We're in Canada, eh?

Have you ever felt as though you had stepped into a painting? That's pretty much how we felt the whole time we were in Canada. You'll soon see why. We headed north from Whitefish and crossed into British Columbia at Roosville. I thought there would be a "Welcome to Canada!" sign or a welcome center or something, but there was nothing. Hello? Canadians are supposed to be friendly and welcoming!

So we kept driving, hoping for a welcome center because we soon lost cell coverage, and therefore, our map. (Yes, we were those kind of travelers.) Now we were driving blind in a foreign country! Signs were dual language and had 'km' on them... What was going on? Eventually, we came to a fork in the road and went right because why not, but my gut told me to turn around. We did and pulled over at the first little store we saw several more km down the road. Thankfully they sold maps! Hallelujah! Now we knew we were heading in the right direction and could feel a little more at ease about our travels. And have some lunch. What a rest stop, right? Gorgeous Columbia Lake!

Our next surprise was that when the highway turned off toward the national parks, we basically had to pay to use the highway by estimating how long we'd be in the national parks and paying park admission right there. There are 3 national parks all next to each other in this part of Alberta/British Columbia, and I wasn't really sure how they'd handle the parks admission with the highways running through them. Oh well! After some scenic driving, we pulled over in Kootenay NP at Numa Falls. Stunning teal water and more mountains, but wouldn't you know it? The trail and bridge were closed for repairs... so that was a short break.

Once we crossed into Alberta, we knew we were getting close. These wildlife crossings seem like a great idea and add to the scenery.

We named this mountain Dizzy Mountain (actually called Mt Rundle) because it made the world seem as though it had tilted off-kilter. It looms over the town of Banff at a sharp angle.

After we checked into our hotel, we headed to the visitor center for more maps and dinner. Time to figure out our agenda for the next few days!

It was a bit of a walk to and from downtown to our hotel, but we realized the next day that our hotel had included some bus passes, which made our future excursions much easier! Morning 1 we decided to check out the Cave and Basin trail, site of Canada's first national park. That plan soon changed when we saw that there was a crowd waiting to buy tickets for the guided tour on that trail. We weren't feeling like being part of a tour group, so we walked on and came across the site of the original hot springs pool. Note the Parks Canada red chairs! They're kind of like a "Where's Waldo?" around the parks.

The morning was peaceful and the trail was inviting, so we just kept walking.

Hadley can hike on her own now, but she often dawdles in Imaginary Land and has to keep catching up. 

The trail was mostly in the woods, but it did parallel the Bow River closely for a bit, too. We marveled at the calm, green water and the near-perfect reflections that it cast.

We ended up on the Sundance Canyon Trail, and decided to stick it out until we saw the canyon, although it was a longer hike than we had originally intended to do. Also, parts were very mosquito-y (at least we now had spray!), muddy, and horse poop-y (poo-tatoes, the kids dubbed the fresh ones!), but some was a nicely paved trail where the bikes whisked by us. If only we had bikes! But eventually we made it to the canyon loop. We liked to pretend we could read the signs in French. Les Incompetents!

It looks like a huge chunk of mountain fell off and created this narrow waterfall. Here's Owen at the bottom of the canyon and Had and Dad on the bridge at the top of the waterfall. We're coming!

We made it! Up at the top, we admired the view and the rushing water under our feet...

Then the path continued up and around for a view back down the canyon.

The loop kept to the creek and the woods.

On the back side of the loop, there was a beautiful overlook to another mountain valley, this one at the base of the Massive Range.

Once we finished the loop, the kids realized that we had to hike back to the bus stop where we started (~10 km all together), and pleaded with Dad to give them a lift back, at least part of the way. These kids aren't so easy to lift any more! P.S. We do not recommend the Marsh Loop, which was mostly muddy horse tracks and droppings. P-U!

We made it back to the hotel early in the afternoon and rested a bit. Then the kids were ready to go swim at the pool, so I obliged. After all, the hotel is really their favorite part of any vacation! And they certainly earned a swim with that hike.