Hidden In Banff National Park Is A Once-Thriving Mining Town That's Now Eerily Abandoned In The Mountains

Banff National Park is the crown jewel of Canada, boasting epic scenery, rich biodiversity, and incredible history. Established in 1885, Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, and it's home to a breathtaking thermal spring hidden deep within the Canadian Rockies. Banff National Park's majestic mountains and bright blue waters attract over 4 million visitors each year. However, it's possible to avoid the crowds and enjoy off-the-beaten-path destinations within the national park, such as Bankhead Ghost Town.

Bankhead Ghost Town offers a fascinating glimpse into Alberta's history as you explore the old buildings and artifacts left behind by a coal mining community over a century ago. It's also a family-friendly adventure that is educational and fun. In short, it's the perfect pitstop as you explore the rest of Banff National Park.

Getting to Banff and Bankhead is relatively easy. Calgary is the closest major city with an international airport to Banff National Park, about 90 miles away. From the airport, rent a car and follow the Trans-Canada Highway 1. The journey will take just over an hour. To experience Banff National Park in its glory, visit between June and October. If you prefer a snow-capped winter wonderland, fantastic for skiing, snowboarding, and ice skating, plan your trip between January and March. If you're visiting Banff for the first time, we recommend staying in downtown Banff, where you can easily access the restaurants, bars, shops, and attractions. Elkhorn Lodge is a cozy, affordable, and highly rated option. If you seek solitude, stay in a rustic cabin at Storm Mountain Lodge & Cabin tucked between Banff and Lake Louise.

Bankhead, located at the foothill of Cascade Mountain, was established as a coal mining town in 1903 to provide power to the locomotives of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the boilers of the Banff Springs Hotel. At its peak, Bankhead was home to over 900 people, who worked and lived there, producing more than 200,000 tons of coal annually. Compared to its neighbor, Banff, it was more modern and prosperous, with electricity, a municipal water system, and a sewer system. However, when the mine shut down in 1922, the town floundered. Many buildings were dismantled or moved, and what remained of the 20-year-old Bankhead became a ghost town.

The best way to explore the ghost town is to hike the Lower Bankhead Trail. It's an easy, family-friendly 0.7-mile loop. The trail is mostly flat, except for the 70 steps you need to take down to reach it (and the same steps you need to climb at the end of your hike). The trail begins at an elevated platform with a spectacular view. As soon as you reach the bottom of the steps, you will see the Bankhead coal mine lamphouse, where the miners were assigned a numbered mining lamp at the beginning of their shift. At the end of the day, the lamps were counted to make sure that everyone made it back to the surface. Continue beyond the lamphouse, and soon you'll see a large, concrete building with many windows on the sides. You'll also find an old mining rail car as well as pumps and motors that were used to supply oxygen to the miles of underground tunnels, where miners dug for coal.

At the halfway point of your hike, you will see the remains of the Bankhead Power House, which used compressors, generators, and steam engines to power not just the coal mine, but also the homes and businesses in Bankhead and Banff. Soon after, you'll encounter a dilapidated wall and foundation, which are the remains of the Bankhead boiler house. This was where steam was created by burning coal, powering the machinery used in the mine.

One of the most intact buildings in the ghost town is the briquette building, which was where coal was compressed to be used as fuel for locomotive engines and to heat homes. Close by is the 98-foot-tall tipple building, which was the tallest building in the area at the time. It's where the workers painstakingly separated coal from rocks. Near the tipple is a giant hill of coal, dust, and rocks — the byproduct of the mine. Before returning to the steps leading to the viewpoint, take a selfie in front of the rusted coal mining train engine and coal mine cars to commemorate this fun and historical hike.

Another family-friendly hidden gem in Banff National Park is the Cascade of Time Garden. It's a four-acre garden with the majestic Cascade Mountain as a backdrop. In the summer, its terraced gardens bloom with thousands of colorful flowers. It's free to the public for a relaxing stroll. You can head to nearby Banff (0.70 miles) for supplies and settle into one of the many pavilions or sitting areas for a family picnic.

If you're seeking another crowd-free adventure, head to Kootenay National Park, a mountainous paradise with turquoise lakes, about an hour and a half drive (85 miles) away.