Guide to visiting Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park

If you want to know how to access and visit the Joshnston Canyon in Banff National Park, you have come to the right place. I will try to explain everything to you with our first-hand experience.

In our 21-day Canadian Rockies route, one of the essentials What to see in Banff National ParkWas Lake Louise, Lake Morain, Banff village, the Icefields Parkway and Johnston Canyon, one of the must-see canyons what to see in canada. 

Without a doubt, I want to start this post by telling you that if you have any doubts about visiting it, don't think twice! This place is one of the ones we liked the most in Banff National Park. The metal walkways over the river, between steep rocks, and its beautiful waterfalls are worthy of being in the top 3 of this Canadian national park. 

Don't worry, I'll tell you everything you can see there, the different walking routes you can take, and I'll show you lots of photos so you can decide what to do in Johnston Canyon.

This post belongs to one of those that you have available within our Guide to travel to Canada, a compilation post with everything you need to know to travel to this wonderful country.

Location of Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park

Johnston Cayon is one of the most beautiful and largest canyons What to see in Banff National Park and one of its must-sees. It is located just 27 km, 30 minutes by car, away from the Banff Village along the Bow Valley Parkway, the largest town in Banff National Park.

How to get to Johnstone Canyon

Hay 2 options I'm going to try to explain to you how to get to Johnstone Canyon.

By car parking in parking lot 1 or 2 of Johnstone Canyon

If you have a rental car, motorhome or camper you can park there. There are two parking lots, P1 and P2, with illuminated indications of how many spaces are left free at the entrance.

P1 fills up early in the morning. It was already full at 7am when we went (mid-August). On the other hand, we didn't see P2 fill up at any time.

The difference from P1 to P2 is 3 minutes walking, so don't worry too much.

If you go by motorhome, RV, like we did the trip by Canada by motorhome, parking is prohibited in P1 and you must park in P2, which is right next to the Johnston Canyon public campground.

By public bus 

If you are staying in Banff, the route 9 bus It easily takes you to the point where the Johnstone Canyon Trail starts, so you can easily get there in 30 minutes without having to worry about parking or getting up early to find a spot.

Where to stay to visit Johnston Canyon

The best way to stay close to Johnston Canyon, so you can easily access the canyon, is to stay in Banff village at one of the 50 accommodations in Banff. An option that can be cheaper than staying in Johnston Canyon itself, where there is a resort. In addition, in Banff you can base yourself there and visit the entire Banff National Park without packing and unpacking.

The other option you have for a base, which is very well priced and centrally located to more national parks in the Canadian Rockies, is to stay in one of the 66 accommodations in Golden. 1 hour and XNUMX minutes from Johnston Canyon and where the prices are definitely the best for accommodation in Banff National Park.

Finally, I would like to tell you that if what you are looking for is camping in a motorhome, camper or tent, you have many Campsites inside Banff National Park  and one of them is right at the entrance to Johnston Canyon. That's right, it's Pre-booking and quick booking because its plots fly, it is a small campsite.

Discovery Pass to access Johnson Canyon, Banff National Park

To access Canada's National Parks you must have a pass which must be placed on the rearview mirror of the vehicle you are travelling in. Therefore, to access Johnson Canyon you must have this pass beforehand.

There are day passes and single national park passes, or if you are going to be like us for more than 7 days and through different National Parks, the one you have to buy that is worth it is the annual pass called Discovery Pass. 

De There are different Discovery Passes with different prices.If you are traveling as an adult there is one for $75 or if you are traveling in family or group other than $151 or if you are retired, it costs $64. However, this is only valid for one vehicle. In our case, we took the family/group Discovery Pass.

With the family Discovery Pass we can access more than 80 destinations of Canada's National Parks and Historic Sites up to 7 people in one vehicle.

It can buy in person at the ticket offices on the highway, at the visitor centres or online on the website. In the latter case, do it at least a month in advance to ensure that it arrives at your home.

3 Tips for your visit to Johnston Canyon

Before you start reading this guide to help you plan your visit to Johnston Canyon, think about these basic initial tips.

1 Travel medical insurance for any unforeseen events during trekking and routes

AN IMPORTANT TIP: Don't travel to Canada without a good travel insurance, avoid big problems. It is one of the first requirements that they tell you on the Canadian government website along with the processing of the And so.
We recommend you the Iati Star We hired this insurance after a good comparison and study of the different ones on the market. It is the only one that exceeds one million euros of coverage. Without a doubt, it is the best for North America, where breaking a leg costs you €150.000, as happened to a friend of ours in the USA. Another positive thing is that Iati has an app for virtual visits.
I leave you here a link where you have a 5% off for any Iati travel insurance.

2 If you don't like crowds, get up early

Up to the top waterfalls, there are a lot of people and the walkways are narrow in some sections. If you go after 10am, it looks like Las Ramblas in July and August. Also, to take photos with the waterfalls, there are queues of half an hour or more, imagine. We got up early and were there at 8am and there was already a queue to take photos at the first waterfall.

3 Bring water, food and raincoats, as well as bear spray if you are going up to the Ink Pots

If you're going to do the full route to the Ink Pots, be well equipped, the route is long and you'll want to stop for a picnic when you get to the top of the Ink Pots. Also, from the waterfall at the top to the Ink Pots the crowds disappear quite a bit, so as a precaution bring bear spray and above all make noise by talking to scare away the bears that frequent the area.

