Banff (Canada)

The pretty Alpine town of Banff is one of the communities in Banff National Park and is surrounded by mountains. Interestingly, unlike other towns in this region that developed as a result of mining or other natural resources Banff was created in the late 1800's to attract tourists - and it still seems to be working.

The local school kids are connected together when out for their walk to make sure no one wanders away.

Feliz investigates the old camp that has been set up to show how the initial prospectors out here would have lived.

And he can't help but get friendly with the locals.

You only have to walk about 5 minutes from the end of the main shopping street to feel like you are out in the wilderness!!

The Indian Trading Post in Banff was started in 1903 to sell native crafts including moccasins, various beaded items from clothes to jewellery, furs and various other souvenirs.

Due to the snowy weather I was advised not to go hiking up on of the mountain trails which I had planned to do so I headed off along one of the lowland trails but wasn't disappointed with the scenery and passed only a couple of people all day even the horse riding stables were deserted.

The Cave & Basin Hot Springs are considered the birth place of Canada's National Park system - though known to the aboriginals for over 10,000 years they were not discovered by the developers until 1883 when 3 railway workers pretty much fell across them and immediately started charging people for taking a dip in the therapeutic waters. Then after a bit of controversy and legal fight between these guys and another business man who tried to jump their claim on it was declared pat of Banff National Park, Canada's first. The pools was closed to bathers in the 1990's when it was losing too much money but it is now a museum and conservation area for the endangered and tiny Banff Spring which are only found here and another couple of local hot springs.

After visiting the Hot Springs I follwed the trail up to Sundance Canyon which was a very pretty walk in the snow. Feliz enjoyed making his first ever snowman and spotting wild animal tracks in the snow.

Coming back into town as it starts to get dark.

In the winter Banff is a popular ski resort and the season was just kicking off when I was there with lots of people arriving in the hostel with their snowboards. These statues in the shopping mall show the history of skiing equipment!

On the pavement on the street corners were these name plaques - a lot of the streets were named after native animals - Caribou, Buffalo, Elk, Squirrel, Moose, Otter, Bear, Beaver amongst others....

A trip on Banff Gandola took Feliz and I to the top of Sulphar Mountain - as it was snowing there was limited views from the top as I am told that on a clear day this is just spectacular but I still enjoyed it.

A visit to the Whyte museum to get out of the rain turned out to be an interesting stop as it covered the history of the area from the Natives through the hardships of the early settlers and establishment and work of the park rangers.

I love the colours of the Magpies in Canada.

I was sitting in the small waiting room at the bus station when someone spotted 4 big wild Elks just outside - they wander here regularly and were not perturbed by all the attention they were getting. Though I wouldn't want to get too close to those antlers.

More to come......