We drove the 1A, towards Banff, passing the huge and impressive Castle Mountain.
Then we walked up the Johnstone Canyon to the waterfalls. I think alot of people had similar thoughts on how to spend a grey and potentially wet day. The falls were lovely and the turquoise water in the river made it even more tempting to keep taking photographs.
The rain arrived and out came more of our winter clothing that we haven’t seen for a while.
We just got back to Fred when the rain became really heavy and we had to get back out the coat rack in Fred to dry our wet gear!
Banff is crazy busy with tourists of all nationalities but it is easy to find idyllic parks and spots by the river and the surrounding mountains are just breathtaking. It reminds me of Interlakken in Switzerland, only on steroids. The five campgrounds near town were full despite one of them alone having over 600 pitches!
We also appreciated a bit of time in decent internet signal to catch up on some online tasks and posting of blogs. With a break in the clouds we explored the town on foot, first visiting the Cascade Gardens.
Then a wander past the Banff Springs Hotel, where all the Banff tourism began, with the hotels that were built by the Canadian Pacific Rail Company.
That evening the rain was torrential and non-stop so where better than to be out in it sitting in the hot springs on Sulpher Mountain? It didn’t seem to smell too much inside the springs pool but my wet swimming costume drying inside our van honked of sulpher afterwards!!!
Next next morning we woke up to the first snow of the year on the mountain tops. Could it be anymore pretty? More photos required now!
We visited the Cave and Basin, which was the initial place of the discovery of the hot springs and the original pool where the visitors bathed (until they decided the bacteria levels were too high in the 1970s).
And then we drove 30km to the next town of Canmore for a grocery shop. Canmore is definitely more of a locals town whereas Banff is all tourists. Canmore still has lots going on and plenty to do there too. We could have spent longer there mountain biking etc but I had a date.
Back in Banff I had booked a ticket at the cinema to watch The Lion King (been wanting to for weeks) and Pete watched some Motogp in the van – everyone was happy.
The next morning we delivered a mislaid mobile phone to the owner’s place of employment, The Banff Springs Hotel. While there Janet took the opportunity to take a look around inside.
Then we drove to Lake Minnewanka and took a lovely lakeside walk (with many, many other tourists). The Asian families really know how to picnic complete with rice cookers, bbqs, trollies full of food – even when the picnic benches are far from the carparks.
Next we explored the mountain bike trails of Tunnel Mountain. There was a great downhill run called Star Wars with berms and features. Unfortunately for Pete, it was the very first feature that ended in bent forks on his Wal-Mart bike and bruised tackle for Pete. Despite the pain, he managed to carry on and then ride up the Return of the Jedi trail to face Star Wars once more. It was ace to see some great trails so close to town.
In sensing a moment of weakness with injured Pete, I suggested a belated birthday meal out for us both and he agreed – woohooo! We had some lovely fish and creole dishes sitting on the streetside patio on a warm evening – bliss! We finished off with a Beaver Tail which reminded us of a Hungarian langos only instead of being covered with garlic that were all sweet toppings and we had nutella, peanut butter and Reeses pieces – yum!
What a lovely way to leave Banff. Considering we thought we were going there to shelter from the rain for a few days, the weather turned out pretty good on the whole and we got to see and do loads. Now to try to negotiate the crowds in Lake Louise once more.
