Day 8 - A day in Banff

I had planned to have a bit of a lie-in this morning after several really early starts over the past few days (I'm meant to be on holiday!), but there was a free trip which the hostel were running to Tunnel Mountain, which I thought sounded like a good idea. It was supposed to be a short hike up the smallest mountain around Banff, with lovely views of the town (assuming the weather was good).
Whilst it meant setting off at 8.30am, I decided to go for it, and I'm really glad I did, because when we got up the top, the morning mist had just cleared and we had a lovely view. But in true Rockies style, a minute later the mist was back (thankfully after we'd taken our photos).

Before - at the top of Tunnel Mountain

After - at the top of Tunnel Mountain

Tunnel Mountain is so named, because apparently when they were building the Canadian-Pacific railway, the mountain got in the way and they wanted to blow it up and tunnel through it, rather than building the line around it. Unfortunately, this was deemed to be too costly and challenging so the mountain won and the train goes round instead. It's also called Buffalo mountain as it can look like a sleeping buffalo!

Cascade Mountain from the Bow river

When I got back, I was in two minds as to what to do next. Part of me wanted to join some of my friends from the tour, later on the hike up Sulphur Mountain (which was meant to be a lot challenging). The plan was to go later on in the day so we could catch the Gondola down for free after 7pm, but then I have had a lot of nice views so I decided to look into some of the evening wildlife spotting tours. Unfortunately I'd left it a bit too late for the main ones, but the guy in the tour shop recommended one on the river, which involved being in a canoe boat (with a few other people). It sounded like a good plan, as there is obviously wildlife down there i.e. beavers, otters, and then the bigger animals come down to the river too. The sun had come out again, so that made everything even more appealing too.

The canoe trip was lovely, and I got the bow seat (the benefits of travelling solo!) which meant I was in a prime spot for taking photos. Sadly, no wildlife, it's never a guarantee, although it was disappointing, but I was very happy with the photos I took!

I rounded off the day with some drinks with everyone from the tour before saying goodbye. I have a few hours in Banff tomorrow morning, before heading off to San Francisco.