Although Rachael had to work this day, her shift didn't start until 3.00pm, so she got to put up with us for the morning. We had breakfast together (along with Molly - her canine housemate), then went for a walk up onto the ridge above her place overlooking the town (where she told us she's petrified of walking alone for fear of being eaten by a bear or a cougar).
New favourite furry animal - the gopher
View over Canmore
She then took us up to Grassi Lakes on the opposite side
of town, where we walked to a waterfall, and then to the lakes themselves. These were amazingly clear, with the blue-green water reflecting the mountains above.
Sisters :-)
View from the falls (looking back towards Canmore)
Beautiful lakewater
We dropped Rachael back at her place so she could get
ready for work, and drove over to Banff for the afternoon. The town was very picturesque, but had a much more touristy feel than nearby Canmore, with lots of chain-stores and busloads of people wandering the main street.
We checked out the "cave and basin" – the site of the hot
springs which are responsible for Banff existing (and the location of Canada’s
first national park). The massive, old bath-house is now a gallery (with the
big swimming pool filled in and paved over). The original thermal pool had been left intact, as was the cave below (which explorers had stumbled upon in attempting
to find the source of the heated creek water)(and subsequently seized on the idea of making money from it).
The cave
And you guessed it - the basin
After overhearing the ranger telling another group that
there had been a bear sighting along the lower boardwalk, we promptly set out
to see if we could spot one. No luck, but the walk was nice.
More springs further up the hill
Random macro (while looking for the elusive bear)
On driving through Banff, we had spotted a several signs pointing towards the enticing-sounding "tunnel mountain". Imagining all sorts of subterranean wonders, we went for a drive up said mountain only to discover
that it got its name because it was originally thought that a tunnel would have
to be built through it for the railway - until someone discovered another way
for the train to go…Therefore, tunnel mountain is nothing more than just a nice camp spot. Sigh.
We finished off the day with a quick trip to Lake Minnewanka, for no reason other than the fact that Ryan wanted to say that he’d
been there (pronouncing it Mini-Wanker the whole time). Ryan and Rachael
took another drive out there after she finished work (11.00pm) in the hope of
taking some star shots, but were defeated by still-light skies and Rachael’s
fear of wildlife (apparently when she found out she would have to actually get
out of the car, she nearly boycotted the whole thing).
Lake Minnewanka by day
And by night
(after hearing about close encounters of the wildlife-kind, I imagined Ryan and Rachael had walked into the bush somewhere - turns out they took their shots from the wide-open could-see-a-bear-for-miles-before-it-would-have-a-chance-to-eat-you boat ramp...)
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