Exploring some of Banff

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Hello Everyone,



Today is my last day in Banff. It is such a beautiful town, surrounded by mountains and so green. I arrived here on a Sunday morning. It was a drizzly day and the town was quiet, I wandered along Banff Ave and got to the Bow River which I followed until I reached the falls. They are very small, more like rapids now but they still sound impressive with the water roaring as it crashes around the rocks. The next morning I went on a tour to see some near by mountain lakes and some waterfalls. It was very cloudy and overcast in the morning, as we drove to Johnston Canyon the cloud cover made the mountains look like they had beards of clouds with their peaks pushing through the cloud layer. The canyon was interesting as it is one of the few canyons that you can actually walk though, most times I have found I was on top of the canyon looking down into the river. It made me feel so small with the big cliffs towering above me. Sadly we couldn't visit the upper falls or explore more at Johnston Canyon as there wasn't time, even still the lower falls were noisy and after crouching through the small tunnel and climbing in to the cave beside the waterfall, I got quite wet from the spray. As we drove though Banff National Park, looking at the trees and lakes as we passed we came down a hill and has a beautiful view of mountains with the railway and river, as just as luck would have it the train came along completing the scene. After a short stop we continued winding though the fantastic scenery until arriving at Lake Louise. Lake Louise is a well deserved UNESCO World Heritage site, with the huge snowy mountains and glaciers in the background and the beautiful Fairmont Chateau beside the lake. It was still cloudy and slightly hazy, and there was no way my photos of this beautiful place do it justice. The strange blue green of the lake caused from the rock flour reflecting the light and the glaciers reflecting in the lake. All to soon it was time to head to the next stop, which was the Takakkaw falls. On the way to the falls, we passed by Kicking Horse Pass and watched a train pass through the Spiral Tunnels.

The trains here are really really long, and to help drag the train up the mountains and to slow the train on the decent many of the trains have two engines in the front, one in the middle and one or two at the end. Sometimes the front of the train is already half way down a hill as the back of the train is still going up hill. The Spiral Tunnels decrease the steep grade of the mountains, by bring the train into the mountain and spiraling around exiting the mountain about 15 meters higher, then going straight again before spiraling upwards again, kinda like a figure 8. Some of these trains are more that 4KM long! (I really like trains, in case you haven't noticed). In Yoho National Park we came upon the Takakkaw falls. The word Takakkaw in Cree means "It is magnificent" and it truly was. After climbing around the waterfall, we returned to the Trans Canada highway and headed back towards Lake Louise before turning off and visiting Lake Moraine. I climbed up the steep rock pile for about 10 minutes (I am making it sound much more dangerous than it was, there is a path with steps up the rock pile and its very stable!) and then had a truly magnificent view over Lake Moraine. Situated in the valley of the Ten Peaks, their snowy mountain tops surround the lake setting off the wonderful greeny blue colour in the water from the glacier rock flour, again my photos do not capture this breathtaking view honestly. The next morning I went exploring along the river in Banff. It was a lovely sunny day and I sat by the junction of the Bow River Falls and the Spray River soaking up the beauty of Banff. I also visited Mt Norquay where I took a chair lift up to the top of the mountain so that I could fully appreciating the gorgeous view down over Banff town and the surrounding area.

I visited the Cave and Basin National Historic Site , took the discovery tour and followed the history from the First Peoples to the Fur traders and Prospectors to the Railway workers who discovered the cave, causing the government to take notice, and create Canada's first national park. The strong sulphur smell is heavy in the air especially in the cave. In the basin pool I saw some of Banff's tiny snails. Then as I walked around the marshes, I found some garter snakes as well as squirrels and birds. The thermal heated water makes it warm enough for the snakes to survive. I did hike on Tunnel Mountain and luckily it is a short hike as it was wet and horrible, so the next wet day I stayed in the hostel only venturing out to forage for food before hurrying back to the hostel.

Well I think thats all from Banff. I would love to have had more time here to explore and visit the icefield parkway and do some more glacier walking but it wasn't in the budget. Tonight I am off on another over night bus to Vancouver, before catching the ferry to Vancouver Island.



Till next time

Dee!

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