We had an early 7AM breakfast and drove to Banff before 8AM. It was a gorgeous blue sky day. Just at the point where the highway arrives to banff, we took the exit to the right and drove up Nordic Mountain, a skill hill in winter. The road provides great views of Banff and supposedly it is usual to see Mountain goats. We did not see, but it is worth the 5 minute drive, easy uphill climb.
View from Nordic Mountain (click to enlarge)
Fairmont Springs Hotel
Around 8:30AM we went to visit this famous and very beautiful hotel. There is fee on street parking just down the road. Then you can walk to the hotel, and go in. Go upstairs from the exception, and enjoy the nice public rooms and decoration. You can also go outside to a patio area that oversees the swimming pool and provides great views.
Banff Sulphur Montain TOP 5 ATTRACTION
This was one of the top 5 attractions of our trip.
Next, follow the road and stop at the Sulphur mountain gondola. You can hike up the nearly 500m vertical climb, or take the gondola up. The New Zealander that was selling tickets told us that it was a 1.5 hour hike and he had done in 1 hour. This was hard to believe as it is about 5Km uphill. Since our time was limited we deciced to take the gondola up. it is pricey, about $90 for the family. The heights during the ride are impressive, and a bit scary.
The gondola ride: it can be a little scary!
Once you get up the mountain, you can explore the observation deck, go up another 3 floors, and simply enjoy the 360 degree views. There is another short hike here to an old weather station, about 500m away. Remember you are now at around 2,200 m height, so oxygen is getting rare. The kids enjoyed taking little runs and getting short of breath.
The views from the weather station are spectacular. At the top I placed a cell phone call to my mom, about 10,000Km away and described the scenery: simply fantastic.
We then hiked back to the top of the gondola. This time we decided to hike all the way down instead of taking the gondola. It took us about 1h15min, stopping once for snacks by a water fall just off the trail. This is a spectacular trail, and something we will remember forever. If you have an ok level of fitness, take it! Downhill it's easy. Be careful with loose rocks.
Going down it's easier!
Banff Hot Springs
Arriving at the bottom of the hill, we went next door to the Banff Hot Springs. The water of the springs is about +40C, quite hot. it is nice and relaxing but we were expecting a wilder setting. The way they did it, it is just a hot swimming pool. Quite disappointing in this regard.
The time was about 2PM and we decided we had enough of Banff.
Canmore
We drove back to Canmore, had lunch, went for another swimm at the heated pool. With time left in the afternoon, we decided to do some hiking in Canmore. There are many trails, most take too long for the few hours we had left. We decided to go for the Grotto Canyon, a short drive away. Finding the trail entrance was tricky, just after an industrial facility and close to grotto lake. We were never quite sure we were in the right trail, and there is nobody around. Anyway, we were, and found the canyon. Being August, there was no water, so you get to walk at the bottom of the Canyon. We followed it for about 500m or so, never finding some pictograms that are supposed to be there.
The canyon walls
Coming back, we saw people arriving with fishing rods so we decided to follow them to Grotto lake. This was quite nice, lake, families fishing. We saw an eagle or falcon (?) fly by, dive and pick up a fish!
Caught you!
On the way back to the hotel we again stopped at the supermarket for more groceries for next day's road trip towards the Crossing.
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