Our last day was anything but the typical ‘last day’ drive home.

We drove down to Golden to grab breakfast at a cool looking bakery that we spotted the night before, called the Golden Bakery and Deli. First we stopped for a pic at the Golden Rules rocks.

The bakery did not disappoint. We picked up a variety of goodies to keep us satiated throughout the day.

Our missions for the day were Emerald Lake and Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park. Emerald Lake is just majestic. I don’t think I could ever be tired of this place. We arrive fairly early and got one of the last lot parking spots. We were lucky enough to see a Loon family.

After looking around a bit we decided to do the Hamilton Falls Trail. Only one other family and two men were on this trail and the falls were so worth the hike. The falls slips out from behind narrowly carved rock into a little pool.

When we left Emerald Lake people were parked way, way down the road.

We stopped at the Natural Bridge Lower Falls, just off Emerald Lake Rd near the Trans-Canada. It’s pretty cool and a nice quick stop.

The drive to Takakkaw Falls is limited to smaller vehicles and even those ‘smaller’ vehicles that are on the larger side may struggle to make the switchbacks. Takakkaw Falls is the second highest waterfall in Canada and according to an article I can no longer find it is one of the top 10 tallest free drop waterfalls in the world. The falls 373 metres high with a main drop of 254 metres. Takakkaw is Cree for ‘wonderful’, which it is. I would also add that this falls is impressively powerful. The easy trail takes visitors to the base, but you’ll feel the spray before you get there. On the way back to the Trans Canada Highway, we stopped to watch a train go through the lower spiral tunnel.

After Takakkaw Falls, we went to Banff, but it was clearly congested and we didn’t want to spend our last few hours stuck in traffic – we get enough of that in Toronto. Instead we went to Lake Minnewanka, which means “Water of the Spirits” in Nakoda. It’s a wonderful place to visit and I would definitely visit here again. We then stopped in Canmore for a quick bite and then drove to the Calgary Airport.