When to go

Most of the campgrounds on this route are closed seasonally. I suggest going some time from July to September. We did it in August 2020.

Snow pack can limit earlier trips in the year on the Goat Creek section. Also, for the Goat Creek/Spray River Valley section, it is a relatively steep valley, especially as you get closer towards Banff, so there is not a lot of room for bears to go and your chance of seeing one is pretty high, especially in August when the Sheperdia canadensis is fruiting. Unfortunately, Sp6 some times gets closed for a stretch because of bear(s) frequenting the site — so, here’s your friendly reminder to always be bear aware and prepared, and to pack out what you pack in: be immaculate on the trail and at your campsite, please.

Timing during the summer months will very likely depend on what day you can get a site for the popular Two Jack Lakeside Campground; we booked in there and then planned the other days around that date.

Where to start

We left our car in Canmore and got a shuttle up to the Goat Creek Parking Lot (from family; taxi is an option though, or shuttle with another member in your group if you have two cars). This area can be extremely busy (especially on the weekend) because it is the trailhead for several very popular trails, including Goat Creek.

You can leave your car overnight at the Tourist Info Centre in Canmore (beside the Legacy Trail, by the Transcanada Highway). Alternatively, you can leave it overnight at the Canmore Nordic Centre, but you do need to get a pass from the Administration Desk at the day lodge there otherwise you risk being towed.

The route

The Goat Creek/Spray Valley section is a gravel/dirt double track. It is generally in quite good shape and has improved significantly since our last trip; much of the flood damage from 2013 has been remedied. This section of trail is overall downhill but there are about three climbs that are fairly steep while fully loaded, especially for kids, and they will likely hike-a-bike those, which is totally okay, of course.

You can leave Sp6 campground on the side of the Spray River that you camp on, or you can backtrack to the bridge and head down Spray River West, if you prefer — both take you to Banff. Once in Banff area, the biking layer in Google Maps works great for navigating. Their off-road river pathway system is a mixture of hard-pack dirt/crush or paved. Their on-street infrastructure is a mixture of paint (with reduced speed limits, hurray!) or protected lanes.

Other than having to navigate a few quite streets through town, plus the very quiet road along Vermillion Lakes, the entirety of the Legacy Trail is a paved multi-use pathway in very good condition. Here is a PDF map of the entire Legacy Trail in case you need to get your bearings:

Once we got into Canmore we headed to the river where we were on their packed dirt/crush pathways along the river. These routes are fairly well displayed on Google Maps, FYI, or this PDF:

Difficulty

For most adults, this is a very doable route, so long as you are comfortable with riding off-road a bit.

For young kids, this route is more in the intermediate range of difficulty, mostly due to the Goat Creek section, but also because of the on-road section from Cascade Ponds up to Two Jack Lakeside Campground. That section of road is a solid climb. Have some candy on hand and promises of s’mores at the campground and it’ll all work out! They’re surprisingly stoked on the adventure-factor and will likely feel very proud of themselves after conquering these little hurdles, as they should.

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The campgrounds

These three campgrounds can be reserved via Banff National Park’s system. Please note that while it’s relatively easy to book consecutive days of frontcountry camping, it was weird fitting in that backcountry day as the system is not seamless with respect to integrating frontcountry/backcountry combined trips.

I fully admit that I am not a huge fan of frontcountry camping. We’ve had some okay experiences here and some pretty awful ones with loud generators, etc. I’d say there’s one great option here and one less ideal spot, but it serves its purpose.

Mount Rundle Backcountry (Sp6)

This backcountry campground is essentially in disrepair. It got damaged in the 2013 floods but has never fully been fixed. However, some major improvements have been made in the last two years: bear lockers have replaced decrepit bear hang cables and the rickety shitter has been patched up a bit so that it is less of a death trap. Read my initial impressions here!

There are no tent pads only little posts numbering off tenting sites, some are flattish, others are still covered in rubble from 2013 flooding. The campground itself must be reserved, but at this time you don’t get to reserve a specific tent pad number, that bit is first come first serve. There are some lovely little spots to pitch your tent though, don’t worry, like this one:

I love the spot down by the river here! It’s a favourite place to sip a morning coffee, for sure.

