After the epic lap around the Southern half of Utah we had a rest day in Calgary yesterday. This morning we set off for the mountains early. Our plan is to make the most of four days to show Julie our favourite spots in the mountain parks. Today we concentrated our efforts around Banff. It was a serious contrast to the red rocks and bone dry dessert of Utah. Utah was a fantastic experience but it was kind of comforting to be back in the green forest & snow capped mountains.
The Three Sisters
As always, the road to Banff includes passing through Canmore, the gateway to the Mountains. With clear skies, we made a small detour so we could get a nice view of The Three Sisters. Notice that there's absolutely no snow on the peaks in this shot. More on that later.
Johnston Canyon
Initially we bypassed Banff and continued along the Bow Valley Parkway as far as Castle Junction. In the shadow of Castle Mountain is one of our favourite short waterfall walks, Johnston Canyon.
We arrived at Johnston Canyon early which is always a good idea because it gets overrun most days. I had been back there with the DSLR camera a couple of times with mixed results, but usually the ice and snow combined with poor weather made it impossible to get the postcard shots I was after. Today, the conditions were perfect. We were even able to capture rainbows in a few of them, including Lower Falls (above).
This is one of my favourite waterfalls in Johnston Canyon. I like the hole in the rock that the left rapid runs through.
The photos I took this time around with the DSLR were so much clearer and the colours much more vibrant than previous efforts. The conditions helped but I think the better camera and a better understanding of photography definitely had as much impact.
Got it! The Upper Falls, on a clear day with a rainbow! 4th time lucky...
And the last of the falls. This one is just above the Upper Falls.
Vermilion Lakes
From Johnston Canyon we went back to Banff for lunch but not before a divert to nearby Vermilion Lakes (with Rundle mountain in the background). It was still quite a clear enough day and the breeze stayed away as well.
Banff
Of course we had to do the main street of Banff and the merchandising
shops. Not my favourite past time, but I do these things to humour
women when I have to.Below is Julie doing the inevitable tourist thing and having her photo taken with a stuffed moose.
Castle Mountain
We've booked a couple of nights at Lake Louise, so we set off from the Banff area and headed out along the Trans-Canada. We managed to catch a clear view of Castle Mountain in the process.
Osprey at Castle Junction
At Castle Junction, we crossed over to the Bow Valley Parkway. The short road crosses the Bow River with the bridge pictured. I've become pretty accustomed to spotting animals and this was no exception. If you look at the top of the bridge close enough, you'll see a big bird's nest.
In the nest was a pair of Osprey. Osprey are a bit scarce the world over, so this was a real treat.
Osprey are almost exclusive fish eaters. This pair had a trout up in the nest and you may see one of them with the tail in its mouth (above).
Bow Valley Wildlife Spotting
After our Osprey sighting we headed along the Bow Valley Parkway to look for more animals. We weren't disappointed. This black bear was grazing on a clearing just off the side of the road. It may not look like it, but this one is definitely a black bear. Its coat looks a lot like a grizzly, but the black bears have a significant range of colour variants. It was good that our visitor was able to see a bear regardless of what type.
It was getting late so it was off to the hotel to check in and have dinner. It was a decent start to our trip.
We're staying at one of the hotels up near Lake Louise itself so we took some time to check out the lake before to light finally disappeared. The evening has become overcast and cold. I hope these aren't ominous signs.
