The Rocky Mountains

First off in the Rockies was a small town called Banff. It was home to the best hostel we stayed in during the whole trip. The shower cabins looked like saunas, everything was so well maintained, and the view out the windows, no matter what side of the building was breathtaking.

Obviously the views were far better outside the hostel though. There are enough paths and walks around the surrounding mountains to last a lifetime. We choose an easy walk alongside the Bow River to the Bow Falls. Somehow we managed to lose the path and ended up clambering over rocks to see the falls, however that was far better than the concrete paths and stairs on the other side.

Banff also hosts a natural Hot Springs pool. We walked for ages, the air was crisp and cold, we weren't dressed properly because we didn't bring clothes for walking or cold weather, but when we arrived at the hot springs, people were sitting outside the pool in swimsuits.

It's so incredible, sitting in water at a natural temperature of 39 degrees surrounded by such awesome scenery, there was steam coming off the pool, which you can almost see in the photo.

The Bow Falls

Banff Hot Springs

Just an hour north of Banff is an even smaller village called Lake Louise. We stayed there for a night, doing the excellent walk up to Lake Louise. The Lake was beautiful, it was a bizarre bright green colour, which is entirely natural. It's caused by the type of sand in the water reflecting only that green aqua colour light. It looks like a Caribbean lagoon, as if it should be warm.

There were millions of Chipmunks running around and some Pika too. Pika are a small Canadian rodent (really cute too, but too fast for photos).

There's a mountain tearoom up at Lake Agnes which is quite a walk above Lake Louise, but we decided to go for it as the day was brightening up. The tearoom was nice, but the hot chocolate was no match for the freezing wind. So we quickly got on our way up the Big BeeHive peak. The walk took us round Lake Agnes, which was also green coloured and zig-zagged up a near vertical side of the mountain.

We made it to the top of the 7398ft mountain and the view was breathtaking. We took more photos there than anywhere else on the trip.

The Goat Creek Trail

Our time in the Rockies was far too short, but we crammed in an evenings mountain biking along the 18Km Goat Creek Trail. It ran through a valley, providing us with some incredible views.

The Goat Creek Trail