Backcountry Trails In Banff National Park 2018Download

Two Jack Lakeside Camping

This frontcountry campground is a real gem, especially the walk-in tenting sites available in one section of the campground (where there is a food storage locker in the nearby parking lot).

To get a spot at Two Jack Lakeside you have to be extremely lucky. Or fortunate to snag someone’s cancellation. If you are flexible with dates, the latter is possible.

Two Jack Main lacks the charm (or so I hear) but is an option if you’re intent on going here. You can always walk over and go for a lakeside stroll to enjoy the waterfront.

Tunnel Mountain Village I Campground

Either Loops A, B, C, D, & G all seem to have food lockers for hiker/biker campers.

I was excited to try this campground as there are a bunch of dirt trails to play around on and it provided the opportunity to explore getting from the campground to Banff as car-free as possible. In a normal year, it could have been fun to go into town and go out for dinner, like a real tourist, but in the times we are in, that was less appealing.

We decided not to camp here because we had a gorgeous day and the wind at our backs, so we challenged ourselves and the kids by heading all the way back to Canmore on Day 3. Also, we could sort of hear the train that runs through Banff when were at Sp6, and we could hear it quite a bit at Two Jack, which made us think it would be really loud at Tunnel. The idea was a bit off-putting but perhaps it’s no big deal for you.

If you do decide to camp here, definitely look at TrailForks for ideas on how to bike car-free up to the campground.

Reflections

While not perfectly car-free, it is so close and a family-friendly car lite route, for sure, which makes me so happy. We had the time and mobility to travel within our local region at the time of this trip so we took advantage of that opportunity and made the most of it. We were supposed to head back over to Europe for a family wedding (which meant another excuse for a bike tour for us, of course!), so we were itching to do a multi-day trip and this route scratched that itch, for sure. There is something special about being away for more than one night.

I look forward to seeing what Parks Canada will do with Highway 1A for 2021 and if it’s a repeat (or similar) of last year, I hope to complete some or all of the extension ideas that can go with this loop.

Maps

Here are our Strava Maps:

Day 1:

Ride from Goat Creek Trailhead to Rundle Backcountry Campground (Sp6) in Banff National Park. Total moving time 1h 27; total elapsed time (with young kids) ~2h 10 (which is much faster than the first time we attempted this!).

Day 2:

Day 2 is a little less straightforward, with a detour into town to get some supplies and go to a café, but more so because we were trying to find a family-friendly off-road route from Cascade Ponds to Two Jack but didn’t succeed, so I shall explain:

After breakfast, we rode from Sp6 to Bow Falls, through Banff on their multi-use pathway along the Bow River and on-street bike network — making a detour to Wildflour Café, yum, and the grocery store — to the Legacy Trail. But instead of following the Legacy Trail all the way back to Canmore at this point, we took the spur that takes you to Cascade Ponds. From Cascade Ponds we could have taken the road up to Two Jack, but I had found a route on some maps that I wanted to try (which is what my Strava track shows) because I am always trying to find car-free options as it’s my preference for riding, especially with kids.

Riding the road from Cascade to Two Jack is less than ideal for families; that said, the speed limit is a reduced 50 kph (which isn’t low enough, IMHO as backed by science) and there are lots of cyclists that use the area so you won’t be an anomaly. I wish that Parks Canada would just turn this road into a one way for cars (on one side of the road) and a two-way for bikes on the other side of the road. I also wish that they would turn Water Tower Trail into a proper multi-use pathway to reduce cars heading to Johnson Lake and Two Jack.

In order to keep us off the road as much as possible, we attempted to follow Water Tower Trail after Cascade Ponds and managed to find it (the connection from the Legacy Trail is a bit washed out around the ponds, but easy enough to find with the help of Trailforks); however, for our loaded adult bikes, it was a huge challenge pushing them up the very steep, loose single track that heads up the bank from the pond towards the road. It took two adults to push one bike and even then it was a real challenge in some sections, so it was a whole bunch of gear shuttling and parenting at once: Type 2 fun. At the top of this steep hike-a-bike, we opted to ride the road the rest of the way to the campground as we weren’t sure of the condition of the rest of this supposedly green rated trail.

