Father's Day on the Banff Legacy Bike Trail

We spent father's day riding the Banff Legacy Bike Trail, which starts right outside of city of Canmore and  ends up in downtown Banff. The trail is a beautiful paved 40 km (round-trip) track that winds along next to the Trans-Canada highway. Even though the highway runs beside you, the continuous peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the forests all around and the electrified animal gates remind you that you are in the wilderness.

There were lots of bikes on the trail last Sunday, not only because it was father's day, but because it was a beautiful sunny day that we have not had a lot of this spring/summer.

Even though he got to talk on the phone, Jim missed being with the kids, but we will celebrate with them when we visit Houston in July!

The Orange Crush starts the ride!

Not sure why my helmet always sits at this jaunty angle, but I think it makes me look very French!

Beautiful blue skies!

Paved Legacy trail.

We had our picnic lunch by the river in Banff.

City park in Banff, next to the Bow River.

Proud dad enjoying the day!

Celebrating our one year anniversary in Calgary with a hike in Johnston Canyon

The Johnston Canyon trail is probably the most popular trail to hike in Banff. The tour buses stop here along with just about every other tourist that comes through Banff.  There are a series of catwalks anchored to the sides of the canyon above the roaring river below. Thousands of years of erosion have cut through the beautiful limestone walls to form waterfalls, tunnels and pools. Ice climbing on the frozen waterfalls is a popular sport in the winter. I think I'll be skipping that winter sport!

We arrived at the trail head at 9:00 A.M. and were amongst the first cars in the parking lot. By the time we fought the crowds and got back to the car three hours later, the entire lot was full and cars had spilled out onto the shoulders of the highway on both sides for at least a half a mile. It's a short hike to the falls with impressive viewpoints along the way. Most people turn around at the upper falls, which is a mile and a half in. We continued on to the Ink Pots, which lie in a meadow in Johnston Valley sitting above the canyon. The Ink Pots are six blue-green spring-fed pools with sandy bottoms. You can see the spring bubbling up from the bottom of the shallow pools because it forms rings in the sand. The bluer the pool, the faster the spring is feeding the pool. The green pools are fed more slowly.

On the way home, we celebrated our one year anniversary in Calgary with dinner at the Maple Leaf and chocolates at Bernard Callebaut's.

Lower Falls

Coming through the canyon

View from the trail to the Ink Pots

In the meadow above the canyon

One of the six Ink Pots

The water is very clear and very cold! You can see the circle made by the spring bubbling up in the lower middle of the frame.

Our lunch spot!

Waterfalls and spring run off in the background.

Catwalk through the canyon

Caves cut into the limestone from the erosion

Upper falls