On the other hand, I must warn you that on long walks the weather can change a lot from bottom to top, so always carry a raincoat. For us, it started to pour down with rain right at the top of the Ink Pots. Despite carrying raincoats, we got soaked hahaha.

What to see in Johnstone Canyon and the Bow Valley

In the area Bow Valley/Castle Junction Area of ​​Banff National Park there are many walking routes  and visits we can make. 

The most famous is Johnton Canyon, but in this post we are also going to see other nearby ones within the Bow River Valley. 

Let's look at the main walks and visits we have in this area.

Johnstone Canyon Trail Hiking Tour 

The great attraction of the Bow Valley area is the impressive and beautiful Johnstone Canyon and to visit it there is a very well marked trail which is the Johnstone Canyon Trail.

This well-marked trail is a total of 12,5 km round trip and 412 meters of elevation gain.

This Trail, but, It is divided into different parts and visits. So it can be made shorter or longer, depending on what each person wants and can do.

Let's now look at the different ones subtrails that you have of the Johnstone Canyon Trail:

To Johnston Canyon Lower Falls

La lighter and easier option to visit Within the Johnston Canyon Trail is this: the hike to the Lower Falls, the lower waterfalls of this canyon, which ends with a large waterfall where people cross a footbridge and take a photo between a rock that acts as a window.

An easy route of 2,4 km round trip with only 120 meters of elevation gain, Which one hour can be done well.

This route begins by ascending a slight slope through a forest near Johnston Creek and reaches the Lower Falls via iron walkways that are embedded in the canyon walls and that fly over the river. The truth is that it is the most surprising and perhaps beautiful part. Although also the most crowded with people.

These lower waterfalls create a pool that can be accessed via the rock bridge and tunnel at the end, crossing an iron walkway over the river. In our case, we avoided taking a photo of the queue that was already full of people. That was before 9 in the morning.

Trekking to Johnston Canyon Upper Falls

If we want to extend the previous trekking, we will continue ahead to visit the second place of interest in Johnston Canyon: the waterfalls above, the Upper Falls.

From the parking lot to the Upper Falls the The route is also easy and is a total of 5 km round trip. y 120 elevation meters. However, for this route you will need at least 2 hours.

The route here, apart from starting with what was explained up to the Lower Falls, Continue through the forest, ascending to 1565 meters. where the Upper Falls are. You go through forest and sometimes between iron walkways, but these are smaller now.

Once at the Upper Falls you can see them from one of the two platforms it has. One at the bottom is accessed by a walkway over the river, normally Crowded with people for the photo, and another one above that must be accessed by a marked path further ahead, but where people no longer go up and where for me the photo is better.

However, there are fewer people here than in the Lower Falls.

Trekking through Johnston Canyon to the Inkpots

This route is the most desired in Johnston Canyon, not the one that everyone goes to. It is where we find the end of this Trail. Where we find the Ink pots, 7 springs of turquoise waters  that are in a meadow past three kilometers of the last waterfalls.

In total, there are 12 km round trip from the parking lot. To do this route you need at least 4 hours.

This walk is a haven of peace, since there are many who stop at the first or second waterfall and do not continue. 

What you should also know is that it is a quieter path, but here already you leave aside the river canyon and the river in generalThe Inkpots are not in Johnston Canyon or on the Johnston River. They are not far from the river, but are sort of in an adjoining meadow.

The route from the second waterfall to there is in the middle of the forest and a little more demanding due to large slopes that go up and down.

Whether they are worth watching? It did seem that way to us. It's a place ofdifferent, calm and beautiful. It's not the canyon, they are like thermal pools, which are not thermal because they are not hot, but they have their bright green and blue colors which previously served as ink to the inhabitants of these lands.

Also, it is a good place for a picnic and Nearby is the wider Johnston River, before entering the canyon, where on a good day you can put your feet in to cool off.

In our case, upon reaching the Inkpots it deluged us hahaha so we couldn't enjoy that last plan I told you about. The bathroom was rather different hahaha.

Walk through the Moose Meadows 

From Johnston Canyon a very short drive away you can park in this parking lot and enter into A beautiful meadow in the middle of the Bow River Valley.

Apart from simply enjoying the meadow, a route starts from here that goes to the turquoise pools of the Ink Pots, although the route is more monotonous than the previous one, since you only see forest and there are not as many views and landscape as in Johnston Canyon, where you see the spectacular river canyon.

We were told that it was unlikely that we would see moose or elk here until September. We didn't see any, although we stopped for a short time.

Silverston Falls from Castle Junction

A little further ahead of Moose Meadows, we find the Castle Junction, one of the important road junctions where we can go to the Trans Canada Highway 1.

Right at Castle Junction we can park the car here and take the path of Rockbound Lake Trail and in 1 km and without almost any unevenness, reach the Silverston Falls, an easily accessible waterfall.

Conclusion of the visit to Johnston Canyon

To finish and after explaining the main activities you can do in Johnston Canyon, here are some conclusions from our visit.

Apart from the downpour we got caught in, we loved the place. The metal walkways between the emerald waters of the Johnston River canyon are definitely worth the visit.

From here, I just have to tell you that I hope this article has been useful to you in organizing your stay and visit to Johnston Canyon. If so, I hope to read you. in comments below.Good route friends!