Waking up the the beautiful Emerald Lake was such a treat, the sun shining on the mountains and trees on the opposite side of the lake, and reflecting into the lake. We washed and dressed and headed to the restaurant for breakfast.
With breakfast finished we walked along the lake oohing and ahhing at the stunning views in the morning sun. It is definitely a spot not to be missed.
We packed the suitcases, grabbed our bags and headed back to the main lodge where a mini van was already waiting, so while Keith went in to check out, the driver loaded out cases ready for the return journey to the car. We headed back down Emerald Lake Road with our audio guide on. Our first stop was at Natural Bridge. A very unusual waterfall/bridge but again stunning with an equally stunning mountain backdrops. The Rockies and surrounding areas are truly spoilt with wonderful views.
This morn8ng we are in the YoHo National park rather than Banff or Jasper parks. After leaving the Emerald Lake area we took the scenic road to Takakkaw Falls. This road has some very tight switchbacks making it unsuitable for long vehicles, and interesting for others. We parked in the falls car park and took the flat 15 minute walk to the base of the falls. This glacier fed fall is over 300ft high and you can get quite close to the base. We took our time watching the river and taking way too many photos as we walked back to the car.
We had extra stops on our way back to look at the spiral tunnels for the railway, a distant view but a train was traversing the tunnels, and the merging point of two different coloured rivers although we didn't really see the difference!! We also finally saw a bear just off the side of the road!
Pics of bear to follow!!
We stopped again on the main road out of YoHo at another view point for the spiral tunnels, unfortunately no trains were going through this time.
Time to make our way towards Banff and Canmore, where we are staying for the next 3 nights. Following our audio guide and needing some refreshments we headed into Banff. Banff was a bit of a shock after Jasper! Much busier! We ended up parking at the Fairmont Hotel and thought we'd grab a coffee but we felt a little uncomfortable and it was to far out of town, so we got back in the car and ended up continuing our drive through town and on towards Canmore.
At the entrance to the town we pulled over at a McDonalds to grab a coffee and apple pie each. We sat in a nearby picnic area that appeared to be the home of a lot of groundhogs, who screeched continuously while we sat there.
Checking our accommodation details revealed we were just a few hundred yards down the road and we quickly found the underground car park entrance. Our condo is on the 3rd floor and has gorgeous mountain views from the bedroom, lounge and balcony.
We spent a couple of hrs chilling on the balcony in the afternoon sun before heading back towards Banff for dinner at The Keg, which we had booked!
We had crispy cauliflower for appetiser, then I had pistachio crusted salmon and Keith had sirloin steak. All really nice.
Back down to Canmore and we took a little drive around town to get our bearings before getting stuck at the train crossing. It took 3mins and 38 seconds for the train to actually pass the crossing! So many wagons on the back.
Keith's step count 9584
No comments:
Post a Comment