Good morning! Today we are starting our journey from Golden, Canada, and it is an absolutely gorgeous morning. After an amazing sunset and time exploring the town, we got in our little corolla and hit the road towards the amazing and world renowned Canadian Rockies of Banff National Park.
Banff is one of the most pristine, and gorgeous places in Canada, if not the world. Its towering mountains and glacial carved aquamarine blue lakes are stunning to say the least, and this had been one of our biggest bucket list items of the trip. Being so popular with tourists, I knew that our first goal of the morning was to get a campsite. When we googled campsites close to the area we found a wonderful location near a place called Johnson River waterfall area. This campsite was absolutely the perfect location and we were able to get the LAST campsite available that morning as the early crowd just started to leave. I was ecstatic that we could be there for two nights and not have to sweat a campsite. With that being accomplished, I could comfortably explore Banff now, and what better spot to start with than the Johnson Creek area we were located next to.
I had heard of this place before and seen pictures. This was an absolute gorgeous but well developed hike that is perfect for any level hiking, however I knew going into it that there was a secret area (at least unmarked) that I have seen pictures before on Earthporn (a facebook travel page). As we walked along the river I kept an eye out for this located. The walk itself is a wonderful glacial blue stream that is fed by melt from the surrounding mountains. It features two wonderful waterfalls that are almost gatorade blue in color. The walkway turns into various overlooks and platforms for viewing.
We had finished the trail to this wonderful pleasant waterfall and enjoyed the scenery, and determined it was time to return back to the car…..however, I had not found what I came to look for. That would be found however on the return route when I could get a view down steam. When I saw the bend around the potential cave I told Ashley we should go explore this area. Sure enough I found a primitive scramble route to the river, and behold….we were in the cave area as you can see in the picture below.
This was particularly exciting for me since I discovered it without trails and guides. We took pictures and selfies, and finished the downstream walk back to the car. From this point It was late enough for an early lunch, so we decided to do a drive into the town of Banff, and get lunch. The city itself was packed! So we found parking and enjoyed a walk around the downtown area.
This charming town probably has less than 2500 residents but the tourism it generates probably makes this town one of the wealthiest in Canada. we were able to find many options for lunch, but we decided on an upscale sports bar type venue, where we had the usual pub food and of course the daily beer. This was enjoyable and we ventured into the city even more.
After our afternoon exploration there, we headed back towards the campsite, and determined that we had energy for a short hike after a little nap in the tent. Once we woke up we went to Castle mountain, and found a short waterfall hike. This was a nice short half mile hike that led to a cute waterfall. Though it was half a mile it was no doubt steep. We finished up this hike, and had about 3 hours left….and I determined we should do a 45 minute drive northbound to go see the world famous Lake Morraine.
This was by far the most stunning area of the day. I knew from the pictures online we were in for a treat, but I did not realize just how deep blue the waters, and intimidating the surrounding jagged Rockies were before this. as we ascended up towards the parking lot, I could tell it would be unique, especially with all the flora and fauna we could see along the way.
Once we reached the parking lot, it was only about 100 yards to the Lakes overlook, and it gives you one of the most stunning and gorgeous photo opportunities one could ever ask for. wE took apicture, and a few videos as you can see below, and then we headed back towards the campsite. we stopped at a gas station for some chicken and beer for the night and headed to our tent, and cooked dinner, knowing full well we had a big day ahead of us tomorrow hiking the valley of the six glaciers!
EXPENSES
21.05 snack from gas station
22.08 gas
9.32 breakfast
21.50 camping
41.75 lunch
4.75 dinner meat
14 beer
4.84 snacks
Total -139.29