Day 32 Banff National Park

It was 44F when I drove off from the RV parking area, still too cold to think of hiking.  I was quickly humbled when I saw a young Japanese family trekking off into the woods, fully armed for an arctic expedition.

I had no exact plans on where to go.  The sun was still too low for me to see the details in the landscape, but I quickly settled to hike the Bow Glacier Falls.  I was the first car in the parking lot. This hike followed the river and was rated easy, due to the low elevation gain.  I'm glad I did this hike as that meant I didn't have to carry water for the dogs.  The footpath skirted the lake shore southwest, then gained some elevation to get to the glacier maraine. I was the first one at the falls this morning.  It took another hour before I saw anyone else.

Bow Glacier Falls is a classic U-shaped canyon.  Three other falls rolled off the cliffs, with the canyon bottom a mound of moraines.  The falls roared so loudly it was hard to talk.  Groups of people were now coming toward the falls as we began a loop around the canyon high among the rocks before I rejoined the regular trail.

It was 64F when we got back to the van.  Today's high rose to 84F by mid afternoon.  I realized it was this heat that was tiring me (and perhaps the dogs as well). I had to rest a bit before entering Banff because of the fatigue.  We drove into town in mid afternoon and  it was one long traffic jam, much worse than Jasper.

Banff has a EurAsian feel to it.  The buildings in the downtown are mostly heavy log exterior.  The Banff Falls and the 1885 hot springs building are two tourist attractions.  Even I was interested in the hotsprings, as admission is only $7.30.  The old building is near the gondola to Sulphur Mountain and there were people everywhere.  I wanted to walk the dogs some more but Sadie showed no inter and Zeke was a bit nervous by the sound of the gondola. I sat in the van for another hour just reading before I finally decided to get to the springs and get clean.  Maximum capacity is 205 in the pool and it felt like there were that many in the building.  I only lasted 20 minutes in the 39C water.

I drove 136.7 miles today, with a total of 8477.9 total

tbc