Blogs from Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, North America - page 12

Today we set off for Lake Louise, but our first stop would be Moraine Lake, this is a glacially fed lake in Banff National Park, 14 kilometres outside the Village of Lake Louise. We'd visited the lake before, maybe 10 years or more ago, but we knew it would be worth another look. This lake is a brilliant blue / green colour that can only really be appreicted by a visit. The colour is caused by "rock flour" Rock flour, or glacial flour, consists of clay-sized particles of rock, generated by glacial erosion or by artificial grinding to a similar size. Because the material is very small, it becomes suspended in river water making the water appear colourful but cloudy. There is an easy lake side walk, it's only about 1.5 km, we did this and ... read more

Today we visited a deserted coal mining town near Banff called Bankhead. The town was born supply coal for the locomotives of the Canadian Pacific Railway and at one point had over 1500 residents, that's hard to believe when you see it today. Apparently Bankhead was geographically split between the massive mine site and the residential area, it included a hotel, school facilities, pool hall, a restaurant, stores, several saloons, about 100 residential homes, a boarding house for single men and a church. After the closure of the mine many of the buidlings were removed or demolished but the remnants of quite a few still remain. One noticable thing is the presence of rhubarb, its' everywhere, it was planted by the workers and still thrives there, it even appears to grow staright out of the coal. ... read more

The Vermilion Lakes are a series of three picturesque lakes located immediately west of Banff. The three lakes are formed in the Bow River valley, in the Banff National Park, at the foot of Mount Norquay. They are located between the Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks but quite near to the town of Banff. Two things that you need to know about Vermilion Lakes is that you can't fail to take a good photo of the view (late afternoon is a great time for a shot) and that you are almost guaranteed to see wildlife here. There is a road that runs along side the lake for a few Km, we drove along the road to the turning area and then drove back slowly stopping at various points. ... read more

Coyote Siting After tea time we went for a short drive down the Bow Valley Parkway, this is the old road that runs west out of Banff, it's well known for wildlife sitings. We saw a a Coyote at a bit of a distance, it stopped to look at us and then carried on about it's daily business.... read more

Had a late start - slept in until 11 am! A very quiet campground! After talking to one of the camp rangers, I headed up to Lake Louise where I spent almost ½ hour driving around to find a parking space! (lots and lots and lots of people). Hiked, walked leisurely up to the 6 Plains Glaciers. The hike started gently along Lake Louise. Quite a bit of switchbacks across the mountain. Forgot about the altitude! Kept running out of breath, needed to sit and rest...got to the tearoom in 2 hours. Met several people along the way, especially enjoyed talking to the couple from Ireland, as well as the gentleman from Atlanta, Georgia, who couldn't wait to get to the tearoom for his soup. Saw 4 marmrats on the way up (finally some wild animals). ... read more