Not enough cycling, then continue on the Banff Legacy Trail
Vermillion Lake
Vermillion Lakes – Bear in area warning.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
The trail continues through the town on designated streets towards Mount Norquay Road and the Vermillion Lakes Road located on the west side of Mount Norquay Road just before the ramps to the Trans-Canada Highway. Vermillion Lakes Road dead-ends just past the lakes. The roadway provides people a chance to see the lake, Banff on the other side of the ponds, and Mount Rundle. Chances of spotting animals are also there. For our trip, the Park Warden had put up “Bear in the area” warning signs. Black or Grizzly bear was not stated, just bear. Sorry, we did not spot one.
Vermillion Lakes Road.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
Vermillion Lakes Road and Rundle Mountain.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
Vermillion Lakes Road and Rundle Mountain.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
Then the Legacy Trail continues as a bike trail connecting to the Bow Valley Parkway.
Bike path entrance from Vermillion Lakes Road to Bow Valley Parkway.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
Bike path from Vermillion Lakes Road to Bow Valley Parkway; paralleling the Trans-Canada Highway.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
Bike path from Vermillion Lakes Road to Bow Valley Parkway; paralleling the Trans-Canada Highway.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
On the way to Lake Louise
The Bow Valley Parkway.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
Cyclists can continue to enjoy their connection with nature, the mountain scenes, and local animals by cycling the 50 kilometres to Lake Louise on this parkway. Elks are not uncommon inhabitants along this road. Mule and whitetail deer, wolves, coyotes, big horned sheep and mountain goats may also be seen, as was an adult ram with a nice set of horns on this trip. Unfortunately, the moose population disappeared with a liver disease years ago.
The Bow Valley Parkway.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
With speed limited to 60 kilometres and the faster Trans-Canada Highway a couple of kilometres away, the car traffic tends to be light. It should be noted that there are restrictions for passage on the parkway for car drivers and for cyclists depending on the time of the year as animals do feed in this area.
The Bow Valley Parkway.
Photograph by H-JEH Becker, 2012
There are options for cyclists. One can cycle the full way to Lake Louise and then double back or take the Trans-Canada Highway back providing a quite different view. One can also cut over to Highway #1 at Highway #93 at Castle Mountain. Along the way the mouse meadows, Johnston Canyon, Castle Mountain, and Baker Creek will be passed or can be places to spend sometime at.
After Words
Cycling back to Calgary today was a pleasant experience with a strong tailwind. There was a long section of highway with a small upward incline. I had stopped pedalling and still was sailing along at 24 kilometres per hour after a kilometer or two. Now if all trips were like that, the exercise value of cycling would go down but the trip would be very enjoyable.
This blog will be presented in five parts and released a week apart starting with 2012-08-09.
The next blog will give some comments on the design of the trail.
Third Wave Cycling Blog 
I am very excited to see this great trail built in Banff. We were there years ago and did the whole thing on the side of the road, so the trail is a huge improvement. Your articles and photos are excellent. Do you have your GPS tracks of the ride? Would love to see the trail in Google Maps! colleenmacd@gmail.com
The route is relatively flat. Just be forewarned that there is often a slight headwind from the north…it seems to happen at least 70% of the time when we’ve cycled it between Canmore and Banff. You get onto the trail from Harvie Heights neighbourhood in Canmore.
Did you gps your tracks?