Sunday September 10th
I headed off to Banff Park Church, a few minutes drive from the campground, down a steep hill into the township. Google’s route included a very sharp, almost U-turn to get into town, which I wasn’t sure the van was capable of, so I took a different way. Banff Park Church was a lovely chapel, beautifully appointed inside, an A-frame meeting hall, with wood panelling. There had been a survey sent out to members and perhaps regular attendees, to see what things they thought were important. There was a nice emphasis in the sermon on outreach, the church family and the family of all believers.
After church I headed up the main highway toward Johnston Canyon. The Bow River Parkway, which ran alongside the main highway, would probably have been the shortest way to it, but it was closed for a month or two for the exclusive use of cyclists. Towards the turnoff to Johnston Canyon, I stopped and had made some lunch at a beautiful rest area overlooking the Bow River. I made lunch pretty much every day, wherever I stopped, a salad sandwich with whatever meat filling I had going at the time. I had bread, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and tins of things like chicken, turkey and salmon, and would open a tin, then put the rest in a container in the fridge. I was blessed with another sunny day, and it was lovely to eat lunch looking at the view of the strikingly blue river and mountains beyond.
On the way to the canyon was Silverton Falls, a short walk from the parking lot. They weren’t as dramatic as some of the other falls – I was spoiled! – but they were pretty, going down into a narrow gorge. I met an Asian couple there who were very friendly and offered to take my photo, and gave me some grapes.
Johnston Canyon, a short drive further along, was a very popular spot, with plenty of people around. There was a walk going along the narrow gorge which, as always, had a decent river running through it, and also some great waterfalls. Some parts of the walk were on balconies over the river. The gorge was quite deep in places, and the walk worked its way uphill along the river.
There was once place where there was a bridge going into a cave, where you could see one of the main waterfalls up close. You had to wait in line for your turn to have a look, I think I was there about 15 minutes till my turn came to go into a narrow passageway in the rock, which opened out to a cave with a great close-up view of the waterfall going into a pool then down again.
I walked for quite a while, past another large waterfall, then back down again, and drove back towards Banff. Just out of Banff are the Vermilion Lakes, and I drove down a little road that wound alongside the lakes, looking for somewhere to park. I found a spot, and walked along the road for half an hour or so, taking photos, and enjoying the reflections of the mountains in the lakes.
On the way back to the campsite I stopped at the Hoodoos Lookout, overlooking a kind of lumpy mountain which I think must have been the Hoodoos, and what was probably the Bow River, surrounded by forest. I started the usual weekly Bible study Facebook video call from there at 6.30, and got dinner afterwards.
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