Beautiful Banff, with its location in the Bow River Valley it is surrounded by rugged Mountains, with their towering peaks reaching for the sky. We have had temperatures of at least 30C for four days and the locals tells us it is unseasonally warm. In early August, there is very little snow, or ice on the peaks in stark contrast to the valley of green below them.We spent the morning strolling through downtown Banff, found the river with a beautiful park beside it and continued on the Bow River Falls track which follows the river east and is situated in a dry Montane forest of fir, cypress,spruce and wildflowers. The trees are providing welcome shade and have created a cooling breeze. On either side of the river, there are sheer cliff walls and on the opposite side are cyclists riding through forest and stopping to take photos and then continuing on their morning ride.
The river is a gorgeous emerald green colour, which flows from glacier water and it is wide at this point, approximately ten metres. The river is full and the water is fast and furious. There is one large set of falls, dropping about four metres and two other sets of falls , dropping approximately one metre each. In a space of approximately fifty metres there are numerous other smaller falls. The track has a timber and stone railing, which follows the falls and there are numerous high vantage points, until we reach the end of the drop-off and the river flows to a sandy beach and curves away out of sight.
On the sandy beach are kayaks and white water rafting boats, having negotiated the falls and waiting to be packed onto their trailer and taken back up to the start of their journey for their next adventurers to experience the exhilaration of the Bow River Falls and the intriguing "hoodoos"
Bow River bridge
The Fox Hotel, built from Rundle Rock, which is limestone and is mined locally from Rundle Mountain
The Caribou Lodge - where we stayed in Banff
The base of Bow River Falls
