The last two times we had been to Banff and Jasper Parks we had not had much time to hike along the great trails available here. This time we decided to make sure we had a chance to visit at least one of the great hiking trails. We chose Johnston Canyon since it was fairly close to the campsite and it had come highly recommended to us from Dusty Boots.
The description of the trail is there are two waterfalls, the Lower Falls and the Upper Falls, and a set of "Ink Pots" which are small springs of clear blue and green water. Total round trip is 7.2 miles.
The description is somewhat lacking in the amount of waterfalls. Through the canyon runs Johnston Creek cutting down through limestone creating numerous falls, of which the two largest are described in most of the brochures. All the rest are left out and this is an injustice to the trail.
One of the numerous small falls along the canyon.
Another of the small falls.
And another of the small waterfalls.
Some sections of the trail are along a walkway built into the walls of the canyon just above the creek bed. In these areas the sun only gets down into the canyon in the middle of the day. This provides a great respite from the heat of the day with cool breezes coming through and ferns and mosses hanging down from above giving it a somewhat fairy tale appearance.
Rick and Nancy along the fern and moss covered canyon walls
Edie on the walkway where the sunshine on gets here at mid day!!
There is a small cave that has been dug in the wall of the Lower Falls and this allows you to get up close to the side of the falls. It is very wet and slippery inside this small cave. The lower falls tumbles over 2 sections and you can view it from close up from the bridge and viewing platform that has been built into the walls.
Lower Falls, the cave is just outside this picture to the right.
As you get near the Upper Falls you will find a beautiful Travertine Drape. That is Algae that grows in the limestone and adds minerals to the walls slowly building up more rock over time.
Travertine Drape just before the upper falls.
When we got to the Upper Falls the sun was shining just right to cause
the falls to glow as if illuminated from within, later in the day the
falls are in shadow and loose the beautiful glow. The Upper Falls drops straight down but is a bit harder to get a good shot of. Again they have provided plenty of platforms for you to view the falls from.
Upper Falls
From this point to the Ink Pots the trail is no longer paved and is much steeper. It winds into and out of the trees along the canyon. Make sure you take enough water along for your hike, there is no available drinking water unless you take along a proper filtration system. The Ink Pots are 5 springs that where quite a bit of water comes rushing up out of the ground. While the Ink Pots are pretty and quite interesting I have to question if the additional 3.7 miles of uphill hiking is worth the effort.
One of the five Ink Pots along the trail where the water bubbles up and cascades down into Johnston Creek
Coming back out of the canyon we stopped at the restaurant for lunch and an ice cream cone. Largest single scoop ice cream I have ever had!! Overall the hike was great, but by the next day we all knew we had gone 7.2 miles of mountain trails.
During the planning of our trip I had lots of great input from members of the Steve Saunders Goldwing Facts Forum on what areas to visit and where to stay while in Canada. Two members in particular "Dusty Boots" (Ken) and "Hodgy" (Brian Hodgkins) helped set the route for us. Dusty is from eastern Canada and travels extensively in the summers, he has a memory that is amazing for the best routes and places to stay. Hodgy is from the area we are visiting and rides the roads up here on a regular basis. A great big thanks to both of them is deserved as they both did a great service to us.
When we left out of Waterton Park we headed about 100 miles or so north and met up with Hodgy in the small town of Longview, AB. He road with us the rest of the way into Kananaskis Country to the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. What a spectacular road (hwy 40). It was very difficult to keep my eyes on the road given the fantastic scenery.
Entering Kananaskis Country!!
Following Brian (Hodgy) in. Very hard to concentrate on the road!!
We came across a few "Canadian Speed Bumps" during our ride into the Kananaskis. The mountain sheep come out on the roads in the summer looking for salt that gets spread on the road during the winter. The will not move for you at all. Sometimes people actually have to gently bump them with their bumpers to get them to move out of the road.
Canadian Speed Bumps licking the asphalt for the salt.
Sharing a sandwich and some cookies with Brian (Hodgy) at the camp site.
I am somewhat envious of Brian, he lives in a beautiful area and can make the ride through this section any time!!
