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Banff
Everything here is on a huge scale. I suggested the Rockies might be a bit like Scotland on steroids. It's not. The Rockies have been taking the steroids and going to the gym every day while the Highlands have been playing computer games in its bedroom.
I would use up the adjectives too quickly in describing the landscape so I'll let the photographs show you that. Photographs don't really do it justice either - they only show what is in front of the camera while in fact you are completely surrounded by grandeur. You are immersed in the landscape and can't really depict it adequately.
So I'll talk about the highlights, the quirky bits and the things that make Canada different.
On advice from our Calgary Hotel concierge we took a substantial detour on the way to Banff through Kananaskis County. This would involve 60km on a gravel road, so when we were offered a cheap upgrade to an SUV we jumped at the chance. Kananaskis village where we stopped for coffee was just like Aviemore but without any people there. The shop keepers were Japanese and the signs outside were in Japanese. The scenery was stunning. Every corner presented another opportunity to say "Wow!" out load. When it came time to take the gravel road the signpost said "High, narrow mountain road. No hard surface for 60Km." What it really meant was - "go back the way you came." What a fabulous drive it was. For 50Km of the 60Km, narrow meant 50 yards wide. Great for practicing 4 wheel drifting. We kicked up a plume of dust half a mile long. The scenery even notched up a gear - great first day on the road.
Our Banff B&B for 5 nights is just off the centre of town. Muskrat St. All the streets in Banff are named after animals apart from Banff Avenue which is the main street through town. Banff is a very small town but it is absolutely heaving with people all gathered to witness the splendour of the Rockies and to take advantage of Banff's many shopping opportunities. It is a very pretty town with the Bow River bordering it on two sides and ringed by Cascade, Rundle, Sulphur, Norquay and Tunnel mountains. Tunnel is misnamed, railway engineers thought that they would have to put a railway tunnel through it but went around it instead, however, the name stuck.
One of the nice things about B&B is that you meet your fellow travellers over breakfast, discuss what everyone has done, exchange tips and mangle the English language. So far we have met Canadians, Americans, English, Germans and Spanish. All very nice and all with very different plans and priorities.
The sound of the night in Banff is the sound of an enormous diesel engine rumbling deeply away down at the railway siding. Every now and again there is the mournful blasts of the train horn - four blasts, long and loud, to clear the animals off the track.
Driving is relatively easy here. The main roads are very good, if rather slow. Speed limits are variable from 90km/hr on fenced highways to a crawl of 30km/hr on some country sections of road. The speed limit is dependant on the probability of hitting a large animal. They don't seem to be too bothered by the injuries that you might sustain if an elk came through your windscreen but they definitely don't want you hitting one of their bears. So far we have seen some mule deer, one of them in the town. So far none of the big five although we keep a lookout wherever we go.
Pam - you definitely wouldn't like it here. All around town there are notices that there has been recent wolf activity around the houses in Banff. We are warned not to approach them and how to behave if they become aggressive. There is an extra edge to taking a walk in the woods here when you know that there are several species - bear, wolf, cougar, elk and lynx - that are sharing the wood with you and could do you some harm if they became aggressive. We took some pepper spray with us but I think that it would be difficult to use it effectively when you are running for your life.
The alternative to Pepper spray is to take a little bell to announce your presence. Grizzly Bears in this area live solely on Buffalo Berries. A quarter of a million berries every day. Someone was employed by the Parks Department to follow a Grizzly, scoop the poop and count the seeds. It seems to me that ringing a little bell would be like announcing the presence of some protein on the menu.
In and around Banff and Lake Louise we :- Explored Kananaskis county, sailed on Lake Minniewanka, walked in the bear and wolf infested woods, took the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain, visited Lakes Louise, Morraine, Emerald and Two Jack, hiked up to Lake Agnes and took tea there, canoed on Emerald Lake, hiked up Johnson and Marble Canyons and visited Takakkawa Falls.
- comments
Susan Sounds amazing think I would be with Pam avoiding the bears xx