Theo and Jeff's 2007 Vacation Trip - Canadian Rockies

In June 2007, Theo and Jeff South flew to Calgary and then spent ten days visiting Canmore, Banff and Golden. We hiked in the Banff and Yoho National Parks, and also hiked up to and then swam in the mineral pool at Radium Hot Springs.


Here are some pictures and narrative about the hikes, the wildlife and the experiences we had.


Canmore and Banff:

Our first few nights, we stayed at the Lady MacDonald Bed and Breakfast in Canmore. It was a very nice room and the B&B is centrally located in Canmore, which is about 20 kilometers from Banff.

Our first hike was a repeat of one we had taken in 2004: around the shores of Lake Minnetonka and back up a long ravine to a waterfall. The day was overcast and chilly. Here's a view of the lake from the trail.

This is the ravine along which we hiked to get to the waterfall. The photo is from a bridge.

The next day, Jeff played a round of golf at Silvertip, in the mountains above Canmore. It's one of his favorite courses. Here's a picture, taken in 2004, of Jeff playing a par 3. Note the mountain peak in the background. Each of the holes was positioned so that the approach into the green had a mountain peak behind it.





























In the afternoon we drove to and around Banff. There had been substantial winter snow and the spring weather had flooded some of the valleys. Here's a picture looking back at Banff from a ski area above it; you can see some of the flooding, although no buildings were threatened.



























We decided to hike up one of the mountains above Banff and to take a tram back down. On the way up, we came across the waterfall behind Theo in the picture below.






























From the top of the mountain we could look down on the Banff Springs Fairmont Hotel and the golf course next to it, along with the Bow River.





























Lake Louise:

The following day, we drove to Lake Louise, which we also visited in 2004. We again hiked up to the teahouse on a mountain above the lake. This time, we had to hike through some snow on the way. Here's a view back at the lake from about halfway up the two hour hike.































Below is a smaller lake that we pass on the way to the teahouse. If you squint, you can see the roof of the teahouse just below the snowy section around twelve o'clock in the picture.





























And here's Theo in front of the teahouse.

Moraine Lake:

After hiking back down, we drove eleven or twelve more kilometers to Moraine Lake. It wasn't as turquoisy-blue as we've seen it before because of the overcast skies, but it's still a very beautiful site.

At the lower end of the lake is a hill of boulders, which you can see below. No one apparently has been able to figure out from where the boulders came or how they got piled up like that. There's no mountain close enough for it to have been a rock slide and no way the rocks could have been carried there by humans. Maybe something to do with glacier movements millions of years ago...??

Yoho National Park:

After Lake Louise, we drove an hour or two west to Golden, British Columbia and spent three days hiking in Yoho National Park. Our first hike was an hour or so through woods to the waterfall you see below. We first approached the waterfall from above and then hiked down to see it from below.

Here are a couple of pictures of Theo in front of the falls and then an "artsy" type photo of some flowers with the waterfall. The flowers were only about one foot tall. Note in each of the pictures the hill of rocks and dirt that has built up from residue that has gone over the falls.

We then drove to Emerald Lake and hiked around it. As you can see, June is not necessarily warm in Canada.

On our second day in Yoho, we hiked up Lookout Mountain: three and a half hours of hiking and never saw a soul or any significant wildlife, although we sang songs to let the bears know we were coming. The picture below shows a semi-flooded valley from the lookout cabin on the mountain.

While we were in Yoho, we also visited the "natural bridge", which was just a rock outcropping with some passages in it that the water had carved out.

On June 9th, we drove from Golden down to Radium Hot Springs. We hiked up from the visitor center in town, through some campgrounds and along some ravines until we got to the hot springs and the related pool. We relaxed in the pool for awhile (the water temperature was perhaps 90 degrees), then ate some lunch and hiked back down. We then drove back to Canmore.

Canmore and Banff Again:

Above is a view of the Three Sisters mountain peaks from our rented condo window in Canmore. Below is the view of Cascade Mountain that you see from the highway just before you get to Banff.

On the eleventh, we drove to Johnston Canyon to hike. Along the road, we spotted this elk. We waited for a while, but at no time did it ever raise it's head to look around or to acknowledge anything other than the grass it was eating

Johnston Canyon:

Johnston Canyon is a long stretch of falls and rapids that come down out of the mountains. The Banff National Park people have built walkways and fences to accommodate hikers. Our total hike here was about seven or eight miles, as we walked the canyon and then took a back route through the mountains to the highway and the parking lot. Here are some pictures of what we saw in Johnston Canyon.

Along the way, Theo picked up a friend for a while.

As we returned from Johnston Canyon, we spotted this small group of longhorned sheep next to the road. We got a fleeting picture as we drove by.

Before we left Canada, Jeff got in a round of golf in Canmore at Stewart Creek, another fine mountain course - one that is not easy, but much easier than Silvertip. During the round, he saw deer, elk, fox and lots of pikas. Even saw a few birdies....

Here's one final picture (we have many others) of some of the scenery from our trip and a rare shot of some of the fuzzy-haired wildlife there as well:

Jeff in Yoho National Park