If you love national parks but hate crowds, late autumn can be an excellent time to find space between two very different tourism rushes. Falling into this category, November is when we set out to experience greater Banff, Canada. While the snow was just sticking above a certain elevation, it had not accumulated enough to open chair lifts. The weather was cold, but bearable, and this made for the perfect condition to seek out the warmth of Radium Hot Springs in Kootenay National Park.
Finding inspiration for an epic Canadian out-and-back road trip adventure between Banff and Radium Hot Springs in this story–we tossed swim suits and towels in along with winter jackets and boots into the trunk–with the goal of arriving at the hot springs with ample time to soak before returning to Banff for a late evening meal.
Pro Tip: To bypass the lines of cars waiting to pay for a day pass into Banff and Kootenay National Parks, we highly recommend purchasing either a daily or annual Parks Canada Discovery Pass (the annual pass covers admission to more than 80 destinations for 12 months and seemed like a better deal as our trip spanned multiple days). We also paid the additional $4.50 shipping and handling fee to have our pass delivered by mail in advance of the trip (you’ll want to allow 6-20 business days for this service).
Hike Johnston Canyon
Our first stop was a hike at Johnston Canyon to the Lower Canyon falls (2.4km roundtrip with an Upper Falls hike 5km roundtrip). According to the official website, while the trails accessible year-round, the “canyon transforms in the winter, offering a magical experience with snow covered trails and frozen waterfalls.” This truly was a magical experience, but it was also quite icy and slippery and we wished we had remembered crampons to attach to the bottom of our boots. Other visitors we encountered remembered these and hiking poles and were making much better time and not relying on guardrails and core balance strength.
Arriving at the falls, I ventured through a small cavern to capture a photo of upper section of the lower falls, which had already made progress towards a deep winter freeze. It was at Johnston Canyon we encountered the most people, but still managed to find a parking spot in the day use area. You’ll also find modern toilets and running water at this location.
Turn Onto Highway 93 South
Pro Tips: Heed the “entering no cell phone coverage” signs at the start of this part of the road trip adventure. If you need to enter GPS coordinates or load an address into Google Maps, this is the time. If you want to listen to an audio book or Spotify playlist, be sure the content is downloaded directly to your smart phone. Another important safety consideration is the lack of fuel or service stations until you reach the village of Radium Hot Springs. An unexpected construction delay had our car idling longer than we expected and we rolled into town without enough gas for a return trip.
Straddle the Continental Divide
Keep an eye out for pull off to the Continental Divide day-use area. Here you can straddle the dividing line between the Pacific and Atlantic watersheds. We ended up making a brief stop to snap a photo (if you have a Premium Geocaching membership, there’s an easy Earth cache here) before jumping back into the car.
Find the Paint Pots
An easy to intermediate 2km hike to vibrant iron-rich mineral springs resembling paint pots, many other folks have documented this adventure in detail (this post shows a much muddier summertime experience). We had the entire trail to ourselves and found this peaceful and quiet experience to be a highlight of our entire vacation (the opposite of our slipperier walk at the beginning of the day; in deeper snow you may benefit from snowshoes).
We simply followed the footsteps of earlier visitors to the mineral springs, which were beautiful but muted by snow and overcast skies. We also weren’t entirely confident where the trail ended and the pools began, so we kept our distance and observed the trail continued further into the woods. Located near the Paint Pots is Marble Canyon with its deep chasms and narrow gorge; we opted to pass and press on as we felt we had gotten enough hiking in for the morning.
Soak at Radium Hot Springs
Before reaching the village of Radium Hot Springs, you’ll enter into Sinclair Canyon. Enter one of the two parking lots for Radium Hot Springs that flank both sides of Highway 93 (there’s a pedestrian tunnel under the road that takes you to the main entrance of the pathway that leads to the main entrance).
During our visit, the upper (cold) pool was closed for the maintenance, but the hot springs pool (with temps ranging between 37 and 40 degrees Celsius or 98 and 104 Fahrenheit) was a welcome sight. Popular with families, ramps that lead into the expansive pool make it accessible for visitors of all ages and abilities. The changing rooms are both clean and modern, with life jackets available if you need one. One of the larger hot springs pools we have ever visited, soaking at Radium Hot Springs felt like being in an Olympic-size swimming pool with plenty of room to float about (read more about the unique architecture of the building in this entry in the registry of historic places).
Before heading back North towards Banff, be sure to grab a bite to eat in the village of Radium Hot Springs (be on the lookout for bighorn sheep wandering around town). We liked the Horsethief Creak Pub & Eatery (The Old Salzburg Restaurant was on our list, but didn’t open until dinnertime). On your way back, enjoy the many scenic stops you may have missed along the way.
Happy trails!