Banff

Where was I yesterday? Ah yes, Canmore. After exploring the town we had an excellent lunch at The Grizzly Paw, but after tasting their various locally produced beers decided against purchasing any. We discovered a trail leading up to two spring-fed lakes in the mountains just north of Canmore and hiked the 1.6km trail up to them as the cloud descended - took a load of spectacular photos that hopefully reveal just how colourful and clear the water in those lakes were. Having taken the easy trail up, we (as in I) opted for the difficult trail down, which proved to be quite a challenge with sheer drops to one side and a slushy - and slippery in places - path to follow. However, the views of a massive waterfall cascading 200 metres down into the valley below were well worth it!

Today we're in Banff - our plans include checking out Bow Falls, taking a cruise on Lake Minnewanka and finding another hike to try. As we may be without Internet access for the next few days (I don't envisage getting access until Jasper on Wednesday our time) I'll quickly outline our plans for the next few days: tomorrow we head up towards Lake Louise for an evening surprise with the bride and groom to be's party - we plan to check out Johnstone Canyon again and ride the Lake Louise Gondola for lunch, then potter about the area in the afternoon. We then say goodbye temporarily to Emma and Paul who are booked into Emerald Lake Lodge for the rest of their stay, and then join them on Tuesday for the wedding itself. After our overnight stay at Emerald Lodge, we'll wave goodbye to everyone and head north up highway 93 to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway - hopefully we'll then be able to bring you up to date with our holiday then!