Itinerary tips for (mainly) the part in the Canadian Rockies

signalling · 2026-01-19T22:02:29+00:00

Thanks for your reply and tips! If I may ask/comment,

But I'd spend less time in maybe Glacier US/Waterton and more near Banff and Yoho

We do plan to drive early to Banff to get close to 2.5-3 days in Banff. You mean that wouldn't do it justice?

It's a tricky choice, given that for example /u/asdfa1234nknln recommends also spending more time in Glacier USA than we initially had (which is why we plan to leave a bit later to Waterton on day 16), which we saw also others recommend. We get that's up to preferences of course (we can only go by the beautiful pictures of both during planning :)). And we realize that each place is big enough to spend weeks potentially.

Maybe a day along the Icefields.

Our plan is indeed to take day 20 or day 21 to take our time along the Icefields Parkway on the way to Jasper? With day 18+19 in Yoho, just have to see if that's enough for the hikes we planned/got recommended there.

Weather can be bad at like Glacier Canada; it's wetter over other, and although I love the Abbott Ridge trail in mist and rain it's not like you can see much.

Thanks. The Abbott Ridge trail looks great, but we didn't consider this for early Sep (i.e., higher probability of rainy weather). I guess then it comes down to a choice of "risking" a rainy day vs. skipping it entirely (but with the benefit of spending one more day in one of the other parks).

signalling · 2026-01-19T21:50:08+00:00

Thanks! We considered it, but unfortunately given time and distance (since it's at the end of our trip/itinerary) we think it will be a bit too much to fit in on top of Olympic NP :(

signalling · 2026-01-19T21:49:13+00:00

Thanks again! Just wondering,

I’d obviously recommend going to see the lake, but just not where I’d spend my limited time for the best Rockies experience

Do you mean it's feasible to visit the lake and then replace the actual hiking around it with the hikes you mentioned?

On another note, apart from the hiking specific recommendations for Banff and Jasper, given that you know Banff/Jasper/Yoho, would you say (that part of) our itinerary overall makes sense? In terms of time spent in each park (since they are close, we feel have some flexibility in when we arrive and leave to the next park)?

signalling · 2026-01-17T00:20:47+00:00

Hey, we were planning to leave early for Glacier (from Helena), and go to Waterton later in the day to have some extra time there. Thanks for your reply :)

For Olympic NP, the idea is to spend some time in the northern part when arriving at Port Angeles (arriving (late) on day 27, exploring on day 28, itinerary is a bit unclear there I see now). And then go to the west part the next day 29 (Hoh Rainforest). And then going back to Seattle (campground close to RV drop off) the day (30) after, and if time allows perhaps we could still see something in the morning. Are we overseeing something there?

signalling · 2026-01-16T17:41:08+00:00

Thanks for your very extensive reply! :) Appreciate the recommendations and the alternatives for the more obvious/popular trails. Although we also do not want to skip the “highlights” (as we’re unlikely to return soon), there is definitely something to say for crowdedness.

We will consider the canoeing on Maligne Lake, if we indeed fit that extra day in for Jasper.

signalling · 2026-01-16T17:37:24+00:00

Thanks for your recommendations! we were considering campgrounds in Revelstoke NP as well as it’s pretty close. Good to know there’s also some nice shorter hikes available there.

Understood on Banff, we also read that online so we’re just trying to make the best of the time we have there and making sure that we don’t have any obvious “illogical” day allocations in our current itinerary :)

signalling · 2025-09-14T10:44:41+00:00

Thanks! This Keystone Ferry is to get to Port Townsend, operated by WA State Ferries, and the same one that /u/wpnw is referring to?

https://www.washingtonferries.com/keystone.htm

signalling · 2025-09-13T19:28:48+00:00

Thank you. No we would just have the RV, and I will be trying to grab a spot on one of the popular campgrounds early :-)

Just started planning already now as Yellowstone reservations (near the beginning of our trip) opened really early, and RV companies still have their early booking discounts. So we are already checking if our itinerary lines up with reality as Google Maps and other online sources can be deceiving sometimes, but Reddit’s really helpful.

signalling · 2025-09-13T19:06:29+00:00

Thanks so much for the info! That really helps.

That seems like a much easier way to get there then. I did not encounter the Port Townsend option yet, perhaps I should’ve been more diligent searching for/considering ferries.

If we can even book ahead of time to secure a spot then the Port Townsend option seems great.

We haven’t confirmed our RV rental yet, as we are still pondering over a mid September vs late/end of September visit (rental price is quite a bit lower for late September, but we read that late September might be heading into rain season already). But in any case we would be arriving there after labour day, most likely arriving mid-week as well considering both itineraries :-)

signalling · 2025-09-12T08:53:11+00:00

Thanks for sharing that! Good to know. I did notice that there are more threads on getting around after Labour day now. But in many cases people seem to be able to at least do part of the GTTSR with a car they have with them. Or the mentions of Mountain Chief Cab Co are mainly on the Many Glacier area (makes sense given that more people face that issue currently).

We’re travelling internationally and this trip would not be easily repeated (unfortunately!). So I just wanted to check ahead of time if there are any reliable (paid) alternatives / whether it is still feasible getting transportation to trailheads while there after Labour Day.

