Day 4 Waterton to Banff

Day 4
After our cookie cutter breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, tater tots, toast, and a danish, we leave Waterton and start a long day of travel to Banff. In case you don’t know, BANFF stands for Be Aware Nothing For Free and that is certainly true in this beautiful but high priced town. Along the way to Banff we stopped in a little town named Pincher Creek where we were treated to coffee and home made cinnamon rolls at the local country club overlooking the golf course. It was here that I learned about the old man that always took two pairs of pants with him whenever he played golf just in case he got a hole in one. (sorry about that) Rolling along again in our bus we traveled through the beautiful Kananaskis Valley. To break up the long drive, we stopped at the Visitor Center of the Bar U Ranch. The Bar U Ranch is a national historical site of Canada. Here you journey back in time to the 158,000 acre ranch where Canada’s cattle industry started and where they had the largest herd of Percheron horses in the world. Our next stop on the way to Banff was the vibrant mountain town of Canmore. Long the way to Canmore we spotted a lot of mountain goats. These elusive animals are so well camouflaged with their surroundings that if they aren’t moving, you might not even see them. We came upon on group of mountain goats standing out in the middle of the road. It seems like they enjoy licking mineral off the black top of the highway. They are in no hurry to move so we just had to wait for them to finish and move aside. If we hadn’t stopped you could have made goat stew just from the road kill. The scenery from Canmore to Banff is a feast for the eyes. Banff built up near the railroad station as a service center for tourists visiting the park and has now become the only incorporated city within a Canadian national park. On the way into this nothing for free city (internet access in your room is an extra $12) you are treated to views of Mt. Rundle (9,670 feet), Cascade Mountain (9,830 feet), Sulphur Mountain (7, 480 feet), and Tunnel Mountain/Sleeping Buffalo Mountain which is situated within the town site. Being ever vigilant in an effort to spot wildlife, (you get a penguin sticker on your name tag if you are the first one to see a wild critter) we came upon a group of elk shortly before Banff. These magnificent animals were in a grassy area along side the road eating lunch. One male of the group had a magnificent set of antlers on his noggen. His head would have looked great mounted on anyone’s den wall. Back to the mountains, Cascade Mountain has a thin waterfall that cascades from the top to the bottom of the mountain and in the winter, that waterfall freezes. That’s when fearless mountain climbers climb the mountain by going straight up the frozen waterfall. Due to inclement weather, the first such since we have been here, we weren’t able to take our scheduled Banff Gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain. If the weather clears, we should be able to do that tomorrow morning. Upon arriving at the Mount Royal Hotel, we unpacked for a 2 night stay and then joined up with Margaret and Steve for dinner at Tony Roma’s. After dinner, Debbo went up to her room while the rest of us did a little window shopping and walked around town.


Cinnamon buns at Pincher Creek with Cary Alpert look alike.

Two old nags at Bar U Ranch. (we are talking about the horses of course)

On to Banff. This is still early in the morning so no one is sleeping yet.

Mountain goats as seen from our coach window.

These elk don't seem to mind the rain as long as there is food to be had.

Bear with me as I try to identify these 3 critters who followed Margaret and Steve into a candy shop.