lake louise, bow valley parkway

This morning, we woke up in Radium hot springs and had cheerios, apple juice and a banana for breakfast. As we were about to leave, i was asking jon about my little speaker and where it was. This speaker is not worth much because i got it for free for volunteering for pharmacist’s awareness week but it would be nice not to lose anything on this trip. So we went back to our room and we found in hidden between the bed sheets. Phew!

We then drove from radium to lake louise. Along the way, we saw Sinclair canyon which has iron-rich red-rock walls of the redwall fault. We then went to Numa falls which is where the Vermillion river carved a canyon in the iron-rich rock. Then we went to see paint pots which are iron-rich mineral springs that bubble up and form small pools while staining the earth red.

When we got to lake louise we were just blown away by it beauty. Did you know that lake louise was named in 1884 in honour of princess Louise Caroline alberta, daughter of queen victoria. Near by lake louise is Moraine lake. This lake is surrounded by the Valley of the Ten peaks and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Jon and I wanted to climb up this large mound because we wanted to get to the top and we saw other people doing it. Once we got to the top, we saw stairs leading up there so we actually didn’t have to climb on the rocks. BOO! At lake louise, we had a blt sandwich which was delicious.

From lake louise, we drove down to banff via the bow valley parkway. This parkway is the slower, more scenic route compared to the highway 1. Along the route, we went to outlet creek, mountain castle, and johnston canyon. Funny enough, jon and i were getting tired of getting out of the car, so one of us would run out of the car with the camera, snap pictures then go. We only did that for outlet creek. The mountain castles were quite unique looking and did look like castles. At johnston canyon, we hiked 2.7km to see the canyon/waterfall. It was worth it. The waterfall was spectacular. The hike wasn’t as bad as hoodoo creek. During our hike we saw 3 little chipmunks. They were so cute. We also saw a giant raven. As we were driving to banff, we saw a moose and mountain goats along the side of the road. That was neat.

Once we got in banff, we went to safeway about bought broccoli, bread, bacon, eggs and milk. We then drove to our banff alpine centre, our hostel. It reminds me of AMS’ whistler ski lodge.The kitchen is quite big as well and here, they have a cafe and a pub. Jon and i cooked nissin beef instant noodles with fried eggs, broccoli and bacon. Jon wanted the bacon. It’s not a bad combo.
My bug bite now has blisters. It’s quite gross and annoying! We’ll probably head to safeway to get some stuff for it.
Punch buggy count:
Today: jon 3: lily 1
Running total: jon 24: lily 20
Artists for the day: U2, slash, Alison krauss and Robert plant “raising sand”