Johnston Canyon, Banff National Park.
We settled on Johnston Canyon, located just outside of Banff. It's not difficult, it's about 11.6km return (to the Ink Pots) and it's well marked on the highway.
When we arrived at the Banff National Parks, we waited in the longest line of cars I have EVER seen. Everyone was waiting to buy a day pass. It took us about 15-20 minutes to make it through the line. This is a long time, considering I've only ever had to wait about a minute on other occasions, with three toll booths open. This time, there were 6-8 toll booths open!
This was the first clue that we'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Once we FINALLY got in the park, we passed Banff and turned onto the Bow Valley Parkway. After a short drive, we finally saw signs directing us to Johnston Canyon.
Then, we arrived at the parking lot. Oh... The parking lot. Our next clue that we'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.
The parking lot was overflowing with vehicles. Cars parked where it clearly said, "NO PARKING." Cars spilling out of the parking lot onto the shoulder of the road. Giant campers taking up two spaces. People milling around, cars waiting aggressively for other cars to pull out of their spots... It was like the Chinook Centre parking lot two days before Christmas!
It really is a scenic hike. If you ever have relatives coming from out of town and you want to show them something quick, easy and beautiful in the Rockies, Johnston Canyon is the place to go.
There are a lower and upper waterfall.
Lower falls (I think?).
There is also some interesting geology. In one section of the canyon, limestone is exposed. Over time, water has run down the face of the limestone and eroded it. The result is that the rock face looks a bit like it is melting and dripping into the bottom of the canyon.
Limestone cliff is slowly being eroded by water.
Once we passed this limestone cliff, the paved interpretive trail ended. That meant that most of the tourists didn't continue on for the last portion of the hike. We were relieved that we weren't elbow to elbow with families pushing strollers, or stuck behind ladies in three inch heels and elderly couples out for a weekend stroll. We also had to stop several times while the people in front of us attempted to pet begging squirrels and chipmunks. I read somewhere that a lot of tourists get bitten by squirrels that now expect to be fed by tourists.
Our final destination was the Inkpots, six greenish coloured pools that are filled with spring water that maintains a constant 1 degree Celsius temperature year round.
The Inkpots.
After briefly admiring the Inkpots, a thunderhead passed directly over us and let out the largest BOOM of thunder I've heard in a long time. It rained a bit as we hurried back down the trail. We weren't too wet for the drive home.
The batteries in our camera basically died the instant we got on the trail. So these photos were taken with Tom's new cell phone. Not too shabby!
Unfortunately we don't have any photos from the camping trip we made this weekend. But we'll be sure to take some when we're in Field next week for the Burgess Shale hike!
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