BootsnAll Travel Blogs

well….Banff is like a proper town compared to Jasper (which feels kinda more of a community)
the hostel is really nice – more like a hotel than a hostel – complete with cafe an bar …which is nice ;^)
the walks are more tourist than up in Jasper…I climbed Sulphur mountain – took 1 hour 11 minutes…I thought I was gonna be the first one to walk up that day – until a 50yr old fella came RUNNING past me! ….on the plus side he’s busy training for a himalayan climb..so I dont feel so bad about him beating me. the trip down was via gondola….but that was like MEGA pricey (the Jasper ride is free to come down)
I toured the caves and springs which were the origins of the town, also visited the Hoodoos – these are pillars of sandy rock whcih have been eroded into weird shapes over the years.
Fave place around here is Two Jack lake…its a nice lake with Mount Rundle as the backdrop. Very peaceful place and not too heavily visited either (apart from one day when it was taken over by some canadian scuba divers – boy! those guys know how to travel: big trucks towing trailers with EVERY possile camping/bbq/scuba accessory possible!
Minnewanka (careful) lake is OK, but its been dammed to raise its level so it feels a bit manufactured. Johnston Canyon was a nice walk: the lower falls are full of old people so they get a bit busy, but as you continue climbing, the numbers drop and the scenery improves until you reavh the upper falls which are pretty damn kewl. Above that agian, is the ‘inkpots’ which are natural springs bubbling into indentations in the ground – theyre pretty good, but the backdrop of the mountains is fab!
Ive been driving the Bow valley parkway each evening to try and see some more animals – you know, like in Moose Meadows: nowt. not a thing – apart froma a roadkill squirrel!
On the day I drove up to Lake Louise, i walked up Castle Mountain lookout – excellent views across the valley to Storm mountain etc. I met an elderly Virginian couple there (Chuck & Adella): really nice people, they’ve even invited me over to their place, should I been around that area (though I prolly wont be)….nice people
After Castle Mountain I drove into B.C. to the Kootenay park and walked up to Stanley Glacier – its was OK, but Ive seen better. Interesting thing was the forest there was decimated in a forest fire, so the trees are mainly blackened and dead…….oh, the fire was in 1968!!!! (how long does it take for a forest to recover???????)

Tags: , alberta, canada, chuggy, hoodoos, jasper, kimberley, Travel, two jack

This entry was posted on Friday, September 29th, 2006 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.