Banff National Park
Our first stop
Cascade of Time Gardens
The classic view of Cascade Mountain from the gardens.
Bow Falls
Bow Falls are only a short walk from the centre of Banff along a pleasant woodland walk lined with pieces of art.
Our first full day was a trip from Banff, via Castle Rock, to Johnstone Canyon, Sunshine Meadows, then back via the Hooddoo Viewpoint. Then took the Roam bus to the Banff Gondola.
Castle Mountain
There was a great view of Castle Rock from the Highway at about 08:00
And a couple of hours later, on the way to Sunshine.
Johnstone Canyon
We arrived at Johnstone Canyon at about 8:15 and the car park was less than a quarter full.
The walk through the canyon is only around 5km round trip. It is a relatively easy walk on good paths.
The falls may not be the most impressive in the area, but the canyon is accessible and near Banff, and it is well worth the couple of hours for the walk. The walk is also a pleasant walk through woodland.
There are two main falls but there are several other smaller falls in the canyon.
Canyon View
Bottom Falls
Top Falls
Other water features
It was also our first sighting of a Chipmunk!
Sunshine Meadows
For anyone who wants to combine a good walk with a cable car, Sunshine Meadows was a superb choice. It was not busy and had great walks.
The cable car was around 20 minutes, to be honest much of it was not particularly interesting through trees, but at times it opened up some spectacular views.
After a briefing about what to do, walk on the paths, don't pick the wildflowers, don't annoy bears and hire our bear spray, it was time to catch the chair lift for the final few hunred metres.
At the top of the chair lift this was the first view.
This was the view.
It is going on my wall!
Then I remembered to look behind me
Rock Isle Lake is the focus of the walks
We decided on the longest walk of around 7km which took in all three lakes.
We walked through probably the nicest Alpine meadows we came across in the Rockies, to get down to the tree line, and then through glorious woods to Grizzly Lake.
The edge of the lake was more marsh / meadow like with more reeds that led to a spectacular view of the aftermath of a forest fire three years ago.
The path then climbed for a short distance
Before a gradual decent to the Cablecar, with yet more stunning views.
We also encountered a number of critters around the meadows, the Columbian Ground Squirrel, a favourite food of the bears.
Hoodoo Viewpoint
On the way back to Banff we took a detour via the Hoodoo Viewpoint for a short walk.
These are strange features caused by different rock eroding differently.
It was also a great view of the area beyond Bow Falls.
Banff Gondola
This was included as part of our Flydrive, but because of spending so long at Sunshine we didn't get here until around 16:15, when unfortunately the weather was closing in.
I was not as keen on the Banff Gondola, but that may have been very much a personal thing. It is far more accessible than the gondola at Sunshine, and the top is all boardwalks, and it is a short bus ride from the town centre. It gave a more detached view of the surroundings as opposed to being out among the nature. Still amazing though.
Theres a great view of the whole area, with Lake Minewanka at the top centre and Bow Falls to the bottom centre and Tunnel Mountain in the foreground, and the Hoodoos on the middle right.
The weather was closing in and the view North was lost in the rain.
There were some spectacular views
There was a close encounter with a pair of goats who seemed totally uninterested in the tourists.
When we were at the peak, the view was not very good, because of the weather. But we were entertained by this chipmunk scurrying around the platform. This is possibly my favourite view "The Prince of the Peaks"
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