Top Banff Day Trips - page 11

Angel, our guide and driver, suggested I sat in the front passenger seat of the minibus as it would be easier with my crutches, so I had incredible views of the Rocky Mountains all around us. Mountains included Sulphur Mountain, Tunnel Mountain which doesn’t have tunnel, Sawback Mountain and Mount Temple which is only 200m lower than Mount Fugi! It was spectacular. I had an image in my head of what I hoped to see and it certainly surpassed my expectations. Our journey to Johnston Canyon was stunning with rugged mountains with peaks covered in snow. As we drove through Banff National Park, Angel told us about its heritage and was clearly knowledgeable about the history of the area. He was very engaging and happy to answer any questions and I had many, often “What is that mountain called?” as we passed so many. Our first stop was Johnston Canyon. We were each given crampons for our walking boots which were a life saver on the ice covered trail. We had an hour to walk the Johnston Canyon trail and we headed for the lower falls. The waterfall thundered into the bow river below and there was a small low tunnel through the rock which enabled us to get really close to the waterfall cascading in front of us. I was very grateful that we were provided with crampons on our tour. So many people on the trail weren’t wearing crampons and were sliding on the ice desperately clinging onto the handrail for support. During our drive to Lake Louise, Angel pointed out the perimeter fence either side of the road. This perimeter fence helps protect the Wildlife and he explained that the fence is not to keep people out. There are gates in the fence and we later went through a gate to see Castle Mountain from the bow river. The National Park has underpasses and overpasses for Wildlife to cross the road and we saw several overpasses during our journey. We were warned we might feel altitude sickness as Lake Louise has an altitude of 5750 feet. Fortunately no one on the tour had any ill effects and we were all able to appreciate the beauty of the frozen Lake Louise which was a sea of white ice and snow with the beautiful backdrop of snowy mountains. Angel gave us a Health and Safety talk ensuring that we didn’t venture to the far right of the lake which is starting to thaw. It was safe to walk across the frozen lake however which is also used for ice skating, horse drawn sleigh rides and snowshoeing although I have no idea what that is!. We had two hours freetime in Banff so we enjoyed some beer and had lunch at the Three Bears Brewery. After a quick photo stop at Surprise Corner if the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel also know as the Castle on the Mountain we concluded our tour at bow waterfalls which was so tranquil as we were the only people there. Angel is clearly very proud of the family business and there were ten of us on the tour so we really felt like we had a personalised service. He was attentive throughout and it was obvious he really cared about everyone having the best experience possible. Even before the trip we were really impressed how emails were responded to by Tito within 24 hours.