That said, I still think there is great potential here for less encumbered bikes and even more potential for Parks Canada to turn this into a viable and more accessible off-road option to get from Cascade to Johnson Lake and then ride up the canal to Two Jack. If you try it, please let me know! I keep meaning to ride the trail with my mountain bike to scope it out some more but haven’t got around to it.

Here is my dream car-free route from Cascade Ponds up to Two Jack, using Water Tower Trail and then connecting to the Canal that runs between Two Jack Lake and Johnson Lake. Don’t mind the super busy and whacky map!!! Please note that I have not verified if this route is possible, yet; it is what we had intended to do, but we opted to finish our ride to Two Jack on Lake Minnewanka Scenic Drive (“Road”), hopping off Water Tower Trail at the point on this map that says “Where Water Tower Trail connects to Road”:

Day 3:

On this day we rode from Two Jack Lakeside, down Lake Minnewanka Scenic Dr. to Cascade Ponds, then onto the Legacy Trail, through Banff, to Vermillion Lakes where we lunched. At this point you could keep going to Highway 1A and extend your trip as far as Lake Louise, if you like. Or you could turn around and head to Tunnel Mountain to camp. Or skip Tunnel Mountain and head back to Canmore via the Legacy Trail, often with the wind at your back, as we chose to!

This day took us 3.5 hrs riding time, 6 hours total time (including lunch, etc.).

Alternatively, you could add some beautiful scenery and a bit of distance by turning right when you leave Two Jack Lakeside Campground. That will loop you around to Cascade Pond via Lake Minnewanka. There is a solid climb from Two Jack up to Lake Minnewanka, but after that it’s relatively flat or downhill with only a few shorter climbs (if memory serves me correctly!). If you can figure out how to connect to Bankhead Trail, do it, it’s great (just skip the last section after you cross the road as it’s a twisty little singletrack that’s not great if you have panniers; there’s an easier path at the south end of the works site found about 30-50 m east (left) along the road that will also take you to Cascade Ponds, or there’s the road in which case you would turn right and then left at the intersection).

Trip Extension Ideas

On Day 3 as you head towards Vermillion Lakes, consider extending your trip and riding all the way to one of the campgrounds along Highway 1A. In the summer of 2020, Highway 1A was essentially closed to most vehicular traffic and was a cyclist’s paradise! Fingers crossed that it will come back this way in 2021 in the same form or some similarly safe variation of it. Otherwise, it’s up to you (and your family) if you’re comfortable riding along this relatively busy tourist secondary highway.

Highway 1A takes you all the way from the westernmost end of the Legacy Trail (west of Banff) to Lake Louise. Camping options (depending on which ones are open; several have been closed for renovation recently) include:

• Johnston Canyon Campground
• Castle Mountain Campground (first come, first serve)
• Protection Mountain Campground (first come, first serve)
• Lake Louise Tent Campground

Here is a great map of all of the frontcountry options in Banff National Park, and it is from their website that also lists the campgrounds with more detail. Zoom in to the Highway 1A area that is just below the words “Banff National Park” on this map, to see your camping options if you choose to extend this trip:

After that big detour up the 1A, you could then camp at Tunnel Mountain Village I Campground in Banff before heading back to Canmore to close the loop, if you like!

Other family-friendly bike trips in the region

Here are some other ideas for you to consider, many are overnight trips which are a perfect starting point:

• Little Elbow to Mount Romulus Backcountry
• Little Elbow to Big Elbow Backcountry
• Cascade Valley
• Jewell Bay
• Spray River

And a shorter overnighter version of this trip: Goat Creek-Banff-Canmore Loop. And my ultimate family wish list of trips that we are slowly picking away at: 12 Family-Friendly Bikepacking Trips in the Canadian Rockies.

My eldest and my husband rode from Lake Louise are to almost Jasper September 2020, when traffic volumes were atypically low due to the pandemic. While not car free, it was blissfully quiet relative to normal and you can read about their five day adventure, starting here.

Plus, here is our family packing list for trips like this.