More Fun in Banff

Trip Start May 29, 2009
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Trip End Oct 03, 2009


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Where I stayed
Tunnel Mountain Village II
(Banff hotels)

Flag of Canada  , Alberta,
Sunday, June 28, 2009

Today we want to finish most of our hiking and sightseeing at Banff to earn a much needed "Down Day" tomorrow. We left the campground and headed to Lake Minnewanka, the largest lake at Banff.  We hiked to Stewart Canyon, about 2 miles (round trip) around one side of the lake.  The weather threatened a little, but the sun and wind won out.  The temperature was in the 70s, but felt much cooler in the wind.  We got back to the car, and started across the Minnewanka  Dam, but quickly came to a picture stop.  There were several male Bighorn Sheep walking towards us.  Further along the dam we stopped for more pictures of Bighorns.  Then around a couple of curves we saw another animal.  By the shape of its horns, we thought that it might be a Mountain Goat.  Its coat, however, was brown like the other sheep.   We later learned that it was a female Bighorn.  Mountain Goats always have a beard and are much too reclusive to graze near a road. 

We finally got to Johnson Lake for another short lakeside hike Stewart Canyon at Lake Minnewanka
Stewart Canyon at Lake Minnewanka
 .  Then, it was back into town for a visit to the Banff Museum, also a Canadian National Historic Site.  This was essentially a natural history museum, with stuffed versions of every critter at Banff, plus many not resident in the park.  This is where we learned the identity of the female Bighorn seen earlier in the day.  When we left the museum, it was time to head back to the coach for a quick lunch.

After lunch we visited the Cave and Basin National Historic Site.  This hot spring was the origin of Banff and the entire Canadian National Park System.  We caught a one hour guided tour that explained much of the park system history and how it intertwined with national history.  Until the 1930s, the hot springs were the center of park activity.  Today, the village of Banff has grown so much that shopping is the number one activity, eating and drinking is the second.  We must be the oddballs.  We have been viewing the scenery, hiking, and enjoying the wildlife.

Our final activity of the day was a ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain on the Banff Gondola.  Jim did not get sick or even turn green.  The view from the top is spectacular as you can see in some of the pictures.  This is the view of Tunnel Mountain and the village of Banff that Jim had pictured for 50 years from when he was here as a boy. 
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