1st June 2025

Rained during the night, so we were not expecting a good day. The weather forecast seemed fine, but they had got the night wrong, so we weren’t sure. We caught the free bus to Banff centre, but we wanted further buses.  We used the ticket machines and bought a day season, but strange thing is they do not say how much they are taking from your card until the transaction completes. We ended up buying the wrong ticket, spending $15, instead of $5 for the day. The difference being, the $5 one is for local travel, while the $15 one allows fotr travel to Canmore.

Banff Gondola

We caught a bus up to the mountain lift. We had issues with our pre-bought excursion tickets. We were at the lift instead of the lake,and the tickets looked out of date. They kindly sorted it so we could ride the Gondola that day, but told us we’d have to contact our travelagent to sort out the Lake trip. Didn’t sound very likely. We rode up in the Gondola, walked to the cosmic ray detector, and photographed the resident goats. The walk was on a wooden platform and steps, these were swept to remove snow and ice. R saw a tiny stripey ground squirrel and fell in love with it. From the sounds of all the cooing females, she wasn’t alone.

The Gondola lift had not been built for ski-ing; instead it was so people could go to the top for a good view.  There is a restaurant at the top, where we could have had a meal.

Lake Minnewanka

We caught the bus back down to Banff. R had a brainwave. She decided we could sort out the tickets for the Minnewanka Lake trip at the Elk & Avenue hotel, where there was a Pursuit Adventure Centre. Pursuit owns and runs many of the tourist attractions. The staff there sorted out everything very quickly so our trip was scheduled for this afternoon.

Oh – the name, you may laugh at it. The locals say “Wonka” as in Chocolate Factory

Bus to the lake (on the expensive day ticket). The bus stopped at a few other locations enroute. We arrived an hour before the trip, so spent the time walking around the beach. R booked us in, and we boarded the boat a few minutes before it was due to depart. The trip takes you about halfway along the lake. The lake is artificial. It is a reservoir for electricity generation. It has been expanded twice, the last time as WWII finished.

Apparently, the lake is good for diving, because you can see old homes and a 1930s sedan at the bottom, which all date back to when the area was flooded for the reservoir.

Unfortunately, some young kids on the boat were noisy, although they did actually keep quiet for 30 seconds during a requested silent period. Not sure why people take really young children on some holidays. They won’t remember it.

We arrived back after an hour, and then walked up the road to catch the return bus to Banff.

Campsite

Back at Banff centre where we found a much better supermarket, and of course a beer and wine liquor store. I do love the way there is a refrigerated section for all the canned beer.  When I say refrigerated section, the whole area, the size of a small shop, is refrigerated. At the campsite, we had sausages, for supper along with some WCIPA.

A female elk and some ground squirrels, or were they marmots?, presented themselves for their portraits.