Banff Gondola

Last day in Banff, and after checking out of the the hotel - Banff Park Lodge, I drove up to the Banff gondola station, past the Info centre and this impressive totem pole. ... the gondola takes you up to a viewpoint on Sulphur mountain overlooking the valley.

I walked beyond the obvious tourist bit to the peak in the photo ... only 10 mins, but the view was spectacular.
After this I walked down the trail rather than ride down, to get the exercise for the day.

Looking back up from the centre of town ... this peak - Mt Rundle dominates the town more than Sulphur Mt.
From here it was back into the car and off to the airport in Calgary.

Lake Louise

Continuing on from Johnston Canyon I followed the road to Lake Louise past grazing Elk wandering over the road. At Lake Louise I went up to the big Fairmont hotel and parked in the car park, before going for a walk along the lake ... the original intention this morning was to go up to the glacier, but after my side trip to the waterfalls I was short of time.
I walked around the lake and to the end of the forested section before turning around .. back to the car and then straight down the highway to Banff after a good day out in the fresh air.

Johnston Canyon

A free day today after three days of intense meetings and seminars... so off for a bit of fresh air ... I took the back road up to Lake Louise, and stopped at Johnston canyon.
From here I saw a trail up to the falls and on to the "ink pots" ... the bottom section to the falls was very popular, but I was alone on the top section, until I reached the ink pots - cold volcanic springs filled with mineral coloured water.
On the way down I passed some people who asked if I had seen any bears .. and wasn't I scared being on my own ... perhaps I should have researched before starting off, or at least told someone! - Note to self this is not the UK.

Canada Trip Extension, Banff

I was attending a workshop/ vendor presentation ...  held at the Banff park lodge hotel ..  I arrived on Sunday at Calgary airport, and attended the meeting. However due to the cheap flights available I was not due to fly out until late on the Friday.

So I had almost two days to explore around.

• Day1 - Johnston Canyon
• Day1 (part2) - Lake Louise
• Day2 - Banff Gondola