Sunday, May 24, 2009

Spring in the Canadian Rockies

I finally finished getting all of the photos up from our weekend trip to Banff National Park in April. Duncan and I had an amazing weekend exploring the park together and we really did manage to make the most of our two days there together. Here are some highlights of the trip:

From the Top of the World

I highly recommend a trip up Sulphur Mountain on the Gondola if you are visiting Banff National Park. This was my first trip up and I found it to be the highlight of my trip - the views were amazing! In this picture you can see the Bow River snaking through the Townsite of Banff on its way to Calgary, the famed Banff Springs Hotel and Lake Minnewanka in the distance (top left).


Banff Springs Hotel with Wapiti

Spring is the perfect time of year to see Elk herds. This group of Elk we watched forde the Bow River while we were visiting the Bow Falls. We walked over through the Banff Springs Hotel Golf Course and caught up with them to take this shot. Sulphur Mountain can be seen in the background of this picture, where we also enjoyed some time in the hot springs.


Into the Wardrobe

We found this old/abandoned freestanding gateway alongside the Bow River whilst exploring. We couldn't resist going through it - and into the magical world that awaits those with an adventurous spirit in the heart of the Canadian Rockies...


It's still winter at Lake Louise

We traveled up to Lake Louise to see the Glacier as we haven't been there for about 4 years. We were only half surprised to find that it was snowing there - it is a bit higher in elevation than Banff. The view of the Glacier was mostly obscured by the snow, but it was gorgeous anyway. We enjoyed an amazing meal at the Chateau Lake Louise and headed back towards Banff as the areas around the Chateau were closed due to the spring/winter conditions.


Life on the Edge

The Mountain Sheep of the Rocky Mountains are fabulous creatures and we were lucky enough to find a large herd while driving the Lake Minnewanka Road loop after we returned from Lake Louise. Living remnants of the ice age, these big horn sheep are uniquely suited to living in the Rocky Mountains.

You can see more pictures from our Banff Trip here.