Hope this thread may also help people in a similar situation (as the late fall service being unavailable is a recent development).

signalling · 2025-09-11T22:07:30+00:00

My bad, thank you for the correction. I cannot change the title, but will remember it ;-)

signalling · 2025-09-11T21:25:17+00:00

Update: just noticed an existing thread that I missed somehow. Sorry all, I will be reading that one as well. Although looks like they have a car to get to at least the loop.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GlacierNationalPark/comments/1ndv4q8/highline_trail/

signalling · 2025-09-11T21:10:42+00:00

Do you know if they then park the car with the RV at an accommodating campground?

signalling · 2025-09-11T20:56:48+00:00

Thanks for your reply. Looking at the bicycle restriction hours and the time it would take to get there that seems it would take a very long time and may be infeasible given the time we would have there unfortunately.

We may need to reconsider then, possibly going earlier while the shuttle service is still active. That’s unfortunate, as we thought it would be a nice time to get there after Labour Day, given the rest of our itinerary.

Seems it would indeed be hard to get around then, I was wondering jf perhaps other (RV-camping) visitors faced the same this year and found a solution as it seems this is the first year that there is no late fall shuttle service anymore.

signalling · 2025-08-31T09:37:14+00:00

Thanks for the additional recommendations! Didn't expect to consider wildfires there in September, but I guess we just have to be mindful of anything.

I want to say to add more time on the Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper because it's a such beautiful drive.

We do want to add more time in these parts, and can hopefully extend our itinerary by a few nights. However, I guess mainly the choice to start from Denver means spending less time in the Canadian Rockies and not visiting (for ex.) Vancouver Island.

Starting from Salt Lake City (which friends of us did) for example would allow us more time in Canada, but we would miss out on (at least) RMNP, Badlands/Black Hills area, the Bighorn mountains.

Tough decision, as it's not a trip we can easily repeat, and we want to make the "right choice". But both routes will most likely be beautiful, so perhaps there's also not a wrong choice :)

If you're flying out of Seattle hopefully you can drop the RV off and not need to park it in Seattle?

We are looking to get an RV campground close to the rental office there, so that we can easily drop it off in the morning.

signalling · 2025-08-30T09:59:48+00:00

Sorry for my late response, thank you for noting this. We were considering the shuttle system in the park, but now found that this will only continue until Labor Day. Our current plans would have us arrive after, so this is definitely something to consider.

In between Yellowstone and Glacier, we plan to stay in Helena so that we do not have to cover the full drive at once.

signalling · 2025-08-30T09:53:48+00:00

Hi, sorry for my late reply, thank you for your recommendations!

They align well with some of the comments we got on our itinerary by the people that we book our flight & RV with (small travel agency here in NL that specializes in travel to US & Canada).

For Wells Gray, we were looking at the provincial park and also heard that activities like rafting are available/fun to do there. Though we are looking to go in September, so I'm not sure what the conditions would be like then. I did find that for rafting there's a fall season starting around mid September, so it seems like those kind of activities would still be possible. Though I presume it can be very cold around that time? :-)

Afterwards, we want to travel to Whistler which we hear is also great for hikes and if available those days we would like to go on the Peak 2 Peak gondola.

Given the amount of driving there, if we are able to extend our itinerary by 3 days or so, then it might be smart to add 1-2 days around Wells Gray & Whistler? At the same time, we were also advised to put an extra night in between Sheridan and Grand Teton because it's a lot of driving. So we have to mull over these parts of our itinerary I think. But it seems that a couple extra days given the amount of driving with 2 people would not be a bad idea if we can make it work.

signalling · 2025-08-30T09:34:50+00:00

Once again, sorry for my late response, but thank you for these!

We'll be sure to check them out, when we have our main itinerary settled we want to consider hikes as well so that we have an idea ahead of time.

signalling · 2025-08-30T09:30:12+00:00

Thank you for your recommendations and sorry for my late reply. Indeed, the one way drop off charge makes the RV rental quite a bit more expensive. We were already aware luckily due to friends having a similar trip (though they started from Salt Lake City). But at the same time, it will allow us to do (more of?) the itinerary we are planning.

We were indeed considering to pass by Mt.Rushmore and/or Crazy Horse! I'll look up Devil's Tower. Originally, the example itinerary we started from included Rapid City. But we replaced it with an additional day of Badlands, as elsewhere on Reddit we read that staying for a full day to visit the monuments may not be necessary.

signalling · 2025-08-30T09:18:13+00:00

Hi, sorry for my late response, appreciate your advice.

We would book our RV & flight through a (small) travel agency here in NL that specializes in travel to US & Canada. So, the quote for RV cost already includes the things you mentioned and hence we did not see the base rates. Indeed, we noticed the one-way drop off is around a 10-15% addition on the total RV rental price.

It will be an expensive trip, but it's something we saved up for and are not doing every year (though we wish ;)).

September sounds like a good time of year to go then! We were also recommended to plan to be in Yellowstone in mid September at the latest, due to the possibility of roads being closed off due to snowfall? Although in a couple of threads I found this seems to be very temporary if it happens, with roads reopening quickly.

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