Had a couple too many drinks last night, but was still up and out of the hostel early. I drove the road out towards Lake Minnewanka
Here are a couple resources for Banff area
Banff downtown map: Banff-town-site
Day hikes around Banff: hikes Banff National Park
Camping options around Banff: BANFF CAMP
On the way out to the lake I came across the start of a Triathlon. I think it was just a “Sprint” version, which is usually about 750 meters swim, 12 miles bike and 3 miles run. It was pretty inspiring and intimidating at the same time. Everyone there was in great shape and seemed to be part of some traveling clique.
Here is the swim start
They do the swim first so no one dies, or I can only assume that is the reason if swimming were to go last. When I returned from the trip I decided to start training for one myself. Being that I have not swam much in my life (read into that never more than floating and crashing through waves). I felt pretty solid for the bike and run, so I have focused on my pool skills. It had been a pretty humbling experience as the lifeguards seem to congregate by me at all times. So far I can swim about 50meters before collapsing in both a panic attack and muscle fatigue. There something fun about swimming in the middle of the day. When I leave the pool and walk around town, you see everyone going about their day and you want to tell them, “just 10 minutes ago I was playing in the water. Yes it was in a pool not the ocean or a lake, but I was wet and now I am back like you on land, can you believe that?” They rarely share my excitement. Ah, the life of a hardcore triathlete.
After watching the start of the race I continued on from Johnson Lake to Minnewanka Lake and hiked the Stewart Canyon
On the way back to the car, I came across this van with a wheel cover of 2 Pandas humping. Pretty classy I thought
I headed back towards downtown, picking my way through the biking portion of the race. I continued onto to the opposite side of town to check out how the other half lives at the Fairmont Banff Springs Lodge.
A very swanky place. A couple weddings going on with plenty of beautiful people attending. I snapped some pictures at Bow falls and parked the car downtown to take some pictures and catch the first half of the Notre Dame Purdue football game
I ended up at an Irish pub (St James Gate), thinking it would be my best bet to catch the game. They were happy to oblige and I hung out till halftime with Notre Dame clinging to a slim lead and an eventual victory.
This is where I made my only real complete f-up on my trip. I headed out to Sunshine parking lot north of town where one of the ski resorts was located. It mentioned that the trail was located behind the lodge near the Gondolas.
So I started hiking up the gravel road that wound under the lift. I continued on for a couple miles and veered of on what looked like a trail for Healy Pass, even though I was looking for Standish Ridge.
The trail got pretty tight and disappeared. I climbed out and found the gravel road, having not a clue what was going on. School buses were passing me every half hour, I flagged one down and it turned out I needed to catch a bus up to the start of the trail. I asked the bus heading up if he would drop me off and he said that would not be a problem
When we got to the top, I got off the bus, and he said, “Where you going?” I told him I was going to hike the ridge. He mentioned that he was driving up to pick up any stragglers and that it was the last bus down. I am not sure why he did not relay that earlier, but I snapped a shot of the start of the trail and reboarded the bus for the return trip to my car
I continued on towards Lake Louise with my next stop at a 6 mile hike of Johnston Canyon. I was making my way NW and it was about 4pm, leaving me just a few hours left of daylight to complete the hike. I did not bring a pack and just started scurrying up the canyon trail taking random pictures
Once I get away from the crowds, the trail got a little more basic and I headed out to the Ink Pots. These are underground springs that give a few small pools a vibrant blue/green color.
In the bottom shot you can see the water bubbling up from the sandy bottom
It was dark by the time I got back to my car. I finished the 30 minutes to Lake Louise, had a Salmon burger at a local bar and passed out in a strip mall parking lot. Lake Louise was surprisingly small. Only a gas station a few lodges and couple bars. Tomorrow I will get my first look at the iconic lake.
Until Tomorrow
Darren
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