Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Banff National Park

August 1:  Banff National Park

We awoke to blue skies this morning!  We breakfasted on oatmeal & blueberries, packed up camp, and drove down the Icefields Parkway toward Banff National Park.  The mountain scenery was spectacular but the roadway was also very busy.  Determined not to get tangled up the roadside messes of cars/RVs, we continued onwards.  Our first stop was at a hiking trail leading toward Stanley Falls.  This hike had been recommended the night before and with only having two cars in the parking lot, seemed a logical choice.  We could see glaciers in the distance most of the hike and followed the flowing water the entire hike.  It was a great hike, with many photos taken by both Mike and Sara. 
With the camping options consisting of Waterfowl Lake or Mosquito Creek, we chose the lake.  There were many sites open and the lake an aqua marine color.  With flush toilets but no showers, Sara and Mike manned up and went swimming.  The water was refreshingly crisp and the sun warmed us up quickly.  We made dinner of quinoa and veggies early so we could squeeze in a hike before bed.

We chose to head to Peyto Lake.  This is again an aqua marine colored glacial lake with a great view down and up the valley.  We could see the Waterfowl Lake in the distance.  We had magnificent alpine flowers here and Mike’s highlight of the hike was finding two fresh morels to bring back to camp. 


As the sun set over the mountains, we headed back to camp to type up the blog and with a low of 4 (centigrade) tonight, look forward to a good sleep.  Tomorrows agenda-find showers and more importantly laundry.  We have not had laundry since the whole clan was here and we enjoyed hot tubs, clean showers, and good company.  That feels like forever ago.  We are over the 7000 mile mark and plan on staying in Canada’s National Parks one more night before starting back to reality.  The past 20 plus days have gone so fast, it is sad reflecting that this journey is coming to a close July 7th

Heading back to camp


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