Day 212 - Beautiful Banff

We set off a little later today but still left ourselves with plenty of time to complete our day’s check list. Mistaya Canyon was our first port of call; not on our to-do-list but we thought we’d give it an inspection anyway. We made our way down a few hundred metres of steep hill to a bridge with a nice view of the canyon before making the walk back up to the car.

We then stopped at another lookout before coming across yet another one; this one being over Waterfowl Lake.

The next stop was the first of our actual planned stops and this was at Peyto Lake and glacier. We had a 10 minute walk all uphill to the main lookout point. The views from here were amazing and well worth the relatively short uphill walk. There were quite a lot of tourists here due to a couple of bus-loads of the things arriving before us and so we made our way below the official lookout and onto the cliff to get a better look. We took lots of pictures here and waited quite a while before leaving as this area was simply incredible to see. Jasper National Park had some nice views but this was the first real “WOW!” evoking one we’d seen since Niagara Falls.

Next stop was Bow Lake and glacier where we only had a very short walk to bring us to the water’s edge where we were treated to another remarkable panorama.

Crowfoot Glacier

Bow Lake and Glacier

Herbert Lake was next as this was supposed to be a photographer’s favourite and so Corrie was eager to check out its mirror lake. Due to the light winds though the mirror was somewhat shattered and didn’t give the perfect reflections it was famed for so we moved on.

Next on our list was Moraine Lake which was down at the foot of a very steep and winding hill. In the brochure we had the guide states that you should go here and to Lake Louise before 11:00 and after 17:00 due to the busy period that falls in-between; no prizes for guessing when we showed up! The place was packed and there was a steady stream of cars circulating the car park in an attempt to find a parking spot. Danny let Corrie venture off as parking may take some time. As it happened the guy in front of him blocked the road and stopped his car. Danny couldn’t see beyond him and so assumed he was stuck in traffic. This guy happened to have the right idea though as within 10 minutes people were coming back to their cars and leaving and so we could take their spaces. Danny parked up and then wandered down to find Corrie; she was happily snapping away by the side of the lake and so we continued a little further along for some more pictures before heading up to the top of a nearby hill. This hill offered great views over the lake and valley and was yet another stunning landscape to add to our memory banks.

  

Then we went to Lake Louise, a very famous spot in Banff National Park and so we were expecting another parking nightmare. Danny drove right into the heart of the car park and managed to find what he claimed was a legitimate parking spot. It would be hard to tell if he was right or wrong in amidst the sea of cars and campervans. In saying this; the parks have been quite quiet on the roads, it’s just when you get to a big point of interest that you get everyone culminating in their masses. We walked the short way down to Lake Louise to be knocked for six by yet another jaw-dropping view. This place is so picturesque and we can see the big attraction about it. We relaxed on a bench right in front of the vibrantly coloured lake’s waters for a good half an hour before we thought we should finish up our day’s travelling.

We drove to our accommodation partially via the very scenic Bow Valley Parkway road which was a lovely drive and offered a few more stops for some snaps along the route before we finally arrived in Canmore.

Columbia Ground Squirrel

We checked into our very nice hotel and then went for some tea… followed by… another Dairy Queen. We seriously think this is an addiction now thank you both very much Douglas and Alison! We have had 5 in the space of 5 days. We’re going to try not to get anymore for a while but it’s going to be a long, hard road as their Blizzards are just so damn good!