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| Hide and go seek with mountains and clouds. |
We were amazed this morning to wake up to a beautiful view
of the mountain peaks surrounding us from our picture window. Monday was so cloudy, we did not even realize
the mountains were there. But, the
clouds wandered in and out, obscuring and revealing the peaks throughout the
day. But the morning, it was all view!
So, we made our first priority getting to the gondola ride
to the top of Sulfur Mountain. We did
not want to head all the way up and not be able to see anything. So, we did not give the weather much time to
change. The ride up was very nice. Even more so watching the people who chose to
hike up the mountain. It looked like a
nice enough path—wide, smooth, modest—but the gondola went from 5124 feet to
7380 feet (plus a few miles laterally) in 10 minutes or so, and the path…well
we might still be on our way up!
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| Looking down to Banff from the top of Mt, Sulfur. |
The scenery
was spectacular. Near the base, the firs
were green; tall thin, and green.
Partway up the mountain, they turned silver, glistening with the
crystals of ice and snow lightly flecking them.
By the top, they were heavily dusted with snow, so they were white. But they made the mountain seem to shimmer
under hundreds of thousands of silvery spires.
At the top, we enjoyed the educational center and the vistas
from around the upper gondola terminal.
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| What's that? It's Sanson Peak! |
But, there was a walkway to the other peak. What was there? One had to know!! (There were four of us, but apparently only
one had to know!) So, Theresa, Ce, and Charles
went up to the café and I headed over to see what was there. It was actually an easy track, although not
very cleared of snow and ice. Most
places around here just have slippery surfaces.
You accept it, or you hide in the car.
When I got over there, I learned that Sanson Peak is the highest point
on the mountain, and was once a weather station, but then became a “Cosmic Ray
Observatory” for many years (up until 1981).
Cosmic rays are often deflected by the magnetic field, and reflected or
absorbed in the atmosphere. But, at this
height the air is thinner, and it is closer to the magnetic pole, so it is well
suited for studying cosmic rays (well, until we got some satellites in orbit).
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| Bill at the top of Sanson Peak, by the Cosmic Ray Observatory. |
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| A nice walk on the mountain. |
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| A view from Sulfur Mountain. |
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| Panoramic from Sanson Peak on Sulfur Mountain. |
We continued to drive around the Banff area and stopped at
various spots that might have scenic value.
We made it to Lake Minnewanka, where a dam had been built in the early
1900s, and another one built 65 feet higher in about 1941. A small town was covered by the lake in
crystal clear water, but nearly perfectly preserved. So, there is scuba diving there to go check
out the town.
A little further we found Two Jack Lake. This was the stillest one we’ve seen so far,
so it gave fantastic reflections in photos!
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| There is some reason the Canadian National Parks puts Adirondack chairs in these places, but I am not sure why. |
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| Our friends Ce and Charles. |
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| Lake Minnewanka |
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| Two Jack Lake |
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| Two Jack Lake |
Finally, we headed back to the Hot Springs. It is an outdoor pool, filled with hot spring
water. It sits at about 39°C (102°F)
under the 2°C (36°F) air. As I sat in
the hot water, marveling at the mist rising from the pool, I noticed the
icicles hanging from the roof of the building next to us. Here in this one spot all three phases of
water existed naturally. It was incredible!!
We headed back to Canmore to try the place recommended to us
on our first day here…The Iron Goat. It
was late. We were tired. We needed gas. But we were happy to arrive…until we saw it
was closed for a private function. So,
we checked Yelp, and picked again…a nice pub with high ratings. It was closed, after a lunch function they
put on for their staff. :-( We regrouped, and found a place that was
still open and hurried there. The beer
was good, the food was very good, and we were sated. The end of a long day!
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