Monday, June 22, 2015

2015 Canada West: Banff (6/22/2015)

Monday, June 22, 2015
Got an early start, leaving Calgary to head west into the Canadian Rockies.
Drive-by photo of the Canada Olympic Park
ski jumps and chairlift
First view of the Rockies today
(we had seen them from the airport on 6/19/2015)
Entering the Canadian Rocky Mountains
Brynne with the Big Head (2008, by Al Henderson)
in Canmore, AB (Canmore is from the Gaelic for Big Head)
Canmore's North West Mounted Police (NWMP) barracks (1893)
Canmore's Ralph Connor Memorial United Church (c. 1881)
An Ursus americanus/American Black Bear
on the side of the road to Lake Minnewanka (KSS)
Lake Minnewanka's $1.8-million biffy/outhouse
(2006-2008) with eco-friendly green technology
The old biffy
Lake Minnewanka
Spermophilus lateralis/Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel
Driving into the town of Banff, we saw a moose grazing at the side of the road.
The Fairmont Banff Springs
(rebuilt 1928 in Edwardian Victorian style)
The Fairmont Banff Springs corridor to the lobby
We had the breakfast buffet in the Bow Valley Grill in the hotel.
Our view at breakfast
Statue of William Cornelius Van Horne,
general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)
whose vision it was to build hotels and
bring the tourists to view all the scenery
Vermilion Lakes reflection of Mount Rundle and Sulphur Mountain
As we turned off on the Bow Valley Parkway/1A in Banff National Park, we saw a large herd of Ovis canadensis/Bighorn Sheep cross the road. They took off into the woods when a cyclist clattered across the cattle guard (called a Texas gate in Canada).
Banff National Park:
Johnston Canyon
Johnston Canyon catwalk (KSS)
Took the 1.1 km/0.7 mile hike
to the Lower Falls (and back!)
Lower Falls punchbowl
Kent in the tunnel for a closer look at the falls
Moss along the catwalk
Layered rock
Tamiko bends a tree (KSS) 
Castle Mountain
Heading north on Bow Valley Parkway
Next: Lake Louise.

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