Budget travel save $$ planning for the Rockies like a local

Hey steemies!!

It's so cold I think I need to keep writing posts to keep warm, since I seem to be on a roll I might as well keep going! Don't get used to it tho. I'm committed to being more active just not that active!! Maybe just trying to catch up before I get flooded with new material and projects that will just snowball into another 1000 pictures going un-posted. In the event of our upcoming trip, I thought it would be a good idea to bring you behind the scenes a bit more as to how we plan and stretch our dollar a little. As a local, it has gotten easy for me since I go regularly and spend my fair share of time in the park. I remember in the beginning how overwhelming it can get when you don't know. Of course we are the "we will take a picture for you" if you run up to us with your device or the we will tell you some of the best views for photography or where to eat kinda people and get to interact with visitors quite a bit and frequently asked questions they wished they would have known before hand.

Endless Chain along the Icefield Parkway, Jasper National Park.

Most of you aren't locals and probably can't drive there so airports are most likely your starting point but there is 2 major internationals, which one do I pick? That is certainly a re-occurring topic visitors struggle a bit with. Where are you going? Are you staying in one park or will you be driving around to several and in what order? If going or starting in Jasper and the Columbia Icefields or Mount Robson, Edmonton is your landing strip. If your destination is Banff, Lake Louise or Kananaskis, your best bet is going to Calgary. Picking the right airport can save you hours of driving. Should I rent a car if flying here or is there other ways around? Probably best to rent a car directly from the airport. There is plenty of tours and shuttles that transport you to the busiest locations as well if you don't want to drive in the madness but a vehicle offers so much more independence especially if you chose to stay outside of the resorts.

Columbia Icefield glacier tour. You will wish you had one of these to get thru traffic in the park's busy narrow downtown streets.

Should I travel to as many parks as I can on a 1-2 week vacation or should I stay more in one location? Your vacation, your choice, here is the thing...the place is bigger than many expect and there is so much to see in each location, you are probably better off sticking to one or the other for your stay or you will miss out on so much. There is more to the Rockies than meet the eye. Staying in one location still requires a good deal of driving thru the spectacular peaks on narrow winding roads to fully experience, I promise you wont get bored or run out of places to see. I go for almost a week at a time several times a year and I always covet more than what we have time to do.

Icefield Parkway, Jasper National Park.

How to pick accommodations? In the park, to keep a balance, it can only accommodate X amount of people at a time, places book fast and will cost you a pretty penny. If your cool with that than carry on with regular online booking tools that already exist If you are looking to cut costs (where a vehicle comes in handy) @ladybug146's got ya. I don't particularly like overpaying for room or cabin either and prefer using that towards an over the top tour or experience or 2 instead maybe even stay an extra night so we tend to look in small towns right outside the park. Also note weekdays and week-end pricing have a substantial difference, there is some savings to be had going mostly during the week. A bonus, the park also isn't as busy, best for photography.

Kinney Lake, Mount Robson Provincial Park.

GOING TO JASPER

• I apologize in advance but peeps...Hinton! Those who know Alberta, your probably rolling on the floor laughing but seriously, hotels are dirt cheap there. Why? well for those who don't know, it's a really small pulp mill town with not much going on that reminds me of where I grew up but it has all the basics. Word to the wise, fill up your gas tank there before leaving for Jasper, gas is cheaper in Hinton. (While driving thru the Rockies gas stations are far and few between). You may not wake up to that picturesque mountain view being about half hour's drive from Jasper and under $100/night for a clean comfortable basic room with a king-size bed & breakfast still makes a solid case for it even if you have to drive to Jasper everyday to get the view.

GOING TO BANFF

• Canmore, although it's become more popular and costs are rising, is one of the most charming little town to stay in still considered a "resort town" with it's own share of the local tourism industry. Many apartment buildings are a mix of owned/ long term lease tenants/ short term nightly/weekly rental of apartment suite. They generally offer a balcony view worthy of waking up at sunrise for and underground parking garage, common pool and hot tub. They are cost efficient, clean and convenient with a full kitchen and in suite laundry. They can be found on regular hotel booking tools. Canmore & Kananaskis are filled with hidden treasures as beautiful as Banff with all the surrounding provincial parks and recreational areas, don't forget to give it some attention too. If you are there for photography it's quiet and you will feel like you have the place to yourself in a more back-country experience. Very peaceful but more remote as soon as you leave town and get deeper into Kananaskis, additional precautions & prep required. Canmore is about 30 min highway driving from Banff.

