Tourist Traffic Jams - August 8, 2015

The moutains' majesty was very apparent once the sun was up. I was awake at 7, found the fitness center, then joined the family in the first of what I'm sure are a fair few brainstorming and planning sessions. Then, the first order of business - getting food.

My parents decided that there are six nights at the condo, and six of us staying here (my little sister Deanne is the one that hasn't been mentioned yet), so each of us is in charge of a night of food. In practicality, it means that we have all now partnered up and are doing two nights per pair.

But this shopping trip was just breakfast, lunch foods, and snacks. And it was still 12:30 by the time we got back to Dad (who volunteered to avoid the crazy and download geocache sites instead of trying to shove six to a car) and had our first lunch with the miscellaneous fare we had acquired.

We had found a "lantern tour" of the Cave and Basin National Historic Site at 7pm, and there was a pizza place in Banff that Valerie and Ben wanted to do for our first nights' dinner, so we decided we had to leave at 5pm to get there.

It meant that we had time for a hike! And, while I heard "grassy lake" and imagined walking peacefully around a serene pond, it was actually Grassi Lake, and a retaining pond up the side of a mountain that fed a waterfall into a reservoir.

We parked in an upper lot, then walked down the road to the trailhead. It was a pretty narrow bit, so with cars parked on either side, it was a single lane. Fine if everyone was headed in the same direction - not fine when some were trying to exit and others weren't letting them. We almost abandoned the hike to see the drama unfold.

We took the service road trail up, so it was graded (though not anything I would ever drive on).  The top had two pretty little lakes - there just happened to be power lines overhead and a pipe that helped feed the power plant below. There were rock climbers, dogs, kids in strollers and backpacks, and the shrieking one who was tearing down the trail (and making sure there wasn't a bear for miles).

Valerie and Ben split off to take a different path straight to the condo. The other four of us pattered down the "difficult" trail, with stone steps and great views over to the falls. Grassi was a nature lover and path builder, and he lived in Banff until he died in 1980 at the age of 90, so the lake was named for him. Not, as I first suspected, actually grassy.

The plan to leave at five was successful. A few showers, some changes of clothes, more discussion on tomorrow's plan (biking! old buildings!) and we were headed through Canmore. Which is easier said than done at 5pm on a Saturday. Cars were everywhere. The drive that took us 15 minutes to get to the Save On Grocery store in the morning was easily doubled. When we got to the edge of Banff at 5:45, with an hour until we were to report to the tour, we decided to switch the plans. We parked in the first two spots we found, got to a grocery store for some revitalization food (and to prevent the hangry from emerging), and idled our way through the rest of Banff, getting to the Cave and Basin at 6:30.

And it was all closed. The sun had emerged, and was beating down on us (as much as sun can when it is 80 degrees in the sun) as we circled the first building, then the second, looking for confirmation that this was the right place.

At 6:55, the gaggle of tourists was rewarded with the sight of a ranger. We paid our $10 each (Canadian) and were off. I got extra delighted when a costumed character (Richard - one of the discoverers of the hot spring) popped out and began with his lines.

We walked through a darkened tunnel to the hot spring - a geothermal sulphur-y pool that was lit by a strobe light and Billy's lantern. The water made it tough to hear, but the story of their discovery was told. It was 1883, and Billy and his brother and their friend would be rich!

We touched some of the water (from a bucket with permission - otherwise it is illegal), and tramped our way back through the tunnel to a train picture where the first Prime Minister "greeted" us. He told how he took the land for the health of all Canadians as he traveled across Canada on the CPR - Candian-Pacific Railroad. I was a little disappointed because they ran out of lanterns.

The tour ended with a stunning 10-minute film. (Mom and Dad took the floor because they miscounted seats or oversold tickets.) The beauty of the Canadian national parks is dazzling, and the polar bear cubs were pretty adorable as well. Given that we've just seen chipmunks so far (and a potential lynx by Ben last night), we might be lucky to see a macro mammal, but I'm not holding my breath.

The Tavern had bison pizza, and the twenty minute wait was made bearable by a stroll down to the bridge over the Bow River. The salads and pizzas were good, and the drive back to Canmore and the Worldmark resort was worlds better than during the tourist traffic jam earlier this evening.

Though there was talk of games, in actuality, we all checked our internet accounts then headed to bed. There is going to be lots of cycling in the morning!