We had a more leisurely start to the day. It was time for
something totally unplanned, but, once again, suggested to us by our hosts (the
value of local knowledge should never be underestimated). We were headed for
Kananaskis Country.
The Trans Canada highway from Banff to Calgary provided an
opportunity to see a good long stretch of Rocky Mountain range. A very pretty
sight with the last of the snow breaking up the starkness of the grey peaks.
Passing Canmore, we took a turn off into the Kananaskis
Valley. We went a lot further down the road than we first planned and stopped
at Highwood Pass 2206m above sea level. This is grizzly bear country and also
Rocky Mountain sheep country. No lucky encounters with the former (thankfully)
but plenty of encounters with the latter.
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| Rocky Mountain (or big horn) sheep on the main road |
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| a ground squirrel popping out of its hole to whistle a warning |
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| walking a snowy trail |
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| Looking for bears!! |
We found a beautiful spot to have our lunch at Lower
Kananaskis Lake and hoped we were ahead of the Korean coach schedule! Ah! But
no, they possibly don’t come this route!!
Upper Kananaskis Lake was only a short drive further along
the road and we stopped here to take a short hike around the shoreline. This
gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs before we headed back along a back
country road (how’s that for use of the local lingo?) which we had been
encouraged to take for the scenery.
We didn’t see any grizzly bears, but the sign says it all.
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| Cute little chipmunk |
The back country drive was worth every corrugation and dust cloud. The scenery was beautiful. We stopped at a number of viewpoints. There was one special spot we stopped at named Sparrowhawk right on the shore of Spray Lake Reservoir. As the name suggests this is part of a dammed river. The lake is very long but the surrounding country is stunning. Pictures don’t do justice to all we have seen.
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| wild strawberries growing everywhere along the shore |
Returning to Banff, we took the turn off to Lake Minnewanka.
It is easy to see why the locals enjoy this place so much. Lots of camping so
close to town, hiking trails, safe swimming for children and beautiful Rocky
Mountain scenery. This photo was taken at Johnson Lake, part of the same system as Minnewanka. A very family friendly place.
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| Ground squirrel up in a meadow off Norquay Road |
Back on the Trans Canada Highway we took another turn off to
go up to the top of Mount Norquay for a view over the town and valley. This was
our preference to spending dollars on the gondola – local recommendation once
again came up trumps. In winter this is one of the ski resorts. We had a lovely
view right over Banff to the Fairmont Banff Springs and beyond to Sulphur
Mountain where the gondola takes you up top. Lots of ground squirrels were
calling out their warnings to each other.
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| Fairmont Banff Springs in centre of photo |
This was a lovely way to round off our last day in Banff.
Tomorrow we head for Revelstoke and some other, different national parks.
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| Banff main street |
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