2023 Canada – Banff – Rob's "Beats Working" Blog

Any one who knows me would know that I dislike a queue, so after yesterday’s experience of queueing for breakfast, ‘we’ decided that ordering an in-room breakfast might be a better option for today. I had some scrambled eggs and sausages that all arrived on time. I also ordered Deb a Nutella chocolate croissant. I can’t think of many worse things, but each to their own I guess.

Our first stop today was Johnson Canyon , which is a short trip up the highway, but I’d read on the internet that if you take the Bow Valley Parkway there’s plenty of wildlife to see. I’ve watched youtube after youtube of bears and elks on this road. We had got an early start and the ambient temperature was 0 degrees, so I guess all the animals stayed in bed. We saw a squirrel and a couple of birds.

There is a spot on this road called Morant’s Curve where the Canadian Pacific railway runs. People wait considerable amounts of time to see trains on it, but as we arrived a long freight train was passing, so we were able to take ‘the photo’. Freight trains here are about as long as coal trains in Australia.

We arrived at Johnson Canyon at around 9 am and quickly embarked on the walk to the falls. It is a pretty easy walk on mostly concrete paths, but there’s a bit you have to squeeze through at the end to get the best photo. By the time we were on our way back the crowds were building, so we were thankful for the early start. The Bow Valley Parkway closes between Johnson Canyon and Banff during September to allow the Elk ‘rutting’ season to proceed unimpeded by people. There is a plan to convert large sections of the parkway into permanent bikeways over the next 3 years. It has a 60 km speed limit, so was nice to avoid the hustle of the Trans-Canada Highway for a little while.

Our next stop was Lake Minnewanka (said ‘mini wonka’ before you giggle too much) which is a favourite recreational lake near Banff. The lake was first dammed in 1912 to store water and to provide a bog-free shoreline for recreational sailors, but while the National Parks Act was suspended during World War II a much larger embankment dam was constructed in 1941 and raised the lake level by 30 m. This resulted in the resort village of Minnewanka Landing, which had been there since 1888, being submerged. Water from the lake feeds two generators in the Cascade Hydro-powerhouse which supplies power to the Banff Townsite. The submerged village is popular among recreational scuba divers.

Because we were only in Banff for a day the next tickbox was the Banff Gondola which is on the eastern slope of Sulphur Mountain, about 2,000 metres above sea level. Of course the upper terminal has a lot more places to spend your money, featuring three restaurants and a gift shop, but the observation decks provide views of the Bow River Valley.

We returned our rental car which was a little relieving for me. I thought I did alright driving on the wrong side of the road, but it does require a lot of additional concentration and the drivers around you don’t always understand your confusion at simple tasks. Most of Banff’s main street has been converted to a pedestrian mall, which means there is a lot of traffic in the surrounding streets that haven’t necessarily been designed for the increased traffic volumes. As far as the ‘main street’ goes it is like a lot of other resort towns, with souvenir shops, jewelry shops, eating places mixed with the odd gallery and tattoo parlour.

We came back to our hotel which is the Fairmont Banff Springs. This is a sprawling property tha has multiple buildings and is beautifully themed. This version of the hotel was built in the 1920s but had a real 19th century castle feel. It it set next to the Bow River just outside Banff which is quite scenic, but the walk to the river involves lots of stairs! Good going down… a bit rough coming back up.

There are many resaurants and bars, we chose to eat in the Vermillion room, a French-themed restaurant, where we shared a charcuterie platter and then I had a pork chop with roast potatoes and Deb had the Salmon. We followed up with a Strawberry sponge and Deb having a Paris Brest with praline and chocolate. The meal was excellent and the people watching even better.