Bold and Beautiful Banff

After departing from Calgary the morning of Saturday, July 21, 2018 , Bob and I drove west to Banff National Park.  We would meet up with Bobby's family that evening and vacation in the park with them until Thursday.  It was a cloudy day, with intermittent rain, as we drove into Banff and headed north to the Columbia Ice-field.  The ice-field is the largest in the Rocky Mountains and sits atop a triple Continental Divide.  When Bob was serving his mission, he remembered climbing all over the Athabasca glacier and seeing beautiful blue ice.  I was somewhat disappointed to see the the glacier had receded significantly, and that tourists had only an expensive glacier bus option for getting onto the ice. The ice was dirty and we were cold and saw no need to traverse the glacier. Instead we took the short hike to it's base and snapped a few photos.

The return trip along Icefields Parkway to Canmore, where we would be staying, afforded me a good look at the grandeur of the Canadian Rockies.  They were bold and beautiful and I couldn't wait to get out and start hiking.  Although Mistaya Canyon appeared to be closed, we got out and trekked to the amazing canyon carved from glacial waters.  What a sight to see!

Another relatively short hike to Peyto Lake was our next destination, and it's beautiful turquoise waters did not disappoint!  I can only imagine the vibrant colors on a clear sunny day.

I believe it was Hector Lake where we stopped and got our first glimpse of the Crowfoot Glacier (although initially, we were seeing only one "toe" of the foot).  The sky was beginning to clear and we were getting a sense of just how beautiful our surroundings were.

Sunday morning we attended church in Banff with our children and spent the afternoon exploring Cave and Basin National Historic Site nearby.

 

From there, we headed out to hike Johnston Canyon.  This is a very crowded, family-friendly scenic hike along a creek riddled with waterfalls.  It  took us about an hour to reach the upper falls, and provided some good bonding time with Linley, Max and Elynor.

That night, after a good soak in the tub, all of us worn out kiddos tumbled into our cozy warm beds.