Banff: Half way!

AUGUST 5, 2006 - Banff

After hiking for 10 consecutive days from Highwood House, our rest days in Banff feel much deserved (and much needed). We have walked almost 500 km from Waterton to Sunshine Village so we decided to celebrate the halfway point of our GDT hike in style by treating ourselves to a nice hotel in Banff... hot shower, clean clothes and steak dinner too!

Over the past week we were hiking in Provincial and National Parks (Elk Lakes Provincial Park, Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Banff National Park & Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park), so the walking has been on good trail through some spectacular areas. The warm temperatures and sunny skies that we had gotten used to in the south vanished our first day out of Boulton Creek campground when we awoke to frost on our tents and fresh snow on the surrounding mountains. It felt like summer was over and it was only the first week of August. But the stunning beauty of the areas we hiked through easily kept us inspired to venture out of our cozy sleeping bags every morning into the cold.

BIG THANKS to the cyclists from Calgary who shared their campsite at Boulton Creek campground with us!

Bizarre yoga pose at Elk Lakes (DAY 20)

Upper Kananaskis Lake (DAY 22)


At Banff's Birdwood campground, due to a coincidence of timing, we camped with 5 other long-distance GDT hikers: Duane & Angela from Calgary; Harry (Angela's dad) from Penticton; and Dave and Pat from Smithers. Duane, Angela & Harry are section-hiking from Boulton Creek to Field, while Dave & Pat left Waterton on July 15 and are also hiking as far as Field. We sat around the campfire late into the evening, sharing many trail stories and laughs. After hiking most of the southern sections of the GDT without seeing any other hikers it was a pleasure to share our camp with some fellow long-distance hikers. Harry empathized with my bear-mace incident as he had a mace accident of his own too... we both can laugh at it now.

We wish them all the best on the rest of their hikes and hope to hear from them after they're done.
THANKS to friendly Park Ranger Julie for her help with our National Park Permit!

The highlight of the entire section was Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. While this park is extremely popular (i.e. busy), the beauty of the glacier-capped mountains, blue-green lakes and seemingly endless alpine meadows makes you wish that you could hike through areas like this forever...

Mount Assiniboine and Magog Lake (DAY 27)

Sunset at Og Lake (DAY 27)


SPECIAL THANKS to Dustin and Roche for coming out to visit from Canmore!