Me and the Moon
Our friends, Paul and Eva who own a snowshoeing and hiking company in Banff called Nature in Focus, invited my husband and I for a moonlight snowshoe at Vermillion Pass a couple of weeks ago followed up with yet another awesome meal at Storm Mountain Lodge. The pass has excellent snow coverage so it was perfect for snowshoeing and the trees all around us were magical covered in heaps of snow.
Paul (left) and Eva (right) with me in the middle
Both Paul and Eva are excellent interpretive guides and, along the way, we were treated to fascinating info which always makes my hikes and snowshoe trips with them so much more interesting. Animal tracks, flora identification, historical tidbits and which trails are best whenever we head outdoors.
After a couple of hours following the moon throught the thick evergreen forest, over logs, under fallen trees, across lakes, up and down hills and into a small canyon we headed back to the cars to make it, just in time, for our reservation at Storm Mountain Lodge. The ambiance here is amazing. The 1922 lodge gives you an apres-snowshoe experience of the historical kind. Flop down on the comfy couches in the lounge by the roaring fireplace for a drink then you can head over to your table when you’re ready. The lodge has a limited menu but everything they do on it they do very well. Best to reserve too since it’s a 25-minute drive from Lake Louise and Banff and it does fill up. Every table was taken when we were there on a Friday.
To get to Storm Mountain Lodge and Vermillion Pass, head west on the Trans-Canada to the Radium turnoff, take that and head up the hill until you see the sign for the lodge. Vermillion Pass is just beyond that and there’s pullout parking areas for cars at various points along the road to access trails.
Storm Mountain Lodge's inviting entry
