Advertisement
Published: September 20th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Top of Sulphur Mountain
After a hard 5.5km hike this was our reward!!! 360 degree panoramic views of the Rockies Finally we made it to the real Canada - The Rockie Mountains!! With one night's stop over in Calgary - which didn't impress us much - we arrived in Banff on Thursday. First impressions were amazing, the views are stunning - we're surrounded by snow capped mountains and alpine forests and we've been having a bit of an adventure holiday here in Banff.
Rather than ease ourselves in gently with a relaxing stroll around town we headed for Sulphur Mountain to tackle the 5.5km "moderate to strenuous" hike to the summit. We managed it in 2 hours, no casualties except one blister! Our hard work was rewarded with 360 degree panoramic views of the Rockies at the top. We hitched a free ride back down on the 8 minute gondola after which we headed over to relax our aching muscles in the Banff Hot Springs. A gorgeous outdoor pool heated up to 40 degrees by the sulphuric hot springs flowing from the mountain. Never been in an outdoor swimming pool with mountains in the background!!? It's pretty weird!!
If that wasn't enough, the next day we then took to the water in a two man canoe and paddled up and down
Sulphur Mountain
It doesn't look like much but it was a damn hard hike!!! Bow River for 2 hours. Vicky looked like Pocahontas and Heather got sunburn!!! The river was a beautiful crystal clear blue and the backdrop of the Rockies made it even more stunning. After canoing we then took a leisurely stroll down the river to the Bow Falls - but not nearly as impressive as Niagara!!!
Unfortunately disaster then struck that day when Heather "misplaced" her camera (To the CJU girls - I've lost a couple of Austin pictures!! Sorry!) However, she's looking forward to camera shopping in Vancouver Airport!!! Heather only noticed her camera was missing many hours later when, whilst relaxing on the balcony, some large deer-like animal came out of the woods and an English man told her it was Moose!!! Never trust an English man in Canada as it was in fact Elk, which we found out from our friendly Brewsters Bus Driver who said that out of their 103 drivers, none of them had seen a Moose in Banff for 3 years and it was probably Elk!!!! Of course it was then, when reaching for her camera that Heather discovered it wasn't where she left it!!!! Boo!!
Whoever told us not to book in advance needs
Bow River
The views were amazing going up the mountain! to be shot!!!! We've had nothing but trouble trying to book tours and trips as most have been sold out for weeks!! We finally managed to get on one on Sunday (although we were the youngest people there by about 30 years!!!). This took us around some gorgeous turquoise blue lakes in the area, including Lake Louise, Lake Moraine, Peyto Lake and the Emerald Lake, we also saw a couple of waterfalls, Johnston canyon and Takakkew Falls. On the Bus Vicky saw a big black wolf out the window stood by the side of the road licking it's lips!! He must have just had a good meal or else he was eyeing up the bus full of pensioners!! The lakes are the most unimaginable turquoise blue colour out here as they are fed from the glaciers but unfortunately our pictures don't quite do it justice. So you'll all just have to come to Canada and see them for yourselves!!!
Yesterday we managed to get on another trip up to the Columbia Icefields along the Icefields Parkway. The scenery around here is awe inspiring with huge mountains either side and glaciers galore!!! We went to the Athabasca Glacier which is the
Mountain Views
Glad we climbed Sulphur Mountain and not this one!!! largest glacier fed by the Columbia Icefield. It was huge and it was cold!!! We took a great big Ice Explorer up the glacier where we got off and walked on the ice (or compressed snow as we keep being corrected), we both nearly slipped on more than one occasion!!! In the last few days the weather has started to turn - we were enjoying 25 degrees about 3 days ago and now we're down to about 10!!!! On the way back from the Icefield we actually saw snow - albeit only a flurry!!! But we're glad we're leaving banff today because we wouldn't have been able to do half of what we have done if the weather had been different and also we're running out of clothes - Heather had 6 layers on on top of the Glacier!!!!
So today is our final day in the Rockies and we've had a fabulous time. We took one final hike to the Hoodoos - a rock formation caused by rain and erosion - although we got a bit lost on the way and were petrified of running into a bear we made it there and back again safely, with the added
Snow on Sulphur Mountain
We were THAT high the snow hadn't melted!!! bonus of bumping into 6 Elk and we got some great pictures to show you guys as soon as we find a computer quick enough to upload Vicky's superduper high quality pictures.
So tonight we have the pleasure of sitting on a Greyhound bus for 14 hours to our final stop in our Canadian adventure - destination Vancouver!!!
Love you all
H & V
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 53; dbt: 0.055s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sinead
non-member comment
Hi Heather
You're trip sounds amazing (if a bit too energetic for me!), i can't believed you've managed to fit so much in since you've left! Have a great time in Vancouver, i am very very jealous. Sinead