We drove around the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and was amazed at the views! If you are ever on your way to Banff/Jasper parks and you pass this area up you will be missing out on a phenominal experience. I took a panorama picture of the mountains from the lake but the picture does not do justice to the view.
While wandering around the lake we ran into a total of 8 bears. A female grizzly and her 2 cubs, an immature (teenage) grizzly and finally a black bear and her 3 cubs. This is the height of berry season here and the bears are out in mass eating as many as 150,000 to 200,000 berries a day. (according to the lecture on bears in Waterton). We are definitely practicing "Clean Camping" No food or items with an odor in the tents and everything else back in the car for the night.
An immature grizzly not far from the campgrounds!!
On the morning of the 14th we packed up and headed for Banff and the Johnston Canyon Campground. Banff town is a heavily tourist oriented place. Lots and lots of shops catering to the visitors to the park. Prices for food and necessities are quite high, almost double what you pay at home. After setting up camp we headed into town to do a bit so shopping.
The days are in the upper 80's but the nights get down to almost freezing. We have sleeping bags rated at 20 degrees but Rick and Nancy's bags are not rated for quite those temperatures. They were a bit chilly in the mornings.
On the 15th we made the loop of Lake Minnewanka and Two Jack lakes. Minnewanka is the largest reservoir in the park. From the dam area you can only see less than 1/3 of the lake since most of the lake is hidden behind a mountain where the lake curves to the right.
Two Jack Lake with Mount Rundle in the background. Banff resides at the base of Mount Rundle.
After our tour of the lakes we decided to ride the Banff Gondola to the top of Sulfur Mountain. From the top you get a 360 degree view of the mountains in Banff National Park. To say it is awe inspiring is a bit tame of a description. You get a great view of Banff, the Banff Spring Hotel, Lake Minnewanka, Two Jack Lake and much much more. I took several videos with the iPad and have edited them to show an almost 360 degree view from the top of the mountain.
From inside the Gondola on the way up Sulphur Mountain
Please excuse the video quality, I am in a hotel with a very slow internet connection. I will upload the full 1080p video when I get home and will update the links at that time.
After coming back down we did laundry in town --- ouch $4 to wash a load and almost 3 to dry the same load. It would almost be cheaper to just rebuy the underwear!!
Early to bed and early to rise!! we got up at 5:45 and tried to get to Lake Louise at 7:00 AM before the sunrise. Unfortunately I miscalculated and the sun was already up. We had to wait until the canoeist were off of the lake in order to get a great reflection in the lake.
Early morning around 7:15 AM.
A little while later and the early morning golden light is gone, but the water is smooth as glass.
After coffee and a roll in the lodge we headed out to what I consider the most beautiful lake in the world. Lake Moraine. The Glacial Silt or Rock Flour turns the lake a beautiful shade of light blue. With the high mountains in the background and the glaciers draining into this lake it is hard to find a more stunning view anywhere.
Lake Moraine from atop the "Rock Pile"
We hiked to the far end of this lake and views of the tall peaks and glaciers just gets better and better. On the way I looked up and was astonished to see a set of waterfalls coming from the top of one of the peaks. The glacier that sits atop the mountain is melting and the resulting waterfall is absolutely mesmerizing.
Glacier fed waterfall high up in the mountains above Lake Moraine.
We spent the 7th white water rafting with White Cloud Rafting along a portion of the Salmon River East of Stanley. The trip was great, there were a few class 3 rapids but mostly it was more of a float trip. Very relaxing with lots of time for conversation. They served a fantastic lunch of Enchilada's, Salad, Spanish Rice, Corn and Bean Salad. They started with fresh cut fruits and ended with Peach and Blueberry cobbler topped with Ice-cream. Overall it was a very very enjoyable rafting trip.
Rafting the Salmon River just east of Stanley, Idaho.
We headed back to the camp and noticed the smoke was starting to come our way from the fires. It started to obscure the views of the mountains from the lake.
