Rampart Creek Hostel, Banff National Park

This hobbit sized door leads to the wood fired sauna at the wilderness hostel. There might not be any running water or showers but after a long walk yesterday, the sauna was a real treat. There is even a huge bucket of water on the top of the stove which gets warm enough to wash with, I chose this option over a dip in the freezing creek! We had a great evening chatting to a couple who were driving down from Alaska to Montana after finishing their summer jobs, and another couple who were having a Thanksgiving weekend trip from Red Deer. We shared stories, chocolate, dehydrated ice cream and I learnt to play crib.

Today we left the hostel and started on our way towards Banff, stopping to walk up to the ridge before Helen Lake as it started snowing. We fitted in a crazy detour to Takakkaw Falls (3rd largest waterfalls in Canada), which included the tightest hairpin bends I have ever experienced. We stopped at the Bear Street Tavern again in Banff for another pizza and caught a late flight to Vancouver from Calgary airport arriving home to a cold apartment (with no log fired sauna) just after midnight. We had a brilliant trip and I would highly recommend The Rockies to anyone, especially in Autumn.