at least get up to Lake Louise for a visit. It is one of the most spectacular lakes in the world, after all.
I wanted to go up in May so that we would beat the hordes of tourists that come in July and August. But, when we made a plan in late May to go up, we found out that the lake was still covered in ice. Plus, one of the tea houses that I wanted to hike up to wasn’t even open for the season yet. So we delayed our trip.
Then suddenly June flashed by and the tourist season was upon us. I knew instinctively that we had missed our chance to freely walk around the lake. In the summer months, they don’t even allow regular car traffic up to the lake anymore because of the crowds of people. You have to take a public transport bus from closer to the highway, these days. Tickets for that should be booked online and paid for in advance.
Let's just say “Geesh!” We couldn’t be bothered with all of that.
Then one day, on YouTube, Instagram, or somewhere, I saw an ad flash past for Sunshine Meadows. It took a second of recognition, then I remembered what Sunshine Meadows is. It is the summer version of my childhood ski hill. The place I spent much of my youth at during many winter months.
The last time that I was there in the summer, I’m sure I must have been 6–8 years old. I have vague recollections of the area, but I really couldn’t remember exactly how it looked without mass quantities of snow covering it. I yearned to see it in its summer glory, plus, I read that it was wildflower season.
We had already been marveling at the wildflowers around Canmore recently, so this really intrigued me. Mountainsides covered in wildflowers! How can a person resist? I also felt like this would be a less busy place than somewhere like Lake Louise since it is less well-known.
I’m happy to say that I was right.
It was really great to be able to ride the 22-minute Roam Bus into Banff, then we caught a second free shuttle from downtown Banff, up to Sunshine Village. Getting to the Sunshine gondola base is only about a 20-minute drive from downtown Banff. It goes by in a flash as one stares out the windows at the beautiful mountains passing by.
We arrived at the base at 10:00 am and were happy to see that it wasn’t very busy at all. Certainly not in comparison to how busy it is in the winter during ski season. One can purchase tickets online for this excursion, but we opted to just buy them at the gondola base. There were only about 10 people in line in front of us. When we walked outside, I was thrilled to see that there wasn’t a line-up at all to get on the gondola. This meant that we had a 6 person gondola to ourselves.
Again, certainly never the situation in the winter!
The door slid shut behind us and we were whisked off into what can only be described as some sort of heaven.
Sheer cliff faces slid past us as our gondola cut its way up the mountain. They were recognizable, yet less foreboding than their winter counterparts. There were no frozen waterfalls, snow plumes or avalanche valleys to inspect. It was simply rock. Dry and glorious rock.
Arriving at the village I had another wave of strangeness hit me. Other than that time 40-some years ago, I had never seen the ski lodges without snow.
I must have announced, “This is so weird,” about 100 times throughout the day.
As we disembarked the gondola we got a stern lecture from one of the park employees telling us that we must stay on the trails and must not litter. Plus, it is unlawful to feed the wildlife or pick flowers! All common sense to us, but obviously not for others that aren’t used to such a pristine and untouched environment.
After a bathroom break and a quick trip through the impromptu interpretive center that they had set up, we headed for the Standish chairlift. This is the only chair open in the summer and it takes you to one of the best lookouts on the hill. By now we could feel the cool mountain wind blowing, and I donned my beanie and rain jacket to cut the wind on the open chairlift.
We were quite the pair trying to get on the chair as we stumbled around. Again, it was such a strange sensation to get on a chair like this without skis. We couldn’t wrap our heads around it. At one point we were even facing the wrong way! I’m sure those poor attendants have to deal with all sorts of silliness in that job.
A couple of dozen yards from the top of the chairlift is a viewing platform that looks out over the valley below. It is a stunning view and most people just come all the way up for this. But we had our eye on those emerald lakes below. We had no idea how far away they were but they didn’t look too far. We had all day to go do some exploring and we practically skipped down the trail with glee as we headed off.
It was a pretty rapid descent heading down to the lakes. We were so enamored with the flowers that we really weren’t paying attention to that part. But when we climbed back up later on, we surely noticed the steep incline that we had come down.
The wind subsided as we descended and we were able to take our jackets off. But the sun was also shining bright and we had to be careful that we didn’t get a sunburn.
Sadly, the wind subsiding also meant that the mosquitos were out. Since we were both covered head to toe in clothing, they weren’t really biting us, but they were swarming our faces and hands whenever we would sit down to have a snack break. This meant that our breaks were short as we would inevitably get annoyed and move on
The wildflowers were incredible and we could see that more varieties were on their way with the abundance of unopened buds. Initially, we were told that the best time for wildflower viewing is the last two weeks of July. But another friend also told us that the season may be early this year because of the warmer temperatures that we received in May and June.
Either way, even if more were on their way, we were not disappointed. I was especially excited to see the Alpine Paintbrushes in varying shades of pink. I only remembered them being red!
We found our way around all of the three lakes and took in as much of the scenery as we could. We stopped occasionally for snacks and laughed at the antics of the ground squirrels and chipmunks that would scurry about looking for crumbs that may fall on the ground. At one point Chris opened the zipper to the backpack and a ground squirrel perked right up.
I’m sure they know all the sounds that equate to free and easy food.
Despite the warnings from the staff not to feed the animals, sadly, I’m sure many do. It’s human nature after all.
We passed many creeks and small waterfalls that joined the lakes together. These scenes could only be described as magical fairy lands. Around each corner, it seemed, we would let out a gasp at the beauty that surrounded us. It has been a while since we have found ourselves immersed in such pristine nature. It truly took our breath away.
One of my favorite photos of the day, though, was when we rounded a corner and I saw these two trees. Please tell me that you see faces in these trees!? Or am I just completely losing it?
From lookouts that had us looking into vast wilderness landscapes, to small quaint spots at the shores of the lake. We couldn’t have asked for more variety and things to look at. It truly was an onslaught for all of the senses.
On the last lake that we wandered around, we saw a solitary loon floating on the surface, then diving down to do some fishing. I had hoped that it would come closer to us but it stayed in the middle of the lake. But a little further down the path, I found a white down feather.
Was it from the Loon?
Regardless, I deemed it my lucky feather and carried it with me for the remainder of the day.
One of our absolute favorite flowers to look at was the Pasque Flower. I’m not sure if these are the seed heads that are formed before or after the bloom, but we really got a kick out of the Dr. Seuss-esque appearance of them. Each one was a little bit different from the last and we started to think of them as sporting all sorts of different hairstyles.
I photographed so many of these, more than I would like to admit, but here are a few of my favorites.
At some point, well before the day was supposed to end, my left knee started giving me grief. It does this once in a while, especially on up and down slopes. Mostly down, actually.
So instead of continuing and following the trail back down to the village, we opted to hike back up and ride the chairlift back down. It was an intense cardio workout and it was then that we really realized how far we had dropped down in elevation.
And of course, one can’t resist a beverage while amongst the beauty and glory of our surroundings. With the outside seating in the blazing sun, we opted to hide inside the lodge instead. This lodge is the original lodge that was built here in 1927/28. It is as rustic as it gets and was the perfect location to enjoy a classic Canadian Caesar (see-zar). As I have stated in this article, Caesers come in many tastes. This one was a Maple Bacon Whiskey Caesar! Delicious!
After our delicious drink and some rest and relaxation away from the mosquitos, we limped our way back to the gondola station and embarked on the epic ride down then made our way back to Banff on the 4:20 shuttle.
We truly couldn’t have asked for a better day and we are so glad that we took this opportunity to explore my childhood backyard in such a different way than I ever have before.
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