| At 4,540 feet above sea level, Banff is Canada's
Highest Town. It is a year- round attraction. Banff town and park
is named for Banffshire, Scotland - birthplace of two of the original Canada
Pacific Railway Directors. Banff's 2000 population was 7,726. There are more
than 1,000 glaciers in Banff National Park. |
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Below - A beautiful mountain
with very jagged edges |
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| This is the first
time that the two RV Gypsies ever had a campsite alongside the roadway.
Here they had electric and water, but no sewer. It was strange having cars
drive on the road beside their RV. Of course, they could not put out their
slide-out on the traffic side of the road. |
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Below
is the view of the two RV Gypsies' RV, known as AWO, as seen from the
road below them. |
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Below is the view looking
out the window on the left side of the two RV Gypsies' RV. Besides seeing another mountain,
they could see another road with an RV camped on one side of the road and
a picnic table where another RV could camp. They also watched traffic drive on the
road between the two RV's. Another first for the two RV Gypsies. |
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| From the bay windows on the right side of the two RV Gypsies' RV, they could see Tunnel
Mountain. Elevation of Tunnel Mountain - 5,551 feet. |
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Tunnel mountain was originally surveyed as the site for
a railway tunnel. Plans were abandoned for a more economical line, which
is the current route of the TransCanada Highway. |
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Below:
The two RV Gypsies drove their toad into town and liked the sign that
they saw in the store while shopping. Then a big stuffed moose gave Karen
Duquette a hug. |
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Below: The two RV Gypsies walked
up the hoodoo trail and looked down into the valley at spectacular views
from the lookout point off Tunnel Mountain Road. Mt. Rundle is named for
Robert Rundle, the missionary who passed through the region in the 1840s,
and it rises 9,700 feet. It is one of Banff's signature sights and is
often seen on postcards with the Banff townsite nestled just below it. |
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| Hoodoos were nocturnal giants who awoke to
pound the passerby with rocks hurled from the mountainside. Geologists believe
the formations were cemented together with dissolving limestone over 20,000
years ago. Scientific analysis tells us the hoodoos were pillars of glacial
till. |
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| There are two trails
down to the Hoodoos but as seen in the below photos, they were extremely
steep and the two RV Gypsies chose not to hike down those trails because
then they would have to hike the steep trail back up again. |
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| Below: The
entryway to Banff Hot Springs where Karen Duquette went to relax in the
hot springs which turned out to be nothing more than a heated pool outside,
unlike the hot springs at Liard and Chena that Karen visited earlier - as
they were in a natural setting, not a pool. However, the waters in the pool
at Banff are from a natural hot spring bubbling from the base of Sulphur
Mountain, and were still relaxing. This discovery led to the establishment
of Canada's first National Park and the 3rd oldest
in the world, established in 1885. |
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| While at Banff Hot
Springs, Karen Duquette signed up for a one-hour facial, a full-body massage,
and a body wrap. She got the facial which was fine. The massage was inadequate
- they did not even do her feet. And Karen never got the body wrap as they
said time was up, even though she paid for it. No, Karen
does NOT recommend Banff Hot Springs body wraps and massages to anyone.
Karen was completely dissatisfied with the service. |
