Banff

Looking down on Banff Township from the hills above.

I think we may have found a place that's as pretty as New Zealand - the place that's always been the benchmark for all of our travels. The area in and around Banff and Jasper, and everything in between, has to rank at or near the top of any listings of the world's most beautiful places. We've enjoyed the week here very much and really hate to have to leave tomorrow to head on down the road to Calgary.

Our hikes here have truly been world class - spiced up with the occasional animal sighting - and the little township of Banff was a delight in itself. Not at all overrun with tourists as we had feared. It was an easy walk into town from our little self-catering cottage in one of the residential areas, and our week long stay permitted us to enjoy the place at our leisure rather than having to run around and squeeze everything in over the course of just a few days. Didn't even have to drive out of town for terrific hikes...just had to walk to the end of a block in virtually any direction and continue on into the hills. Just had to be alert about the bears!


Looking up the street from our cottage.



Pretty scenery everywhere.



Along one of our riverside walks.



A little further up the trail.



The Banff Springs Hotel - the grand old lady of the Bow River Valley. A gorgeous place but bring your wallet.



A moocher on the trail. You're not supposed to feed any of the wildlife but it's hard to resist these guys. We saw one at the Lake Agnes Tea House near Lake Louise the other day that was actually obese from chowing down on all of the tourist handouts. It was quite a sight...a fat chipmunk.

They apparently had a bumper crop of Buffalo Berries this year, which is one of the staples of the diet of both Black Bears and Grizzlies as they fatten up for the long winter ahead. Guess when they're actively gorging themselves they get pretty preoccupied and it's easy to startle them if you come upon them in the forest. Since the berries are abundant along the valley floor, ie along the hiking trails, you really have to be careful (and prepared) as you work your way along. Several popular hiking trails were closed completely due to bear activity, and many others were restricted to groups of 4 or more people - all of whom needed to be equipped with "bear bells" to alert the bears of your approach (and minimize the potential for a surprise encounter), and bear spray as a last safety resort. Nobody gets too excited about any of this - it's just the way it is if you live or travel in the wilderness. Just have to be properly prepared is all.



The Buffalo Berries were ripening all over the valley floor next to the trails.

They're serious about their bear advisories around here. Kept seeing these warning signs about every 1000 yards along the trail. Parks Canada has a terrific website that includes trail conditions and reports of bear activity that they update nearly every day. Several of the trails we wanted to hike were closed due to bear activity, and others had bear advisories (proceed at your own risk) posted. Noticed that there was even an entire valley near one of our hikes, stretching about 30 miles to the south and covering several hundred square miles, that was closed completely as a reserve for foraging animals. Along with the bears there are also wolves, coyotes, moose and elk in the forests here.

On one of our hikes we took an alternate route back towards our car and came upon this elk cow as we rounded a corner. Didn't seem too skittish even though we were making a lot of racket thanks to our bear bells. As we approached she just melted into the forest. As we passed we peaked through the foliage where she had disappeared and saw a second female along with a huge (I mean really magnificent) stag. Must have been at least a 16 pointer and stood about 6 feet at the shoulder...about 20 feet away from us. Fortunately it wasn't yet rutting season or we might have been at risk of a charge - they're pretty cantankerous when their blood is up - as numbers of tourists in Yellowstone find out every September when the normally docile herd that hangs out in the Mammoth area becomes very aggressive and the males do a lot of damage to passing vehicles (and occasionally their occupants). No problems this day however. Just couldn't get a photo thru the trees.

Leaving tomorrow morning for the short 90 minute drive out of the mountains to Calgary, where we'll be for just a couple of days.