After waking up to that bright red sunrise we packed up our ash covered tent and headed back out highway 75 from Stanley to highway 93. Highway 75 is a great motorcycle road, the ride back out was just as great as the ride in!! Highway 93 winds northward between the mountains and is a great ride with fast sweepers and numerous twisties to enjoy. The view slowly changes from arid hillsides to tree covered slopes as you head north toward Montana.
We never did escape the smoke as we wound our way north to Hamilton, MT. We stopped to adjust the GPS for our trip over the Skalkaho Pass and a local biker stopped to talk to us. He informed us that Skalkaho Pass was dirt and heavily rutted out. The roads department had not yet had a chance to grade the road this year. We decided to go on into Missoula and then double back to Georgetown Lake where we would camp for 2 nights. The whole way was hot and smokey. The temperature hit 100 several times but typically hovered around 96 while we were on the road. As we headed toward Georgetown Lake the temperature dropped into the low 80's and felt fantastic.
Wow has Georgetown changed in the last 10 years. The grass and tree covered hills around the lake where you could drive off road and camp have been replaced with million plus dollar resort homes. The properties are now fenced off making access to the lake quite a bit more difficult. Even the local Ski area (7 Gables) is now heavily developed. The whole flavor of the area has changed from that enjoyed by the outdoors type to that of the weekend camper/resort visitor. It is not bad, just different from what I grew up with.
I didn't take any pictures of Georgetown Lake as I was disappointed with the way the landscape had been changed.
We headed north through Missoula to Flathead Lake where we stopped for the night at Wayfarer State Park. We took the time to go see "The Bourne Legacy" in Kalispell and then on back to the park to get ready for Glacier National Park.
If you have never been to Glacier the drive in to the town of West Glacier is gorgeous. We took the time to introduce Rick and Nancy to McDonald Lake, the old McDonald Lake resort building, and the Going to the Sun Highway. The views are fantastic, it is just a shame there a no longer any glaciers in the park. We gave them enough of a taste they want to go back at some time in the future and spend more time exploring.
Lake McDonald near the west entrance to Glacier National Park.
As we came to the West Entrance to the park the line was backed up about 1/2 mile. Suddenly the traffic just started flowing quickly into the park. The people from the Park Service were letting everyone in for free!! Evidently if the line is backed up to far to where it interferes with traffic in West Glacier they just open the gates and let people in.
The day started out clear and slowly clouded up as we made our way through the park. We had lunch at Logan Pass with fantastic views of the mountain peaks in the park.
Headed out toward the East Entrance of the park after having lunch at Logan Pass Visitors Center.
As we came out at St Mary's the clouds covered much of the sky and it was cooling down. We crossed the border without incident and made our way to Waterton Lakes National Park. Just like the last time we visited Waterton I found the drive in to be stunning. We set up the tents at the Townsite Campground and noticed some hikers high up in the mountains behind the campground. Apparently they spend the night up there as part of a back country hike.
Set up at Waterton Town Campsite
We saw some lights high up on the mountainside, I used my telephoto to get this picture.
This puts it in perspective of where the hikers are going to spend the night.
After getting everything set up we went back into town to do a little shopping for breakfast. Prices in the park are quite high, a liter of milk cost us $2.50 Canadian ($9.63 gal).
We did have a chance to visit Cameron Falls just at the edge of the townsite, and walk down along the lake shore. Introducing Rick and Nancy to the joys of the Rocky Mountains has just started and it appears they have really enjoyed their trip so far.
Cameron Falls, just at the edge of the campground!!
The first 3 days of our trip were to get from Eatonville to Boise, then to Rexburg and then finally to Stanley, Id.
The best parts of the first day was going over Whites Pass just south of Mt. Rainier and then in North Eastern Oregon we went through the Blue Mountains. Both areas are very pretty with fantastic vistas as you get up high. Coming down from both the temperatures climbed up into the high 90's so we started dumping water on our shirts to keep cool.
The second day was from Boise to Rexburg and it was a test of our endurance even though the trip was shorter. The temperature stayed in the high 90's and topped 100 a couple of times. Coming into Rexburg was a relief as the temperature dropped into the low 90's. We used a lot of water both inside of us and on us to make it there.
