Day 6: We climbed a mountain today!

What3words: Joins.salvaging.banish (yep, still here)

Our day started with a happy mistake with the result that we got to Lake Louise!

We meant to go there, but once again the parking lots were showing as full so we opted for the park and ride. There we saw a lineup for the bus and thought, the barman from the other night was right and we should come back on Monday as even if we got to the lake, it would probably be rammed.

We left the park and ride station but because I was in the wrong lane, we ended up on the road to Lake Louise - it is a one way road, with no chance to about turn until you actually get to the lake parking lot and they turn you around…….except they didn’t! We got a space!

On the walk to the lake, we stopped by a ‘ranger station’ who was giving a talk on horns (animal :)) and she had some for show and tell. She told us about the huge elk horn that she had on the table - which are basically ornaments to attract the ladies as they fall off once the rutting season is over. They are made of hair and although I only picked up one of them, carrying a pair around all summer is quite a feat. Then she told us about the Mountain Sheep - she had a full skull with both horns attached, these are made of bone - I tried to lift it and I almost couldn’t - no wonder they have such thick necks, and they keep them, they don’t get rid of them once they have found a girlfriend! Respect!

The ranger also gave us a handy viewfinder - it had two holes in it and you should look at any animals through the holes to check your distance. One represented something 30 feet away and that is how far away we should keep from Elk, Mountain Sheep etc., and a much smaller hole that represented 100 feet, and that is how far you should stay from Bears!

Then on to the Lake (what3words: bats.tortoise.relaxed) …..I think if we had seen it before Lake Moraine we would have been more impressed. It was a pretty colour, but nowhere near as clear as Moraine, and it was absolutely rammed with tourists - fortunately we managed to get pics with no-one in them, but the shoreline was busy.

We wanted to take a canoe out, but at $145 plus tax and a huge lineup, we decided not to - it went against our ‘say yes’ philosophy, but as we were not that impressed with the lake anyway and it was so busy, we decided nope!

As we walked around the Lake there was one group of ‘mature’ (for mature read old, but Emily would not want me to write that) tourists. They were trying to get a pic of them all together, but someone was always taking the shot, so Emily asked if they would like her to take one of them all (she is her mother’s daughter). She did the whole David Bailey impersonation, she was counting them down and saying cheese taking lots of pics. When they were done, one chap shouted ‘I love your rings, they are so pretty, the light was shining on them’ and another chap shouted ‘she is much prettier than her rings, she is very pretty’! Emily looked very embarrassed and laughed then when we walked away she said ‘I cannot believe that man said I was prettier than his wife Irene, I mean, what was I supposed to do?’ I could not stop laughing, bless her - I was almost crying, we saw them a couple more times and each time they were calling ‘hello pretty’!

At one point we heard a kind of squeaking just as a lady was walking past and I joked to Emily that I had thought it was a bird until I realised it was the ladies boots squeaking - but then we saw the bird in the tree and heard it’s call which was a squeak!

After Lake Louise we took a drive by Lake Minnewanka (I don’t think the Canadians pronounce it the way we do) it looked lovely, so we will try and get back there in the next day or so when the traffic is not so bad.

As we were driving along the highway I was thinking how sad it was that there were fences everywhere, it really spoiled the landscape - then I saw a black bear just by the fence and I realised that the fences actually protect the animals, as they surely would be down on the highway, and in a fight between man vs bear, a bear would win, unless the man is in a really fast car…. There is no pic of the bear as Emily was driving and I am not as quick with a phone camera as Emily is…

From there we went to the Banff Gondola (what3words: neared.herds.fridge) and Sulphur Mountain. As this was the second gondola ride we have taken, we thought we knew what we were in for - NOPE! It was so fast! It was actually terrifying. I tried shutting my eyes, but that made it worse. This from the woman who has stood on the wing of a plane, as it was in the air, and I was a wreck. I think it is because if anything happened to me, it would also happen to Emily, and that is unacceptable.

We got to the top safe and sound, and the views were well worth it. We had lunch up there - what a view. None of the pictures do it justice,but I tried.

This was my view for lunch...

Then we climbed up to the top of the mountain - full disclosure, the gondola got us almost to the top, but we still climbed the last bit ourselves, and it took about 30 minutes because I had to keep stopping to look at the view (aka catch my breath!) This was us at the very top of Sulphur Mountain (what3words: canned.blush.diary)

This was in the gondola on the way up.... all smiles - no pics of the way down, I was too busy holding on!

Walking back down the mountain we heard an odd sound, which we though might be a bird, we stopped to listen and a little kid who was sitting on the stairs said ‘oh that’s a frog’ we were a bit stunned - he looked just like Nigel Thornberry from the Rugrats - we asked him what kind of frog - as if he was David Attenborough - and he said ‘its a green frog, it makes a really weird sound’ ‘yes it does, thank you’ we said and walked on. Such an odd encounter!

The gondola ride down was worse! I have videoed it, but I cannot share it as all you can here is us swearing as the car is swaying about. I just had that scene from the Kingsmen Two, The Golden Circle in my head, when the cable snaps and they have to ride the gondola car down the mountain…. Except we did not have a parachute to stop us at the bottom.

The Banff Upper Hot Springs (what3words: whitening.subway.perspective) are close to the Gondola, so we took ourselves off for a dip in the hot springs to ease our weary feet - we had just climbed a mountain after all!

The entrance to the pools seemed to take you down a ramp so you were already in the water when you opened the door - a little like the entrance to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, we walked through the door carrying the towels and then Emily got back out of the water to put them somewhere dry - that is when we realised we had gone through the wrong door and had gone in via the exit.

The water was 40C degrees, which is 104F - and with the sun on your face and views of the mountains it was very welcome.

We definitely missed something though - you have to take your shoes off as you buy your tickets, it is a no shoe zone and you have to carry your footwear down to the changing rooms, there is a handy seating area for big stiffies like me (Canadians are so thoughtful). On the way out we did the same thing, but there was nowhere to put your shoes back on - we ended up joining the lineup again just so we could sit and put our boots back on…I think maybe we came out of the wrong door again…

Back to our hotel and all relaxed, we changed and headed into town for dinner. We ate at Graze (what3words: township.plates.sustain) and had the BEST garden salad - it had strawberries, beetroot, crispy onions, fetta cheese, cherry tomatoes, mixed leaves and a strawberry vinaigrette - delicious!

We got chatting to a couple on the next table who have given us a couple of ideas for small hikes, which were not on our list, and also told us about a secret speakeasy which we are going to try tomorrow.

Emily was asking them if they have seen many bears, and the girl said ‘its not the bears you have to worry about, it’s the cougars - you don’t hear them coming ‘till they have attacked ya’ Oh great, another thing to worry about. Then she said that bears get a bad rap and Emily said ‘Yep, they are just like land sharks really - they are ok if you leave them alone, they are just trying to get dinner’

Things I have learned today: If the only view you see is the one right in front of you, you are missing a lot. Sometimes you need to do a 360 to get the best out of your surroundings.