Looking down on Canmore, the view on the way to a popular local recreational area on top of the three sisters. As you can see, this is no Hinton and still dead smack in the middle of awesomeness as equally breathtaking as the town of Banff without all the tourists.

GOING TO DISAPPEAR FROM CIVILIZATION

• Yeah that's right, I got spots on the cheap for the Cabin and chill vacay too! If you are looking to mostly disappear into the mountains and not too concerned in site seeing the hottest lake or waterfall but just enjoy some quiet relaxing time in and be left alone with a hike here and there or even some snowmobiling. You wont be bothered in the quiet railroad village of Valemount. Still coming in Via Edmonton and Jasper, the small village is nestled just after Mount Robson Provincial Park on the British-Columbia side of things, flies under the international radar but it's a nice place to stay. Fully equipped cabins including kitchen and fireplace located on a homestead, off season you can probably get away with $100 to $150/night and is even suitable for a small family with a double and single bed in one room and a pull-out sofa in the living room. The village is small and remote, makes Jasper look like a major urban center. Don't expect fancy tours or anything superficial but still has a couple of things like a small supermarket and a gas station. You might find a subway sandwich shop and an A&W burger joint. To be realistic, Jasper is the closest urban-ish area. Great if you want to center your exploration in Mont Robson Provincial Park or the Yellowhead Pass. Be advised, the roads can get really bad here with avalanche zones during winter storms, keep that in consideration.

Log cabin at the Twin Peak Resort,This place is owned by
a local family on their homestead, very friendly. It is possible to
go view the mini horses and goats, you will most likely hear them
during your stay, super cute.

Mount Robson. The Face you see is in British-Columbia, the backside is in Alberta bordering Jasper National Park. This is pretty close to the inter-Provincial border also a major access passage for highway and railway between neighbors separated by a big rocky fence.

To be honest, the Hinton advantage is why we mainly go to Jasper in winter. We prefer going camping in the summer because it's much cheaper and we can go more often really stretching that budget with most campgrounds with shower/bathroom access seem to run around $30/night in the neighboring provincial parks but it's way to cold for that in winter and it's truly a frozen wonderland to be experienced yet we get to avoid one of the sketchiest piece of road during bad conditions without being trapped there. It can get super expensive real fast in the park especially with entry to certain areas or activities like cable cars and tours and museums, eating out, it adds up fast. The money saved is better spent on making unforgettable once in a lifetime memories. All price ranges I list are in Canadian funds just in case you are wondering.

Zeus, one of the grey wolf resident at the Yamnuska Wolf sanctuary. The Shelter operates out of Cochrane, Alberta(near Canmore). The non-profit offer guided tour in the pens with wolves along with information on rescues and care.

To enter the national park, there is a daily fee of $20 per vehicle or risk getting a fine and the rangers are pretty on point with that. Depending on how long you plan to stay, looking into a yearly pass for $140 can also save you some funds and is usable in any of the national parks across Canada (80+ locations). Having a pass saves waiting in long lines at the entry gate with a separate road for pass-holders to just drive on thru. If you really want to cash in, keep a picture of it on your phone that you can show as proof and you can get some discounts at different locations or even enter for free like at Banff Cave & Basin. Don't expect it everywhere but doesn't hurt to flash it around, you would be surprised. Just when we locals sometime feel priced out of our land because of it's popularity, if you are willing to show your ID as proof of Alberta residence and let them take down city and postal code you can claim additional discounts here and there, always ask the worst they say is no but many places we have been able to get 10% to 15% off entry fees.

Cave & Basin, Banff or the very first national park in the history
of Canada. Part of the Sulfur Mountain and hot spring cave network.

A mural that depict a historical scene how they would access the caves from a small opening from the top down into the hot sulfur water cave for healing and other sacred rituals. To this day, this water source remains sacred and to try to touch the water without the proper ritual would be considered disrespectful to the ancestors. Each Alberta national Park have a sacred area of high cultural significance dedicated to honor past traditions. You can take a dip higher up on Sulfur Mountain in the hot-spring pool and still enjoy the sulfur water's healing properties.

This was a mixed collection of some of my favorite cold looking pictures from various trips to continue this cold streak, some may have been posted before others didn't. I have been meaning to do these posts to help sort thru the business end of going on a Rockies vacation...the planing. On the next mountain posts, I will take you into the details of picking locations and activities in Jasper in honor of the upcoming trip and how we typically build our itinerary to explore in a semi-cohesive way. It's not always about the scenery, the land is full of culture, cheer and spirit no matter how cold it gets.

Stay warm! xox