We stayed the night at a friend of the Ardmores. We enjoyed meeting with and staying at the Hochstrassers,
When we headed out for Stanley we noted the mountains in the distance were very hazy. As we neared Stanley we could see there was a fire off about 20 miles away. The smoke and ash was obscuring the view of the mountains a bit.
On our ride to Stanley we rode up Idaho Highway 75. The ride is awesome. There are wide sweeping curves in many places with lots of twisties in between. The mountains on both sides of the river are very steep talus slopes. You pass through some areas where the valley widens out enough for small ranches, but mostly you ride down alongside the Salmon River. The closer you get to Stanley the more trees you see. As you round the last curve before Stanley you are presented with a view of the Sawtooth Mountains and a verdant valley that Stanley sits in. Beautiful almost does not describe the area.
We stayed at Stanley Lake Campground for two days while we went white water rafting. The last night there the ash and smoke from the fire coated our tents and vehicles. We woke up to a blood red sunrise that while concerning was also very beautiful. Because of the smoke we took very few pictures.
Here is Stanley Lake before the smoke blocked out the view.
Stanley Lake.
I'll post the info and pictures of our rafting trip in the next post.
Well, we are all packed, serviced and ready to go. I'll give the bike a quick wash job and then fill it up. Just waiting for the morning to come.
One thing that is not quite ready is my GPS. I was in the middle of laying out the route on the computer when it froze up on me. After the reboot it keeps blue screening on me with a message indicating there is a registry error. I attempted to restore a previous version of the registry but the disk appears to have an error on it. O'well I will just have to manually program in our stops on the bike, I'll worry about the computer when we get back.
First stop is Boise, ID then on to Rexburg, ID. I've been checking the weather forecast for Boise and it looks to be a hot one this Saturday at 95 and Rexburg on Sunday is 92. The cooler will be full of ice and water bottles!!!!
I've been on travel for the company for the last 3 weeks and have not had time to get ready for the trip. Now that I am home there are so many things to get done. I did get the Canadian insurance card and we have our passports all ready. We have been getting the camping gear out and checking to make sure it is serviceable. I still have to check out the trailer and make sure the lights all still work and the tires and bearings are ok. Lots of things to do and so little time to sleep.
I realized just a few minutes ago that I had forgotten to go to the bank and order Canadian Dollars. Hopefully they can get it in by Friday. Otherwise I will have to exchange currency after we cross the border.
This year I am going to try to take just the iPad along instead of a laptop. I am composing this post on the iPad so it will be my first test to see how well it works out.
Table Mountain in the Reflecting Lake at Mt. Baker Park, Washington State.
Well it seems that I can get the pictures to upload to photobucket and then get them to appear here. I hope you enjoy the picture above, I took it early one October morning a few years ago on a ride up to Mt. Baker. First light dusting of snow for the season.
It's that time of year when the contemplation of where to go takes up some of our free time. We have some friends that have never been to the Canadian Rockies so we thought this would be a great destination for this summers ride. We will be riding the bike and our friends will be using their car since they do not ride. Our plans are to camp most of the time and resort to a hotel/motel only when necessary (Heavy Rain!!)
All of this is tentative and subject to change. So far it looks like we will take off from home and ride to Idaho where we will pick up their daughter and spend a day White Water Rafting. We'll leave Idaho and spend a day or so at Georgetown Lake near Anaconda, MT. I graduated from Anaconda High in 1972.
When we leave there we'll head up to Flathead Lake for the night then on to Glacier Park where we will ride the Going to the Sun Highway. We'll stop for a couple of nights in Waterton Park so our friends can attend church on Sunday. When we head out from there we'll be heading north into the Canadian Rockies to stop at the Peter Lougheed Provincial Park.
Then we will spend the next week to week and 1/2 in Banff and Jasper Parks. Currently the plan is to take 3 days driving back through Canada just above the US/Canadian Border.
I'll post our route when we have it all laid out. Of course like any great vacation as soon as you take off on it the plans should be tossed out and you just wing it!!
