Calgary and Banff – Day 3 can be found here.
Regular followers of this blog will know that one of my favourite feelings in the world is that of stepping into a shower after spending a full day (or more) in the infamous Travel Vortex – feeling all the grime and grit wash away, along with much of the travel-induced stress, leaving behind only anticipation of the trip ahead.
A similar – but equally excellent – feeling is that of accomplishing your travel goals early on in a trip, and feeling like the remainder of the trip is something of a bonus.
And that’s where we are today – going into our third day in Banff, after having already gone for a lovely hike (with deer!), a horseback ride along the Bow River, and a lovely meal.
We even managed to solve the Case of the Missing Tea Bags after I mistakenly bought Keurig pods instead of regular green tea – the solution was to tear apart the pod and dump the tea into a coffee filter. Ugly, but it worked!
But still, we’ve only scratched the surface of what Banff has to offer – so we went to Tunnel Mountain for a more intensive hike.
Tunnel Mountain does not have a tunnel, and it is not technically a mountain – but we were able to find a parking space right next to the trail on Thanksgiving Saturday, so we’re going to let that slide.
Particularly when the scenery looks like this:
My wife used the All Trails app to check distances before we started, and it suggested that the hike would be about 3 km long and taken roughly an hour and a half to finish. It’s ranked on the easy side of moderate.
The other side of the mountain, including a golf course – for those keen on wildlife spotting, you’ll find His Majesty’s Murder Chicken (aka the Canada goose) as black specks just below the parking lot in the lower right-hand corner
The kids found the ascent a bit challenging, but they really enjoyed the views and the feeling of accomplishment at summitting the top of the climb. It only took us about 40 minutes to get up and 30 minutes more to get down, despite taking several breaks – including some celebratory fudge at the peak.
The kids took a bit of time to play the hockey game while I did some writing, and then we had a light lunch – before taking them to surprise afternoon tea at the Banff Springs hotel.
We parked – at the usurious rate of $13 per hour – and then went to work up an appetite with another hike:
This was another All Trails find – a small, scarcely marked trail that followed along the river, along with some unmarked side trails. Some spots were a touch on the damp side, but we managed not to get ourselves so muddy as to be barred from entry to the Rundle Bar.
(For those looking only to hike, there are parking spaces available near the trailheads – but those are not to be used by guests or visitors to the Banff Springs.)
We only had about 40 minutes to hike, and then it was time to scoot back for tea.
And what a tea it was:
Not even my wide-angle lens can capture the full glory of this tea tower…
…So here is a seconshot focused solely on our tiny sandwiches
I particularly enjoyed the deviled ham, while my wife said the egg salad and spinach were among the best sandwiches she’d ever had. The kids particularly enjoyed the ‘bears’ that came with it – essentially large, chocolate-covered cake pops.
We left with our wallets lighter and our bellies stuffed. Not inexpensive, but something we think the kids will remember for a long time to come.
The Banff Springs is a beautiful hotel, and it’s tempting to stay here some time – except for the fact that it costs $800 / room / night in the off season, and upward of $1,700 per night in peak summertime. And that’s before the extras in terms of restaurants, parking, etc..
But it might still be worth it to get the chance to hang out at this bar
Back to the condo for a bit of downtime, followed by some pizza and a Caesar salad from Carlito’s Pizza, who brought the food right to our door.
We watched a few episodes of PBS’s Antarctic Extremes documentary, and then the kids called it an early night – and my wife and I once more settled ourselves to enjoy a roaring fire and a glass of wine.
Continue reading Calgary and Banff – Day 5.