Banff

Less than a week ago Banff had a heavy fall of snow. There is still evidence of it now on roof tops and under trees and especially here at the top of the Banff Gondola on Sulphur Mountain.

We set of early and initially, although the mountain tops were clear, there was a lot of high cloud. When you get to the top there are board walks up to Sampson Point, most of which was clear but there were patches of compressed snow.
It was less cold then I expected as there was no wind and I soon had to remove a layer!

There is a 360 degree view of spectacular mountains which cannot be reproduced in a photograph though we did take some panoramic shots. We stayed up two and a half hours and after a coffee the sun had broken through, so here you have a shot of Banff from the Gondola viewing platform. It is a delightful little town and as you can see it is in a basin created by the Bow River.

The main mountain is Cascade that can be seen here. The one in the centre is Tunnel Mountain as they originally thought they would have to tunnel through it for the the CP railroad. The other major mountain out of shot is Rundle.

In the distance, beyond the golf course, is Lake Minniwanka (yes!) and Two Jack Lake.

When we got down the sun was hot so we set off to look at these two lakes. Lake Minniwanka is a heritage site originally peopled by First Nations and then developed by early Europeans into a small town. The remains of this are now 25 metres under water as the Canadian government dammed it in the 1940's against the wishes of the National Park under special war regulations. We sat by the lovely blue lake to have lunch.

We could clearly see our ascent of the morning from Two Jack Lake where lots of people were picnicking. Chris also spotted a small group of Hoodoos near the river with his binoculars from Sulphur Mt so we went to seek them out too. These are pinnacles of rock that have been protected from erosion whilst the land around them has been worn down (like Bryce Canyon, Utah, if anyone has been)

To cool off we took a look around the excellent Whyte's museum, charting the development of Banff and the National park.

Finished the afternoon with a rooftop drink overlooking the main street, Banff Avenue, and the surrounding mountains.

A lovely evening now, though cooling rapidly, it is still remarkably busy here for the time of year but we like this little town.

Last full day tomorrow, can't believe our trip is nearly over.