My wife and I needed some time off but did not have a lot of time, so early last October we packed up our van with our dog and filled the cooler with the stuff for breakfasts and lunches and headed off to make a quick weekend of it.

Our Route

We wanted a stress free weekend so we avoided Alberta’s busiest highway, Highway 2 South now named Queen Elizabeth 2 Highway or as we call it here in Alberta the QE2. For the most part it is a fast highway but it can be stressful, as it has lots of high speed traffic. So to remain stress free we headed west from Spruce Grove on Highway 16 and turned south on highway 29 to Warburg where we headed west towards Drayton Valley. Before getting to Drayton Valley we turned south on Highway 22 and remained on Highway 22 until turning west on Highway 1A we then followed 1A on in to Banff where we stayed the night. We arrived in Banff around 7 pm but we took our time stopping to get out and hike a couple of times once we were in the Banff National Park and of course stopped to let the dog out and eat lunch and make snacks.

The next morning we headed west on Hwy. 1 North West from Banff and then took Hwy. 93 north to Jasper. We stopped often taking small walking treks of the Hwy. to take pictures and admire the view.

Arriving in Jasper we headed east on Hwy. 16 and made back home to Spruce Grove by early evening, Culminating our quick two day trip, leaving us Sunday to rest up for the next work week.

Sites

In the late afternoon of our first day we arrived at Grotto Canyon which is just east of Canmore on Hwy. 1A. There is a nice rest area with picnic tables by a small pond. It has clean washrooms and is the trail head for Grotto Canyon. We did not have time to hike the full trail but you can get the idea of the area from the attached pictures. I would like to go back one day and hike the almost 3 miles to the end as it has some petrographs that I would like to see. (add images) Our dog Annie was really glad to be out of the car and stretch her legs as this was the longest drive of the trip.

Upon leaving Grotto Canyon we got on Hwy 1 at Canmore and headed in to Banff to spend the night. After checking in and dinner we took a stroll down busy Banff Avenue which is full of tourists taking in the street.

The next morning we rose early and headed toward Jasper. We stopped often at various turnouts along the way to take pictures and walk the dog. As well we stopped at picnic sites for the occasional snack. The accompanying pictures tell the tale better than words.

As we entered Jasper we found a herd of elk at the south end of Jasper town on Hwy. 16 east bound. Near the eastern edge of the park along the highway near the lakes you can often see big horn sheep and this trip was no exception. After taking some photos of them and the fall colours, and being not being hungry we picked up the pass after leaving the park around 5 pm and made a dash for home and were home before dark.

All in all it was a great trip and need to do this trip more often and will.

Please see our photo Gallery to view all images of this trip