Day 59 - Banff is beautiful!

 We woke up to the sounds of campers starting up and heading out.  Eventually, we too climbed out of the camper and started the day.  On our trip to the bathroom we were startled to see a pile of bear scat at a campsite behind us.  Whoa - they weren’t kidding that there are bears here!

Back at camp, we had some “artistic” (the boys used the spoon to draw with the batter) pancakes and eggs. 



While I cleaned up from breakfast Amy wandered over to the check in area to ask about places to hike.  They gave her some advice (initially in French!) and also gave her some bear spray to borrow.  Double whoa.


From camp, we tried to hike to the hoodoos.  It was unmarked and fairly hard to follow.  There were also a lot of trails along the hike that didn’t make the map, making it extra hard to orient yourself.  Amy and I decided that, unlike the US, Canadian parks start on the assumption you know what you are doing and so don’t give you quite as much guidance.  I guess they don’t know that us dumb Americans visit from time to time - ha!

The boys were tired of hiking (and were very vocal about it) so they and Amy went back to camp.  I continued on the hoodoo trail to the river and eventually made it to Surprise Corner.  The river and background are spectacular.




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I walked back through town just to see what was there.  It was surprising to have a village in the middle of the National Park.  It’s like someone wove a national park into Vail Colorado.  There’s lots of commercialism in the town of Banff but there is nature and spectacular beauty surrounding it.  It’s just a strange mix.  But I guess it works.  


When I made it back to camp, I finished the leftover corn dogs and then we took Amy downtown.  She found a place to get some postcards and some Canadian currency at the ATM before walking back to camp.  While she was there, the boys and I explored the river area.  We walked down the opposite side of the river to see the falls and get another look at the Fairmont Banff Springs.  An amazing historical building right on the edge of the falls.  




Once back at camp, we did some early showers, had some dinner and did another campfire. Overall, we had a pretty chill day, but Amy and I still managed to feel like we explored a fair bit of Banff - at least the town. 




Total miles - 9,197

# States/Provinces - 16 / 2

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