Johnston Canyon

Need a great place to stop, ask a friend… #highlyrecommended 

Johnston Canyon was on our list from near the beginning of our planning in 2017. One of our friends had highly recommended it as a family friendly location. 

Our trip plan was to leave Aidrie in the morning, drive out to Johnston Canyon, go for a hike and then travel onto Kelowna that night (We went all the way to Kelowna that night ). 

Well, we started off the trip splendidly by missing our turn to go West around Calgary and proceeded to head East for the next 10 minutes. It didn’t help that it was pouring rain. However, we pushed on the fearless adventurers we are and stopped at Canmore for a quick grocery stop.

By 10 am we were at Johnston Canyon. The first parking lot was already full, but there was lots of room in the second one further back up the road. In the parking lot, amongst the pines, I had to eye up the motorhomes that were parked there and had to think to myself, “that would be nice”. One step further on the road to our RV :).

We had packed all our own food so we never stopped in the restaurant there, but there are good washrooms by the first parking lot. When you walk from the second parking lot you walk under the bridge next to the river. Park in the second parking lot just so you can do that. You can then push on to the lower falls. 

The walk is beautiful, although freaked out initially by the walkway bolted to the cliff you cannot help but enjoy the beauty of Johnston Canyon. As we walked Acacia insisted on being in the lead. This was a normal thing that she still does at times. However, when your leading on an angle, and not used to be on an angle you tend to stray towards the edge. So I would try and walk just close enough to be between her and the edge, but not quite in the lead. it didn’t always work as she would cry out, “DADDY, I’M THE LEADER!”, but we all came back home safe. 

Once we made it to the lower falls there was a small lineup to get through the tunnel into viewing where it actually spilled over. It was very cool to look at. 

Once we were done and back out we were feeling pretty good and pushed onto the upper falls. At first, we were unsure about hiking that far. Our kids are not exactly long range nomads. They did well though. And we enjoyed it despite having to have Acacia piggyback sections of it. 

The upper falls is a much higher drop and well worth the extra effort to go see. We didn’t make it past as the trail continues on, but maybe this coming summer we can take on the rest of the trail.