Legacy Trail

Elevation: 1410 m
Elevation Gain: 290 m (cumulative)
The Legacy Trail (or Rocky Mountain Legacy Trail) is a scenic commuter pathway that parallels Highway 1 between the mountain towns of Canmore and Banff, AB. Beyond Banff, the trail continues alongside the Vermilion Lakes until Highway 1A. On the Canmore end, the trail is currently being extended to bring users to the Canmore Nordic Center. The trail was built to celebrate Banff National Park’s 125th anniversary. Its “legacy” is that it encourages visitors and Bow Valley residents to explore this majestic landscape in an environmentally friendly way.
My Ascents:
July 5 2021
Trailhead: Travel Alberta Canmore Visitor Information Center
GPS Track: Legacy Trail

Since the Legacy trail opened in 2010, I must have driven alongside it hundreds of times. Each time that I did, I saw a plethora of cyclists enjoying the slower, scenic commute between Canmore and Banff. Indeed, Legacy looked like a fun way to spend a day in the mountains but, because it’s not a summit, it always took a backseat to higher-elevation aspirations.

With bikes on-hand during a recent Canmore camping trip, however, we decided to put them to good use. Initially, we’d planned to cycle the Bow Valley Parkway to Johnston’s Canyon, however, Parks Canada’s (extremely sudden) reopening of that 6-km stretch of highway to traffic made that bike ride unappealing. While the Canyon could still be accessed via the closed highway on the Banff side, the 34-km return distance was deemed to be “too long” for a ride with our kids.

In need of a good “plan B”, we, therefore, decided on the Legacy Trail (without doing a lick of research ahead of time). For some reason, I had it in my head that Legacy was 11-km each way (22-km return) and told Brianne as much. She agreed to it and I, apparently, lied (sidenote: this will come as no surprise to anyone who’s ever asked me “how much farther?” while hiking). Turns out that Banff and Canmore are farther apart than they feel in a car (22.5 km each way via the Legacy Trail for the record) … Oops!

LEFT: Starting out from the Canmore Visitor Information Center, we easily located the nearby trail and began our, longer-than-anticipated, journey.
RIGHT: Because we crave adventure (and you can’t have an adventure without something going awry), we started our bike trip with a BANG (literally). Moments after we set off, the tire on 3-year-old Penny’s Chariot EXPLODED. After similar technical difficulties on our bike ride to Sundance Canyon a few days earlier, this had us questioning our desire to cycle in the Rockies. Since the Hobbs’ aren’t quitters, however, Brianne entertained the kids while I rode into Canmore in search of a bike repair shop…
An hour later, I returned with a new tire and we started off anew!

Following a, sometimes, twisty 4.5-km through the forest (wee!), we reach Banff National Park’s east gate. Uncharacteristically, there was no park pass checkpoint!

LEFT: Brianne and 5-year-old Mera cycle along the trail parallel to the Trans-Canada Highway. As mentioned earlier, we’ve driven this stretch hundreds of times but the slower pace we enjoyed on this day, allowed us to appreciate details we’d never noticed previously. This, alone, is a good reason to cycle the Legacy Trail. Having said that, the nearby Highway was extremely loud. While this might be a deterrent to most, it did effectively drown out almost all whining that emanated from our children…
RIGHT: Stopping for a little rest at the Valleyview picnic area about midway between Canmore and Banff.

Mera and Penny #ShareTheChair at the foot of mighty Mount Rundle.

Penny clearly enjoyed the effortless (for her) ride to this point.

Brianne and Mera Goofball pose next to a pretty Legacy Trail sign (which is at the trail’s midpoint not its start for some reason). While Brianne had begun to suspect that our journey would not be 11 km as advertised, the sign behind her (which listed the distance to Canmore as 9.4 km and the distance to Banff as 10.9 km) officially confirmed as much!

With a longer trip than we’d planned still ahead of us, we enjoyed a quick snack at the picnic area and set off anew towards Banff.

After a roller coaster of a downhill, the trail dipped below the nearby Highway and followed a pretty creek upstream towards cloud-capped Cascade Mountain. It was at this point that Brianne realized that we were now on the inside (wrong side) of the wildlife fence that parallels Highway 1. Yo Bear! 🐻

LEFT: Who knew that the wildlife fence near Banff is electric? As the trail passed back to the outside of the fence, we cruised over electric mats which keep the animals from wandering through the Legacy Trail’s gates. According to Parks Canada, dismounting here would be “uncomfortable, but not harmful.” We didn’t hop off to check so I can neither confirm nor deny!
RIGHT: Brianne and her tag-along on final approach into Banff (20.3-km after we started our “11 km” bike ride).

Mera provided entertainment in the form of “bear noises” as we cycled the trail’s final section towards Banff Avenue.

LEFT: Since the bike ride had proven longer than anticipated (oops), we decided to continue into the heart of Banff in search of refreshments. While the final section of the trail is shared with vehicle traffic, the local 30 km/h speed limit and designated cycling lanes made for a stress-free experience on the road. Better still, the complimentary “Bike Valet” on Banff Avenue allowed us to enjoy our time in town without worrying about our 2-wheeled steeds.
RIGHT: Refueling for the (apparently) 22.5-km bike ride back to Canmore! Normally, I abhor the Town of Banff but I must admit that the experience has been considerably improved thanks to the pop-up patios and pedestrian-only roads that now make up its heart during summer months.

LEFT and RIGHT: Mera and Penny decided to dress for winter (and order accordingly – hot chocolates) despite the fact that it was 24 degrees C outside.

A quick family selfie on the pretty, flower-lined Banff Avenue median. Thanks to the Town of Banff for keeping this closed to vehicle traffic so we could enjoy this spot and its shops and restaurants for the first time in ages.

After successfully “refueling” in Banff, we started back towards Canmore, now fully aware of the remaining distance between us and our car!

Storm clouds brooded over Mount Rundle as we passed back along its base. Worse still, the clouds that were quickly approaching at our backs began to rumble as they darkened significantly. At one point, an oncoming cyclist urged us “Don’t look back!” as we pedaled with increased urgency towards Canmore.

Misty mountains greeted us as we neared Canmore. From left to right: Mount Lougheed, the Three Sisters (Charity, Hope and Faith), Ship’s Prow, Mount Lawrence Grassi and Ha Ling Peak.

LEFT: Cycling furiously to a chorus of “Beat the Storm! Beat – Beat the Storm!” we finally reached Canmore (just after the skies opened up, soaking us).
RIGHT: All’s well that ends well! Having biked some 45-km with our kids (23-km of which were unexpected), we treated ourselves to an overdue trip to the Grizzly Paw to dry off, enjoy a well-earned dinner out and gather “provisions”!
Clearly, our trip along the Legacy Trail could have been better-planned but I’m fine with the way things turned out. Afterall, you can’t plan a good adventure (or it ceases to be one)!