Written by Brian Callender | Photography by Julie Boyd

As mentioned in our last post, while visiting Banff, we opted to stay outside the park in Kananaksis Country. We spent most of our first day in Calgary, but after checking into our hotel, we decided there was enough sunlight left to explore our home for the next three nights. Kananaskis, and the area it encompasses, is named after the river which runs through it. If we had more time, this is definitely somewhere we would loved to have explored further. There are supposed to be some great hikes in this area, though several of the places we stopped at were closed and warned of bears in the area. For that reason, and because it was later in the day, we only made a couple of brief stops to check out the scenery.

Once we had our fill of exploring Kananaskis by car, we decided to get to bed early so we could be up and on the road to visit Banff the next morning!

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FOR MORE TIPS AND INSPIRATION FROM THE CANADIAN ROCKIES CHECK OUT THESE POSTS:

Driving the Icefields Parkway

Seven Photos to inspire you to go to Jasper National Park

Exploring Johnston Canyon

Lake Louise and Hiking the Plain of Six Glaciers

Visiting Morraine Lake

The Best Places to Visit in Banff