|
Home > About Mike > Mike's Stories > Banff 2003 |
Mike and Adele Explore the Rockies- 2003Part 2: Banff You know you are in Canada when the first thing you see is a real-life Mountie.
Banff is the home of Canada's first National Park. It gained much fame after the Canadian Pacific railroad established a rail line through the area and built the luxurious Banff Springs Hotel (no, we didn't stay there - I am just a poor webmaster...)
One of the things that helped establish Banff as a national park is the Banff Hot Springs. Some guys were hiking in the 1800s and discovered a cave made from a hot sulfur spring. Since hot baths were hard to come by in the frozen Canadian mountains, they established a bath house. The Canadian government acquired the land and established a national park and built a pool at the site of the cave. Called the "Cave and Basin," it was a major attraction throughout the 20th Century as its waters were claimed to possess therapeutic powers.
Recently, though, scientists discovered that there is a small snail that only lives in the cave and basin. As a result, no one can go into the water here any more. But, even if it wasn't for snail, there is another problem: it's a SULFUR spring - it smells like rotten eggs!
When we first arrived in Banff, it was 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Adele was worried that our hotel may not have air conditioning...
Luckily, they did, but she should have been more concerned about the heater...
In the center of Banff are the famous Bow Falls. These are much more impressive than the pictures can convey.
We also took a trip up to the top of Sulphur Mountain in a gondola on the first day of summer.
And one of the things we saw in town is the famous "Banff Hoodoos" - these are limestone structures that have eroded away, but they have heavy boulders on them that keep them from eroding completely. Or something like that. Ask a geologist...
Continue on to Part 3: Bow Valley Parkway |
