A weird day in Banff….

 

I got up early in Lake Louise (I always get up early….), because I wanted to go on a hike before leaving.   I caught the first rays of the sun on the mountain over the lake at 6:00am, and headed up to Lake Agnes.  It’s an easy 2.2 miles up, but relentlessly uphill. 1360 feet doesn’t sound that impressive, but it definitely felt like a hike.  Even at 6:00am, there were quite a few people huffing and puffing their way up - by the time I came down, before 8:00am, the trail was down right crowded (and it was clear that some of these people were not going to make it to the top…..).  

 is a beautiful hike, with nice views on the way up.  As the sun came over the mountain, it casts nice long shadows on the trail. 

The first stop on the trail is mirror lake (well named), where the “beehive” casts a nice reflection.  There is a trail to the top of the Beehive, but I did not quite have the time for it.   This is a side view of it.

    

 From Mirror lake, you can hear a water fall, but not quite see it, for that, you need to keep going up to Agnes lake, which is high enough that there is still some ice floating on it. There is a nice tea house up there, famous for it’s blueberry pie, but it was too early (they open at 8:00am), so I headed down, on a slightly more challenging trail - there was even some ice on it!  But it was very pretty, and by that point, there were very few people on it.  There were however some cute woodland creatures, including a Western red squirrel and a large bunny! 

Joe choose to sleep late while I was doing that, which is a very good thing to do while on vacation!

By the time we left, Lake Louise was looking like a postcard of itself…. 

 The drive from Lake Louise to Banff is short ( less than 50 miles), on a nice highway, and with beautiful views all the way.  

 

 An interesting feature is the multiple “wildlife crossing” (this is one example of it)  to minimize wildlife fatalities (as well as car accidents), Canada parks has put fences for the entire length of that part of the highway, and has build a bunch of bridges for the wildlife - google it - they have cameras on them and you can see bears, moose, etc crossing the highway.  They also have so tunnels under the highway for the same purpose.  

As we approached Banff, We got an impressive view of Cascade Mountain, which towers over the town. 

Banff is a pretty town, in a gorgeous setting but:

 

1). It is REALLY crowded.

2).  It’s power supply cannot handle the crowd, and once in a while just gives up…..

So, that’s what happened to us today - as we arrived in town, a transformer blew up and the entire town ended up in the dark. (Well, not really in the dark since it was midday, but without stores, restaurants, or the ability to check-in in hotels….)  Half of it regained power within an hour, but the other half took over 4 hours causing all kind of issues.   For instance, the restaurants that had power were mobbed, and there were lines at the IGA, waiting for it to re-open…. For us, the main problem was returning the rental car:  to start with, the address clearly was not a place where one could return a car - it was in the middle of a very busy street - there was an Avis sign on the side, but no clue as to were an office may be.  I eventually had to call the main Avis office, and they figured out that it was in a parking garage around the corner - fine.  After going around the block 3 times, I find the parking garage (again, no sign suggesting it was an Avis return) - and remember, no electricity - so I get in the garage, where there is still a bit of day light, and there is indeed a sign that says “rental return”, pointing you to a third level basement that was in complete darkness - it was REALly spooky!!!!  I parked, took a picture of the parking spot, and then tried to find someone to whom I could give the keys - after asking the only open store on the street (all stores were shut down because dark), he pointed me to where there is indeed counter was hidden in the dark mall - there I at last found a number, called and someone came and I gave him the keys - I have actually no idea who I gave the keys to….  So keep you fingers crossed….

While I was doing that, Joe was at the hotel, about 3/4 miles away, trying to check in, which of course could not be dome….  They let him in the dark room, without light, or internet….. So that’s what he did…..  just wait.

  Since I was in town, I instead decided to take a walk along the pretty Bow river, to the waterfalls, which was very pleasant.  

 While at the falls, a guy asked for my help to zip him into his wet suit, so that he could hop on his paddle board, to paddle downstream through the rapid - he was headed 25km down river!  Here he is, in the middle of the river, heading down! 

 As I got back to town, I was pleased to find a Cow’s ice cream store, because by that time, I was tired and hungry.  Indeed, and i don’t say that often- i walked too much today - I was really tired by the time the power came back and I walked back to the hotel……

So having an early dinner and calling it a day.  We have a busy tour tomorrow, hitting all the highlights of the Banff and Yoho national parks.