Saturday, July 30, 2005 -- Banff Day #1
Today was our first day to be spent exclusively around Banff, and we
weren't quite sure what to do with it. We finally decided to make
a light day of it, just do some sightseeing and easy hiking.
These are the "hoodoos" (the stone spires near bottom), the cliff side
of Mt.Rundle, and the Bow River as it flows southeast (here) on its way
out to Calgary. It eventually joins the Saskatchewan River which
then flows on to Hudson Bay -- all this pretty much due east from here.
Closeup (telephoto) of this same spot of the Bow River. When we
were there, there were just enough rafts, canoes, and kayaks to make it
interesting, not overcrowded.
Same place, looking toward Banff. The large building in the gap
in the Banff Springs Resort.
And another view of the rafters that can be seen in the above shot.
Happy diners alongside the trail at the Hoodoos.
After driving up Mt.Norquay to the ski resort, we donned packs for a
short (2.2 km each way) hike to the Stoney Squaw Lookout. This
was not much of a lookout actually -- good views in only one
direction. But hey, it was pretty. This is looking almost
due east. Banff is off to the right, behind the trees.
Flowers at the lookout.
(Remember that you can click and blow up for more detail.)
And a particularly interesting part along the path. To the left
was a small ridge of apparently large rocks. The whole area had
apparently suffered hard windfall fairly recently -- there were trees
down everywhere!
And that was pretty much all we did today.
--Rik
This page last modified August 20, 2005.
