It Begins

Thur 25th Aug. Nice having a few days in one place and Doug is enjoying having a break from driving. The campground we are staying at is north east of Banff and on a loop road, with Lake Minnewanka at the top of the loop, so this morning we got on the bikes and headed anti clockwise past the lake and to the trailhead for C-Level Cirque. This was about 7km ride. We then did the hike up to the glacially carved cirque, hiking past historic foundations and vents from the abandoned Bankhead mining operation. The walk was all in trees until the top where it just open up to the cirque - a half open steep sided hollow caused by Glacier erosion. There were lots of pika, squirrels and one marmot up top. Hike stats: 8.56 km, 1:56, Elevation gain 516m. And then biked back to the camp for lunch. We then ummmed and ahhed whether to bike or bus into Banff. Bus won - just, as we only made it to the bus stop in time, with Doug quickly ditching the bikes which we rode up from the campersite on in the trees on the roadside. We located a dentist to go too, and Doug was able to be seen with only a 45 min wait. So I went for a stroll down the Bow River walkway to the falls, which was very pleasant. Doug spent a hour and half at the dentist and came out with several options. After talking to his dentist back in Whakatane decided to go for the more permanent option which is removing what remains of the original tooth and getting a pin put in, this they can do in about 2 weeks time, it means heading to Calgary next week for a jaw x-ray and having a temporary tooth on a plate until we can get back at the end of May 2023 for the crown to be fitted (takes 3 month before the crown will be ready and we will already be Chile by then). At Cad $5500, a very expensive souvenir from Canada, I said you need to at least get the Canadian flag 🇨🇦 or maple leaf🍁 printed on the tooth. And it means spending a lot longer around Banff than we intended, but its certainly one of the better places to be stuck in. After that caught the bus back to the campground, got dinner and the bikes loaded for an early start to try and get a site at Castle Mountain Campground which is a first come first serve campground, 32 km North West of Banff. Steps D 20375 / V 27242Read more

Fri 26th Aug. Well our plan to head out to Castle Mountain, got changed as we saw the weather forecast for today - showers developing and rain for tomorrow, so thought tomorrow would be a good museum day and Doug had to go and see the dentist again today to confirm what he wanted done so was probably better to stay closer to Banff, so was lucky to get a site at Tunnel Mountain Campground for the next 2 nights. So we headed into Banff, got the dentist sorted, and an appointment for Monday in Calgary for the x-ray. Back to the information centre for WiFi, and some googling what to do in Calgary - not much. It was now midday and the weather was looking okay so had a look at suitable hikes and decided we would do Sulphur Mountain. This is the Mountain that the Banff gondola goes up ($65 each for gondola). It was a good track, steady uphill with switchbacks, average % grade was about 12%. Once at the top the views over Banff and surrounding mountains were very good, there was also a further 0.5 km boardwalk along the Ridge ending at Sanson Peak, altitude 2277m which was the Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station National Historic Site and the 1903 weather observatory. As we headed back to the trail to start the walk down, looking to the west and the sky had turned quite black, so we decided to jog down and hopefully beat the rain. About 2.3 km from the end I felt the first drops, pace increase but not enough and it was soon pouring down with thunder and lightning. Doug was well ahead but he also didn't get back in time. Hike stats: 10.33 km, 1 hr 39 total active, 1hr 07 to the top , elevation gain 641 m. It was then head to the campground and spend the rest of the afternoon/evening just chilling. Steps D 20768.Read more