We are booked for three nights in a campground (Tunnel Mountain Campground) in the Banff National Park - that gives us two full days to explore this area and we wasted no time....an evening drive (after checking in) through downtown on the day of our arrival and a visit to the Banff Hot Springs before turning in for the night.
Our Banff Homesteads
June 12th
We got an early start with a big day planned. We rode from Banff on the Bow Valley Parkway (scenic drive) in the direction of Lake Louise. This road is famous for wildlife viewing and as we first entered the highway we spotted a large bull elk near the road.....as it turns out - that is the only wild life we saw all day but still a great drive.
Bow Valley Parkway Elk
About midway to Lake Louise we stopped at Johnson's Canyon and hiked the trail there to the waterfalls.....both the lower and the upper falls.....three miles round trip. A great hike with many places on the trail having walkways that were anchored into the rock and hung over the canyon. After that workout we were ready for our picnic lunch at a windy roadside picnic area.
Johnson Canyon Hike
Ed & Kay in Johnson Canyon
From there we went to Lake Louise along with MANY other people...very crowded but a beautiful lake/setting. Weather was pretty cool and it started raining lightly while we were there. Got a few photos and moved on to Lake Moraine which is also in that vicinity.....also crowded but not as bad and just as pretty.
Lake Louise
Lake Moraine
A quick stop by the bakery for some fresh baked bread to go with our navy bean soup that had been simmering in the crock pot all day.....great ending to the day.
June 13th
As we were getting loaded up in the truck to leave this morning a bull elk walked through the campground about 20 feet from our camper. After that excitement we headed out to explore a another scenic drive called Vermillion Lake Drive...it too, was pretty but no wildlife (other than some birds) were spotted.
After that we headed to the Lake Minnewanka Loop drive that has a couple other lakes in the area. Very pretty and we took a detour to a smaller lake called Lake Johnson where we decided to do the hike around the lake.....not many people there and very nice views of the lake and mountains and a perfect hike....easy and beautiful!. At this lake we noticed many more of the wild roses (and other wild flowers) that are small and pretty but have an incredibly good fragrance.
After leaving the Lake Johnson/Lake Minnewanka area we headed to the Caves and Basin national historic site....it is a cave that has a pretty blue warm spring. Most of the springs in these areas (especially the warm springs) have a very strong Sulphur smell that is hard to take for long. They tell of folks bathing in these springs but that would be difficult for us to do. This site is the birthplace of the Canadian Parks System.
Back to the camp for a late lunch/rest and get cleaned up for an evening in Banff (downtown) and dinner out. We walked around and shopped for awhile and had dinner and drinks at one of the local restaurants. Pretty good evening until a thunder storm rolled in and we high tailed it back to camp.
Some additional photos from the past couple days below:
Mountain wildflowers
Bench with a view
Lake Johnson
Wild rose
Lake Johnson
Lake Minnewanka Loop Road
Vermillion Lake
Lake Moraine
Kathy and Kay at Lake Moraine
Ed and Kay at Lake Moraine
Tree benders from Florida
Johnson Falls (upper)
Johnson Canyon trail
Johnson Canyon
Chipmunk on hiking trail
Bow Valley - Canadian Pacific Railroad
