Spark-Plug/Jaywalker72: Burning rubber in Canada - Part 4, The Banff National Park

Hi There

As usual I woke up early , over the years I got into habit of taking a walk in the morning or else there is a feeling of something missing whole day . Walking is a pleasure in Canmore,the infrastructure is so well developed , that there is a separate path alongside the highway to walk,at one point it mergers with cycle trail and there are adequate warning signs of it .

It was a treat to watch the Canadian Rockies in the morning sun.I did spot a bit of wild life met few cyclist . One more thing I noticed about Canadians is, one may forget to greet a person ,but the person wont forget to greet you!!!

I walked upto this sign

Canadian Rockies

The walking trail

After having a sumptuous breakfast at Super 8 Canmore, it was time to pack up and move . We had a long day ahead and will be visiting one of the best national park in the world Banff national park.Super 8 Canmore is one of the best hotels in that area ,fabulous staff ,very modern amenities and excellent breakfast and all this at very competitive rates, only thing is you need to book in advance it is pretty popular.If you want to stay in Canmore just go to this hotel and stay.

The early morning weather was perfect and sunny. Since it was still early morning there was not much traffic.

The town of Banff is picture perfect town with mix of both modern and old historical buildings,the whole area was full of tourist ,it was like visiting a huge Carnival .

The first thing one should do when in Canada is to visit the visitors center, not just you will get free information, but you can also buy passes ,get free information material,you can use super class washrooms and free coffee too!!. The staff at the visitors center are superb and go out of way to help you out,always smiling and keen to help . That's one of the the reason why so many tourist are visiting Canada .

Beautiful streets of Banff

Visitors center

After guidance from visitors center and time we have we decided to go to the cave and basin park from were the Banff national park was born,we also decided to do two small trails in the basin park.

Banff National Park was the first national park in Canada. It all started due to the discovery of steam venting from a crack in the rocks on the side of Sulphur Mountain. Indigenous Peoples had known of this site for thousands of years. The first recorded reference to it was in 1859, but it was a couple of railway workers that brought wide spread attention to the area in the 1880’s. They saw it as an opportunity to make money by bringing tourists to the area.

Sundance Canyon – Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Cave and Basin center

In 1883 they descended through the skylight entrance into the cave using a felled tree. The following year they built a small cabin nearby with intention of commercializing the site. Then several conflicting claims to the site caused the Canadian government to get involved. In 1885 a 26 square km area around the Cave and Basin was set up and called the Banff Hot Springs Reserve. This was the birth of Canada’s National Parks.

The protected area was eventually expanded, the town was constructed, a bridge was put over the Bow River so that the public could access the springs and a hotel was constructed. It officially became the Rocky Mountains National Park. A naturally heated swimming pool was opened to the public at the Cave and Basin site in 1914 and continued to operate until 1994.The first park in Canada was later named Banff National Park in 1930.

Cave and Basin center

Before the main entrance there is a small center were one can buy certain memorabilia ,however I found the staff to be rude ,so we gave the idea of buying anything.

This floor has all the tiles with names of national parks/historical sites

Entrance to the cave and Basin

There is strong smell of sulphur one cannot stand for a long time inside the cave

Fire truck

Shaunak trying the fire truck

Waste to art-these animals are made from discarded computer wires and plugs

After the visit to the history museum we started our trail walk,first trail we did was the Marsh loop it was very simple .There after we proceeded to do the Sundance canyon trail,this trail was bit long and had slight elevation at number of places.

Again the trail had a well developed road were both cyclist as well as people walking could move without difficulty.Besides the road there were horse trails on which people went to the Sundance point either riding the horse or buggy pulled by the horse.

The walk next to the bow river was superb and the weather was excellent,never ever we felt out of breath.

Malhar, with his mother Netrali,dad Deepak and brother Shaunak

Beautiful Bow river front

As we reached the point we saw another trail going to the top of the mountain and coming down. Self and Netrali were not keen as there was no one moving in that direction also we were concerned about the time ,however Deepak convinced us and we started the walk ,after some time we came across this beautiful bridge .We met a group of hikers who assured us that its good trail ,and we are already halfway through.

The bridge

As we started our descent we met this beautiful Canadian family from Calgary who were holidaying. After exchange of pleasantries and information on what all to see we parted our ways . Canadians are very friendly and forth coming in sharing information.

Canadian family whom we met again next day at different place

By this time we all were damn hungry and decided to go for a pizza . After parking our car in a free car park we strolled around the town , it is very small town and was full of tourist.The park authorities had put of kiosk on roadside to educate tourist about wildlife in the region as also dangers of bear,it was a very novel concept.

Street of Banff

Park volunteers explaining about wildlife

For lunch we chose a local sports bar which had good reviews of pizza too,we were bit apprehensive how the pizza in sports bar will be . Our decision turned out to be the best ,the waitress was the best I have ever seen till date ,she was not only efficient in her service but she stuck a cord with the kids ,very smiling and she was looking after almost 4 tables in one go!! off course Netrali tipped her appropriately and she thanked us from bottom of her heart.

Sports bar were we eat Pizza!!

The sports bar is just on top of these mannequins

After beautiful lunch of pizza it was time to go to our last tourist attraction of the day the Johnston Canyon.

On our way to Johnston canyon we came across a huge lake which had a small beach too it is lake minnewanka.This lake is 21 km long and about 142 mts deep ,it is the second longest lake in Canada.

Lake Minnewanka

As we were moving out on our way to Johnston Canyon we saw a this wildlife it was a group resting in the afternoon .

Elks in groove

Another attraction we saw in Banff was the Hoodoos .The hoodos are nothing but sedimentary rock covered by harder rock that is hard to erode. Once softer sediment erodes rock forms needle like, or tower like natural obstacles .One can see them from a distance.

The Hoodoos needle

The Johnston falls are nothing but water falls,however the way it is made accessible to tourist by use of pathways is commendable and now it has become a major tourist attraction attracting a large number of tourist . We went upto only lower falls even though Deepak wanted to go up to upper falls ,I told him all are tired and looking forward to dinner rest . It was a short half an hour walk as you reach the lower falls one can actually reach very near to the falls via a tunnel, as you emerge out of tunnel you get sprayed by mist of the water, it is lovely.