Friday – July 6th, 2007 Banff

OK, now that we’re caught up on chores, it’s time to do more exploring in the local area.

There are several thermal hot-springs in the Banff area. These occur when water runs down through cracks / fissures in the mountain and encounters heated rock (magma?) at a depth of 2 – 3 kilometers (about 1.2 – 1.8 miles). It then percolates back to the surface dissolving various minerals as it rises and comes out in three different hot springs. (This area, like so many, was once the bottom of a sea, and like so many areas, has fault lines.)

One of these was discovered by some Canadian Pacific railroad workers who tried to claim it for themselves – including building the first “hotel” over the thermal pool. This was a crude one-room cabin. The Canadian government quickly stepped, denied their homestead rights, and created the first Canadian National Park. It started out as Rocky Mountain National park and after several land disputes with Alberta and Saskatchewan, ended up in what is now Banff National Park. Land size also varied.

The thermal hot spring pool they discovered was in a cave. We visited the cave just to say we’d been. It wasn’t very large or exciting, but warm and secluded. Very relaxing until a summer kids group arrived in masse.

There was a “swimming” pool at the site, patterned after Bath, England, hoping to lure to wealthy to “take the curative waters” in the Canadian wilderness. It fell on hard times in the late 20th century, as tastes changed and maintenance costs rose, and now is drained of water. The buildings still exists as part of the National Historic Site of Canada, unique as the very first National Park.

Our tour guide – a somewhat cynical young man – said the real reason people stopped coming was the water in the “pool” wasn’t hot enough. They expected hot water and it was only lukewarm by steam bath standards. There is another hot-spring-pool farther up the mountain that is still in operation today – and that’s where folks go for the “healing” waters, and to enjoy the delightful sulfur aroma.

The mosquitoes are out in force. The tour guide said the dragon-flies usually take care of the mosquito problem, but they (the dragon-flies) are late showing up this summer – thus the problem. We were fortunate that we both wore long sleeve shirt(s) and long pants – not much exposed skin. The folks in shorts and halter tops were miserable.

It is also quite warm – particularly in the valley where the thermal hot spring is located. A cold front is supposed to come through tonight with a “drastic” lowering of temperatures. But today it was hot in town and the valleys, so we thought we’d solve that by going to the top of a mountain – Sulfur Mountain to be exact (called that because it is the source of the thermal hot springs – and the sulfur dissolved in them).

So we took the gondola to the top! A sign at the bottom said 5,146 feet; in the restaurant at the top of the gondola run, a sign said 7,296 feet above sea level. I was surprised the elevation was measured in feet – not meters.

The top of the gondola run was spectacular – 360 degree view. But there was more. A short distance away, along the ridge of Sulfur Mountain, was the site of a cosmic ray observatory. I say a short distance away. True as the crow flies, but we had to climb a lot of stairs to get there. I don’t know the elevation at the observatory, but it was significantly higher and was on the very pointy, pointy top of the mountain. There was a true 360 degree view. Fortunately, the wind was relatively mild and temperature very pleasant, the sun, intense.

We had lunch in the enclosed building at the top of the gondola terminal – fish and chips (both cooked fresh by the Chinese chef) and beer! Yummy. Margaret was wondering why she was so tired. She looked at the clock (we don’t wear watches when RV’ing) and it was 2:15 – 6 hours since breakfast of a half a bagel, and lots of climbing at 7,000 plus feet in thin air. All that, and the cosmic ray thing too! No wonder we were tired and sore. It was good to climb into the going-down car.

Now that Margaret has her very own digital camera, we’re making a lot of exposures. When we get back to the motor-home and load them into the computer, we find we often took the same picture! But that’s ok because there are differences in angle and how the photo was exposed. But it is still funny how we see things in a similar way.

As you can imagine after being at 7,000 plus feet with the array of mountains, valleys, rivers, and the city of Banff spread out below you, how do you pick a picture or two that do it justice. For the photographer, there is something to be said for this one or that one. But for the observer who wasn’t there, it is harder to understand what is being shown. But we try. And thanks for being interested in our efforts.

Phew! After reviewing over 150 pictures, Margaret and I could only narrow it down to six that we thought would be appropriate. You’ll just have to come visit us and ask to see the best of the rest!

Most of the photos are self-explanatory. One that caught Margaret’s eye was the Amish family visiting the top of the rock and the Cosmic Ray Observatory. These are folks that don’t believe in the modern? One might ask what are they doing here and why?

Other shots show the scope of the vista and the fact that both of us made to the very tippy-top of the pointy, point rock! I have to admit I kept my eyes closed the last part of the ride up the gondola. We switched places on the way down – it was easier looking back up (where we came from) than down, where we were headed!