Week ending Sep 17, 2015 Banff

Saturday after some  shopping at Costco and Walmart in Okotoks we met Trev and family for dinner at Browns Social House to celebrate Trev's birthday.  Again Browns Social House did not disappoint, the food was very good and the service superb.

Sunday was moving day, off to Banff. The rain held off while we packed up, but we drove through showers off and on all the way. We stopped at Cochrane to pick up our mail in hopes that our Medipac insurance documents would be there - no such luck. As we drove into the mountains the clouds started to lift, giving us some amazing views.

While we were setting up the clouds rolled in again and just as we finished we had more rain. Although it showered off and on for the rest of the day, we were able to get a short walk through the campground in between showers. The wardens are on patrol here as a bear has been spotted in the campground and in fact helped himself to someone's granola bars that had been left in the pocket of a fishing jacket on his boat. We were cautioned when we arrived to keep a clean campsite. In fact if you leave food outside you can be asked to leave.  We didn't ask if the fisherman had been turfed.


Monday we awoke to rain, we walked around the campground, getting glimpses of mountains through the clouds.

Tuesday morning was a winter wonderland. The snow seems to have brought out the elk. There were a few female elk wondering around the area as well as a bull elk with a magnificent set of antlers. Unfortunately because numerous campers had their camera out and were out chasing the elk for that perfect picture, we did not get good pictures. By lunch time the snow was gone and we went for a short walk.

Wednesday we walked from the campground to Bow Falls and then came back along Tunnel Mountain drive.  Shortly after we started hike, across from the campground.  We encountered a bull elk a short distance off the trail.  He moved ahead parallel to the trail a few times, then hid in some thicker bush while we walked past.  Once we were down along the Bow River we saw a couple of rafts floating down the river.

John did some scrambling to try and get a picture of Bow Falls, but the best picture of Bow Falls really is from the other side of the river.  However, there were good views of Banff Springs.

On the island in the Bow River there was a bull elk sitting in the trees overseeing his kingdom of females. 

Along Tunnel Mountain Drive we encountered a herd of deer, nice to see so many animals in an urban area.

Mt. Bourgeau and neighbours

All in all out trek was about a 7 km.  We arrived back at the trailer in time to have an afternoon snack with our wine. This really is a perfect campsite;out of one side of the trailer we have a perfect view of Mount Rundle and out of the other side is Cascade Mountain.

Thursday we walked downtown to Wild Bills for lunch. John had slow cooked bison ribs and Joan a Cajun shrimp salad. Both meals very tasty. Wild Bills has been a favorite place of ours for many years and is owned by the same people who own another favorite place of ours The Drake in Canmore. The round trip walk took us about 2 1/2 hours.