Day 49 - Golden - Banff

---

During the wee hours of the night, I just about heard a call of “Bear!” but did nothing as I thought it was part of my dream. It was a faint call, and a bit later on I heard two people talking nearby, but again thought it was in my dreams so didn’t wake.
Turned out this morning as we all gathered for breakfast, that it was Mark who called “Bear!” last night, but didn’t want to call it too loud in case it wasn’t a bear and didn’t want to wake people up for nothing! Sarah later chimed in saying that she heard the call, but waited 10 minutes or so to see if anything happened.
It also turned out that Mark and Todd had a conversation in the van right next to me around 5am which explained the talking in my dreams.
It turned out that what Mark thought was a bear, was actually a horse, or a rather large dog that had wandered from the woods into the opening. I don’t know about Mark, but if I was in that situation I would have been scared shitless and I would have made my way to a tent or some sort of cover very quickly!

Anyway, after loading up we headed on another short trip to Lake Louise village inside of Banff National Park, or as we were now calling it “BANFF!”
Once we reached the village, we parked up and headed to the visitor centre quickly for a toilet break and to pick up maps of the National Park, before we quickly headed onto Lake Moraine. The weather was much better than the previous day with some clouds still, but they were much higher and lighter, and there was more blue sky present.
At lake level, we could see how calm the water was with the snow topped mountain as the backdrop on the left and behind the Lake, and a small forest on a hill to the right, but we got a much better understanding of this place when we took a small hike and climbed to a viewpoint overlooking the Lake and mountains.
Quite simply it was absolutely beautiful as the water was perfectly stilled, offering a perfect reflection of the mountains at the back. The water was also as blue as any lake, river or ocean I have ever seen and clear. The snow from the nearby mountain had made this all so, and we were standing before our own little piece of heaven.

I said we were looking forward to coming here for one reason, but I had another reason for being excited that we were finally hear. Before I flew out, I let Andi and the others in the office know what the itinerary of the Tour would be, and after Andi found out we would be visiting Lake Louise, told me about her experience of it.
For her honeymoon, Andi drove across some of Canada and actually visited Lake Louise, and she told me how beautiful and wonderful it is. Although we weren’t at Lake Louise now, that was where we were heading next, and if it was supposed to be so much better than Lake Moraine, and seeing just how perfect Moraine was right now, I was licking my lips at the prospect of Lake Louise next.
But for the moment, I was taking in all that Lake Moraine had to offer. The view was absolutely wonderful and I could not tire of looking at the view. As you would expect we had taking some group photos in front of the Lake and also taking countless photos of each other as well, and we were all finally dragged away from the view to take a short walk alongside it.

As we started to walk through the small forest, we discovered that there were lodges to rent, the whole tourist trap to bring in more tourists and more money, but admittedly it was not a bad view to wake up to!
As I walked alongside I could see many isolated air traps sending small bubbles up, so much so I got closer to the edge to inspect and see if I could see what was causing it.
We all turned back, and after waiting around at the van for the rest, got passed by another Trek group who had just turned up.

After making the short journey along the road to Lake Louise and parked up in the much larger car park, we quickly headed to the Lake. As you would expect, this place was a much bigger tourist trap, with a castle hotel build at the front of the Lake.
After leaving the car park behind, and walking through a quick path, we came out to the front of the Lake and to the left of the massive hotel.

Despite the build up I was given about the Lake and what we experienced before with Moraine, Lake Louise wasn’t quite the same, mainly because the wind had now picked up, and the Lake was no longer perfectly still. Although the view was still breathtaking, with more snow covered mountains dominating over the Lake, and the beautifully constructed hotel behind us, it just wasn’t as wonderful to look at as Lake Moraine, so I was a little disappointed at this, especially after all the talk I had heard and given about it before hand.
Still no matter, we were here now to take it all in. Everyone apart from Sarah, Scott, Zach and I eventually went off to hike along the surrounding mountains to look down at it all, whilst the 4 of us slowly walked alongside the Lake, like Moraine before.

As we finally reached the other end of the Lake, Sarah and I took up positions on the rocks alongside the water, and were joined by Scott and Zach, before they decided to carry on further along the path around behind the Lake and beyond a bend and out of view from us.
Whilst on the rocks, I just took in the beauty of the surroundings, looking back and just being able to see the hotel at the beginning. As I looked on at the water and the distant canoeists on the other side of the water from us, I spent some more time just thinking about anything and everything. About home, about the Tour, and about how happy I was in that moment in time. A million miles away from it all, having the time of my life.

When the two of us walked back, we had a wonderful chat, like with Jess before in Redwood, about back home, work and possible career changes as well as relationships.

After posing with Peking at the steps of the front of the Lake by the hotel, and after the other 2 caught us up again, we headed to a nearby piece of lawn of the hotel and made ourselves comfortable, so much so that we napped for 40 minutes or so as the world passed us by.
When we woke, we were just in time to witness a wedding on one of patios of the hotel, and saw the happy couple seal the deal with a kiss. We then headed into the hotel and one of its bars to have a couple of drinks, the softest kind in my case.
Zach, Sarah and I then attempted to canoe on the Lake but it didn’t go to plan and before we could fall into the water, we headed back and finally got reunited with the others.
Soon after we headed to the van and onto BANFF the town and our campsite.

The site was just outside of town and was one of the larger sites we had been on. There were rows and rows of sites that seemed to stretch for almost a mile.
Our sites were right at the back in the trees and next to a building for cooking, and a shower area and washing up sink across the road.
Our tents were spread out a little, with Annabel, Steve & Zach and I sharing one plot. The others were to the right of us, with Mark and Sarah sleeping on the picnic tables right by us, and Todd on his hammock somewhere to the left of us, almost out of view.
We had some time to kill before dinner and then heading back into town for the evening, despite some of us feeling really tired.

When we did head into BANFF, everyone apart from Sumi, Joanna and Kristina headed in, we started off in an expensive Irish pub for an hour or so, before heading to a cheap sleazy British pub and drink the night away. We all had a great time getting drunk and a right laugh, especially Jess, Kylie Steve and I, but Sarah, Kylie, Mark and I headed back to camp ahead of the others. Shame though, as it would have been nice to stay out longer with the others, but it was all catching up with me, as well as the others a little.

As well as being a little tired, I was also a little sad that I am missing Cub Camp which has started back home, so I send Frances a message but got no reply. I was sure that it would be OK without me, though I would be thinking of them all a little.
The same went for Laura and Mark, as I waited to hear news of baby girl Best. It was Laura’s due date as well.

---