Blogs from Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, North America - page 16

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North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 21st 2008

We planned to take the gondola trip up Sulphur Mountain on Friday and awoke to clear blue skies. The gondola has been an attraction in Banff for a long time; we rode the original one back in 1979. A new gondola with Swiss built cars was installed in 1998, the cars are enclosed and can accommodate four people so we had a private ride; just as well as unknown to me Carole had never been on a cable car before! The trip up takes about 15 minutes. The views are magnificent on the way up, but are absolutely breath-taking from the 7500’ summit. We walked up to the Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station National Historic Site and Norman Sanson’s 1903 Weather Observatory. Norman Sanson climbed the mountain every week for over 30 years to his stone ... read more
Golf Course
Looking north
Looking west

North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 20th 2008

Day 14 July 17 Jasper to Windermere Jasper National Park, just north of Banff National Park contains northern part of the Rocky Mountains. There are numerous glaciers. Our day started out with a trip to the grocery store to buy picnic items. We always like to visit grocery stores to see what different regions carry and it’s always interesting. This store didn’t disappoint. Many local brands and Canadian brands of food that we had never seen before plus some old favorites that seem universal. Heading down the Icefields Parkway we immediately spied a large black bear walking down the side of the road. We a saw other bears later and bighorn sheep, one with a collar. There seems to be a haze hanging over the mountains and many of the trees have died from bark beetle ... read more
Jasper
Jasper
Jasper Bear

North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 20th 2008

We left Glacier National Park on Thursday morning and went north into Alberta, Canada. We traveled about 5 hours and entered Banff National Park. We stayed at Fairmont Chateau, Lake Louise which was awesome! The hotel is nested in between beautiful mountains, which had glaciers on them and sits right on Lake Louise. Caroline got her first horse ride by herself! Over the last two weeks, we’ve tried multiple times to take Caroline on a horse ride and this was our last chance. When we walked up to the stables at the Fairmont and they said that you had to be 8 years old (Caroline is 5). The wrangler looked at Caroline and said “but you look big enough”. She was so excited!!!! She did a great job with her horse named Kidd and I’m sure ... read more
Mitch on Horse
Ryan on Horse
On the trail

North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 18th 2008

From suburban Calgary we moved back into the scenic areas of the Canadian Rockies and stayed in a great hostel (HI) on the outskirts of Banff. It had a bar and nightly entertainment so there was no need to make the downhill trip to the town centre. The surrounding sites are spectacular, with snow capped peaks all around. A trip up the Gondola and a subsequent small hike upto the weather station gave a superb 360 degree panoramic view of the area. Banff itself is an idyllic town which seems to have an extraordinary number of eateries for its size. A day trip out to Lake Louise was a good call. The lake itself is very pretty with its blue "cloudy" appearance. The Fairmount Chateau Resort, which sits on the lake, is a great place to ... read more
View from the Banff Gondola
En route to Lake Louise
Lake Louise

North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 17th 2008

Hi Guys! Louise had hoped to have joined us by this stage in the trip but after many emotional emails we found out that she was still not well enough. We were both really gutted as we had gotten our hopes up. BUMMA!!! We arrived in Calgary late, had to take a local bus, followed by a city train. Wandering around trying to find our hostel a man stopped us and told us not to carry on heading in the direction we had chosen because it was dangerous at night. He asked us where we were headed and he pointed us in the right direction for our hostel (man had we picked a dodgy spot to stay). We woke up to a few drunks/homeless people sitting under some trees outside our window. We wandered to the ... read more
Anne chilling!
Athabasca Glacier
Resident Ground Squirrel at Yoho National Park


I’d been living in Toronto for the better part of a year and had failed to get out and explore the rest of Canada in this time (bar halloween in Montreal and a weekend in Uxbridge), so I figured it was about time to head west and check out the rockies. My roommate James and I did a bit of quick research and discovered we should plan our trip based on our experience (can put up a tent), equipment (will buy) and fitness (played soccer 3 years ago). We settled on a 7 day hike through Badger Pass, carrying our tent, gear and food with us for the entire 77km hike. I set about spending my entire savings on a sleeping bag, mat, boots, freeze dried food, bear bells, waterproof matches, travel toothpaste and other necessities. ... read more

North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 12th 2008

On this morning, we packed our tent, did groceries and left for the beautiful Lake Louise. It is incredible how the color of the glacier water is different at each place. Lake Louise was more like a minty green. Sometimes it really looks unreal! (Tip: if ever you want to go visit this place, be sure you get there early to beat the crowd). So anyways, we decided to do another full day hike even though our body was hurting from the one yesterday! lol We first started on Mirror Lake and then it connected to the beautiful trail of the Plain of the Sixth Glaciers. As we walked the trail, we could see Lake Louise more and more from the distance. What we liked about this trail is that almost to the end of it, ... read more
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North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 11th 2008

We got up early this morning and left towards Moraine Lake, which is about 30 minutes from our campground. This place is AMAZING! We have never seen water this colour before. The color of the water makes you feel like you are in the Carribbean, but surrounded by the Canadian Rockies. It is really nice! After admiring this beautiful lake, we decided to go on our 5.6 KM hike called The Valley of the Ten Peaks at the Eiffel Lake (which is in Moraine Lake area). The first part was very tough. we gain an elevatioun of 320 meters. Let's not forget that we have never hiked a REAL mountain! lol Anyways, once that tough part was over, we walked along the side of a mountain on a narrow trail. This was probably the best part ... read more
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North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park July 10th 2008

I made it to Canada! After spending a week in the big city of Calgary and a day in the small friendly Canmore, I entered a stunning wilderness area: Pine trees, meadows, pristine mountains, peaks and immaculate blue glacial lakes: that's Banff National Park. It was pure joy to get to the lakes and hike to a couple of terrific locations: Plan of Six Glaciers and Sentinel Pass. Here is my poem-like list of treasured keywords and selected photos. The cold wind on my face The rain on the path The exuberance of nature The alpine flowers The challenging hike through a patch of snow on the steep side of a mountain To carry on despite feeling worn out The ecstasy of making it all the way to the top The views all around The exciting ... read more
View from Sentinel Pass
Complimentary Smiles on Lake Louise Trail
Hiking to Sentinel Pass

North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park June 8th 2008

Calgary 5/6 June 2008 We arrived in Calgary on 5th June., 2 hours after we left the UK. weather was bright and we had a good transfer to the Marriot hotel. feeling a bit jet lagged we went looking for dinner on a fairly warm evening. Finally settled for a restaurant/bistro with outside tables. So at 8.30pm (local time), (3.30am BST) Lin was eating Sea bass and I was tucking into Alberta Elk (medium rare). Finally crashed at about 11 pm. Woke on the 6th June to rain for the bus trip around Calgary (obligatory). Spent some time at the Heritage Park (interesting) and a quick fly by the Calgary Stampede grounds. Afernoon was free to do what we liked, (like being let out school early for the afternoon). We found a place to have lunch, ... read more




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