Banff

    In the Rocky Mountains at last and these 'hills' really are big! The temperature is brisk but not uncomfortably cold and we had some lovely walks along the Bow River. Our walk to the Great Divide (near lake Louise where the water flows either East or West) didn't eventuate. The guide informed us there had been several bear sightings in the area and asked if we had our bear spray. We assumed he meant anti-bear spray and because we didn't, decided to play it safe. The guide was from Bendigo and picked our Aussie accents immediately. 
We also didn't get to Moraine Lake as the traffic was horrendous and parking non-existent - parking spaces gone by 7:00 am. We'll see Lake Louise on our tour tomorrow anyway.
This is the view looking up the Bow River with Hoodoos (pointy eroded rock formations) in the foreground and Mount Rundle in the background.

The Banff Springs Hotel is fairly widely recognised. It was built in1888 and has undergone many building changes since then. One thing I noticed missing since my last visit was the copper roof. The new one certainly makes it blend in more with the background. We went for a drive to the Banff Centre where I did some study nearly 30 years ago. Amazing to be able to recognise some of the buildings still.

We had a leisurely walk to downtown Banff, juggling our way between the many tourists, to the riverside trail and the falls. The town is so busy even the locals are surprised. Our walk took us over a fairly new suspension bridge, along a path through the forest and followed the river past rapids to the Bow River Falls. These two views are looking up the river. The water is quite cold, fast moving and ice blue.

 Further up the river near the Hoodoos, we watched a runaway canoe being jostled along the river. Hopefully the occupant wasn't somewhere up stream hanging onto a rock! The rapids, shown below, don't leave too many paths to choose if you are paddling.

Interesting to see a log 'cabin'. We half expected to see Davey Crocket with his beaver hat, although we are probably a bit far north!

Seen today: Elk; bear droppings; yellow school buses used as shuttle buses taking people to the lakes as the parking was full; an Inukshuk in someone's front yard - Inuit stone structure which looks like a person and means it's a safe/friendly place; our B & B is on Grizzly Street.