I saw the note in the Travelzine about your trip next summer to Banff. I was there last year for a week and it was one of my best vacations ever. With the exception of Lake O'Hara, the trails we did were popular and not hard to get to, but they provided some of the most outstanding scenery I have seen. This early, the only thing you really need to be aware of is the popularity of the limited number of permits available to access the Lake O'Hara area in Yoho National Park (about a 45 minute drive from the town of Banff). Lake O'Hara was the best day of a very good week and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The area would be overrun like Lake Louise except the Park Service limits access to it. If you don't want to walk in the 6 miles from the access point, you must reserve a spot on the bus in advance. The Park Service does not accept reservations until three months before the day you want to go. So mark your calendar now to call this phone number three months ahead - (250)343-6433. Have your credit card ready because there is a charge of $12 per person plus a $10 handling fee (all in Canadian dollars, of course).

Here are the urls that I saved from my planning for that trip -

Yoho National Park - http://www.worldweb.com/parkscanada-yoho/index.html Banff National Park - http://www.worldweb.com/ParksCanada-Banff/index.html The Town of Banff - http://www.discoverbanff.com/

We stayed in Banff and drove to the trail heads every day so I cannot help with you camping information. But I would be happy to answer other questions that you have.

Cheers, Mark Los Angeles, CA