Banff

7/30/2019 Tuesday

From our overflow spot at Tunnel Mountain, it was only a two mile drive to downtown Banff.

On the way we stopped and filled our gas tank for 1.209/liter (4.58/gallon) making it the most expensive gas we’ve purchased to-date. We do need to consider that the price of gas is higher around national parks and areas with high tourism in our travel budget.

note: When writing this on 5/13/2020, gas is $1.46 at our local Costco. With very few people traveling during the pandemic, supply is outstripping demand.

Intersecting with friends from home, we arranged to meet Joe Simpson and his dad at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies.

Painted by the museum's namesake Peter Whyte in the 1940's, here's an artists view of the Athabasca Glacier where we were at this time yesterday.

The museum contained a wide variety of exhibits celebrating the beauty and history of the Canadian Rockies. This elevation chart of the Canadian Pacific illustrates the challenging grades overcome by the railroad engineers.

The Simpsons found a car and sign perfectly placed for a family photo.

A hobby display made for me contained cameras, trains and matchbox toys. I think there are well used copies of those two matchbox vehicles in a toybox at my parents cottage.

This highly detailed model and doll of a bird cage seller fascinated us.

A clay owl face portrayed one of our favorite birds.

We would definitely recommend this museum for anyone wanting to learn more about the history and arts of the area. It is perfect for a rainy day, but on a beautiful sunny day like we had, it was time to get back outside.

We shared a Mexican lunch at Magpie and Stump with the Simpson's before they boarded a train for the remaining leg of their cross-Canada adventure. After saying goodbye we fast-walked back to the parking lot because we only had three hours on the meter. We went a little over the allowed time, but there was no ticket on the windshield.

Next we tried to find parking at Bow Falls and the scenic overlook of the Banff Hotel Frontenac to no avail. We caught this photo later in the afternoon from a more distant vantage point.

Cave and Basin National Historic Site had plenty of parking spots.

Cave and Basin was Canada’s first national park. This ancient hot spring in a cave was a traditional aboriginal ceremonial meeting place.

Some of the hot springs are now diverted to a pool. The pool deck offers beautiful views of the surrounding peaks.

The pool deck was also being used to display interesting works of arts like this sculpture of Mountain Goats and, the smaller, Pika.

Getting closer we were surprised to find that Zuzana Riha recycled computer and audio cables to fashion these realistic tundra animals.

Do you know the way to Saguenay? This signpost pointed east towards Saugenay Fjord 3,272 km away where we enjoyed another Canadian adventure two summers ago. Click on the blue word to bounce back to the time when we were looking for whales in Quebec.

Only a short walk away, was the Canadian National Park headquarters and Cascade of Time Gardens.

Lovely terraced gardens offered beautiful views.

This bridge sculpted from burls linked sections of the gardens.

After relaxing in the garden, we decided to look for a more natural campground for tonight. Heading out of Banff, we stopped to view this incredible waterfall.

Rather than taking the main road, we elected to drive the slow and scenic  Bow Valley Parkway connecting Banff to Lake Louise.

The parkway was our kind of road, with lots of places to pull over and enjoy the view. Our favorite stop was the Castle Mountain Overlook.

Traffic came to a stop in both directions when bears were sighted. That dot on the right shoulder is a Grizzly.

The bears brought us good fortune - a place to stay for the night in Protection Mountain Campground.  Due to bear activity, tents and soft-sided campers were being turned away from this first-come, non-reservable campground. Even a VW Vanagon with a pop-up top was asked to leave.

That left a spot for us! At $21.50 it was a bargain for the area. The campground offers few services, but good privacy and great views.

Beth stayed at the site to hold it and I met three bears on the road driving down to deposit our payment. Later the ranger warned me about a male grizzly on the RR tracks and other rangers said there were three grizzlies in the campground over near the washrooms. We had mixed feelings about getting close enough to capture good photos. In the end, we decided to relax and just enjoy the surroundings of our site.

Today's scenic route from Banff to Protection Mountain.