We spent our last night of vacation here and planned on driving back to the Calgary airport in the morning for our flight home. For one night it was okay but I would not want to stay longer. The queen room we had for two of us was very small, two of us could not pass each other around the bed without one of us turning to the side to let the other pass. The bed was comfortable to sleep in though and the room was clean. The room faced the front towards the Trans-Canada 1 highway so the traffic noise was a problem with the window open (no A/C). There was a fan in the room so we could close the window and have some white noise to drown out the traffic noise. Bathroom wasn't too bad with a tub-shower combination. The towels were nice and thick. There was a community kitchen down the hall on the second floor for the use of all guests but someone had ignored the signs in the kitchen about cleaning up after yourself and left a mess of food crumbs on the countertops and floor and dirty dishes with food in the sink so we did not use the kitchen. The rate we paid was reasonable for the area at $79.00 for a queen room. It wasn't the worst place we ever stayed but certainly not the best. I would probably look for something else if I return to the area.

We walked next door and ate at Bandoleer's Tex-Mex Restuarant next door the the restaurant. It is not Tex-Mex but more Southwest in type of food they serve but it was not too bad.

Nice room with use of communal room and kitchen. Closeness to transcanada highway meant no open windows. No sound proofing so every nearby bathroom noise was chronic, especially late at night and very early morning. We chose this motel because its website advertised a texmex restaurant called Bandeleros next door, saving evening driving. Unfortunately this was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so a drive into Canmore was the only option - no other restaurants in this tiny hamlet.Manager, however, was very helpful.

After staying in several hotels in the greater Canmore and Calgary area, the Bighorn was the worst. It's a very basic motel located just off the main highway in Dead Man's Flat, just outside of Canmore.

We ended up in a room on the ground floor towards the back with a view of the parking lot which featured big rigs idling their engines all night long and bright lights aimed at the rear of the motel. Because this property does not have air conditioning, and Alberta summers are growing hotter, it required a window fan to keep the room bearable (as the drapes had to remain open at night to accomodate the fan in the window).

The noise from the parking lot and warmth in the rooms did not afford a comfortable night's rest. If you stay here, opt for a room facing the front if possible.

Further, the in-room amenities were second rate, including a dented in-unit refrigerator, open shelving for dishes (complete with a warning that failure to wash and dry them would result in a $10 penalty), and a shower that was among the smallest I've ever encountered in a hotel.

Internet access at this hotel carries a $10 fee which grants you access to the password required to connect to the wireless network, but it does not work unless your room is located very close to the office. I can't say how tired I've become in dealing with hotels that promise Internet access but provide inept or non-existant service (and have the nerve to charge for it to boot!) This isn't rocket science - hotels need to take this issue more seriously for those of us who book hotels, in part, based on their promised availability of Internet access.

Overall, this is a very basic motel which, at $50-60 a night, would be reasonable. But at rates twice that amount during the high season, there are far better choices nearby at similar rates.

For $65 CDN (We were Off Season on June 5th, 2007), we found a good inexpensive motel in Dead Man's Flat, very close to Canmore.

As I'm not fond of motels, since I prefer B&B by far, i did not expect much from this one, which stood right next to the highway.

But I was gladly surprised! The owner was very nice, the motel was clean, and, surprisingly, apart from our neighbour who was watching his TV that we could hear through the very thin walls, and some trucks from the highway, there was almost no noise at all.

We also had a shared kitchen, which included a fridge, a stove, microwave, table, etc... where we could stock our food among other people food, and we could even cook meals (Which we did not).

It looked like it is a stop for people staying there for weeks, though. But for one night, it was perfect.

The morning after, I had to make my laundry while going breakfast to the Husky's restaurant, next to the motel (Breakfast is not included, but there is free coffee at the entrance of the motel). After I dried my clothes up, it was still wet a little after the cycle was finished. The very nice lady cleaner saw it was not dried up completely, and she offered to dry them up in her drying machine for free, which only took 5-6 minutes. I thought it was very nice of her.

I would say it's a typical motel next to a highway, but the staff if way nicer than the average.