Schmidt's Adventures

This was our last day in Canada. We headed to Canmore, about 18 kilometers away from Banff. We explored the town's weekly Mountain Market. It was a mix of farm market and artisans. I wish we had known about it last Thursday because we would have bought fresh produce for our week. We are a yummy piece of appl strudel from a German bakery. This bakery had peels 500 pounds of apples per week! We then headed to the Grassi Lake trailhead. It was a pleasant and steady incline thru the forest, past a waterfall and then up several very steep stone steps to a pair of mountain lakes. Both were small, but pretty. The second lake was completely shaded by the tall mountain on the eastern side. Later in the day when the sun gets higher in the sky, I am sure the water sparkles with the light. We were not going to wait the two hours before that happened, so we headed back down. We herd a strange huffing noise, but could not see any movement. We think it could have been a bear. We have seen paw pr...

This morning we took the Banff Gondola up Sulfur Mountain. A small four person gondola car, made by a Swiss company swept us to the top in about 10 minutes. They are working on building a restaurant and upper viewing platform that should be complete soon. The views from the top were amazing. It was a clear day and we could see forever.  There was a series of steps and boardwalks that connected the gondola station to the adjoining summit of Sulfur Mountain. At the top is a weather station that was used from 1904-1944. The Rangers would walk up sometimes weekly to record information. A small, single room was a kitchen, work station and bedroom. In the winter, it took 9 hours to get to the top. The Rangers spent the night, then headed back down. You can view the original furnishings. We viewed the entire Banff area as well as the other side of the mountain ridge. Beautiful sights all around. We ran into town to make our dinner reservations at Ticino- Swiss/ Italian restaurant that wa...

Another picture perfect day. We went west into British Columbia to Yoho National Park to Emerald Lake. A stunning mountain lake surrounded by mountains. We avoided most of the crowds by starting out hike counter clockwise. We chose that direction because the sun was on the mountains which provided outstanding reflection pictures in the still glacier-fed lake. We had several sections of the train were muddy and root-covered which made footing a bit tricky. We got halfway around the lake and then headed toward the Emerald Basin to view the Emerald Glacier. This trail started off easy, but again became muddy with many roots and rocks. We had to carefully place every step. I don't like these type of trails. We reached thick cedar and larch forest with moss covering the entire forest floor. Sun dappled the landscape. It looked like something out of the Hobbit movie. As we exited the forest, we entered a rock field- remnants of the glacier. Several rushing streams were running thru the r...

Headed up to the Lake Louise area today. All the way along our drive, we could barely see the mountains due to fog. It was 27 degrees when we woke up. Steam was coming off roofs, the  lakes and streams. I was so disappointed because we have hardly had great weather during this trip. As we got off the exit and made our way up the mountain towards the lake, the fog was gone; clear blue sky-a picture perfect day. We were so happy. We began at the base of Lake Louise along with hundreds of other people. The trail started with an easy walk around one side of the lake. Nice reflection pictures on the calm lake. As the trail turned to head higher, the crowds thinned. We hike thru forest and then open areas into a glacier field. Plain of the Six Glacier was the trail and our destination was the base of the Victoria Glacier. Moraine hills and rocks emerged as we got closer to the glacier. We stopped at the Tea House which was built by Swiss guides long ago. Hot chocolate and scones with j...

Saturday we visited the Caves and basin area of the National Parks. It is the birthplace, the site where it all started for Canada's National Park system. We arrived just in time to join a ranger-led tour of the area. There is an interactive self-tour, but this was more interesting and the ranger had great stories to add. He was great. Three guys decided to try and stick it out in the Banff area the entire winter and they saw steam or smoke rising up from the mountain. It was a natural hot spring. They tried to gain the rights to the area but the government realized that thuslukd bring tourist and money to Banff, so the hot springs bathing area was born. We went into the cave where the spring originated and the upper pools. Banff has a public hot springs. There is an admission fee and it looks like an indoor pool. No more rocky sides and bottom. After the tour we hiked passed a marsh area and along the river to Sundance Canyon. The rushing water flowed along steep , moss covered r...