It was already 10:00am when I woke up. I was still tired from last night's mess. Although I wanted to take a shower, I was too itchy to go out and see the Banff National Park.

It was only a mile walk from the hotel to the Banff's citycenter. The main street was filled with tourist attractions: hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants, etc. Yes, it was a tourist town. But this town has the atmospher of (rich) resort. I leisurely walked up and down the main street; shopped guidebooks about Banff and trails; had lunch in a locally owned cafe; and checked out tourist information in a tourist center. I took a bus tour to Lake Louise for my activity of the afternoon.

Johnston Canyon (1 mile RT to lower fall, 3 miles RT to upper fall): The first (and only) stop of the bus tour was at the Johnston Canyon, where a blue stream of river cut through a limestone rocks. A pleasant trail along the creek lead me to the lower fall, which looked more like a rapid through a very narrow canyon. The creek and the water was very beautiful. If someone wants to see more spectacular fall, walk up to the upper fall. I heard it was more beautiful than the lower one.

On the way to the Lake Louise, the tour bus made another photo-shoot stop for Castle Mountains. It was a nice and interesting looking mountain. But all along the highway, there were beautiful mountains and meadows. It was all apparent that I needed to drive myself and to stop at wherever I wanted to explore.

The highway climbs about 500 feet going from Banff to Lake Louise. This seemed very small altitude change, but it must be a big difference to glaciers. At Lake Louise, there was a glacier right at the other side of the lake. Almost picture perfect, I should say. The lake faces east, which made it difficult to take a good photo in the late afternoon. But I could imagine this place would be very beautiful in the morning. The Chateau was right at the Lake. It was the typical resort hotels; it was gorgeous, with a good restaurant, big, filled with flowers, and expensive. I took some shots inside the hotel. One section was closed for visitors, which seemed to be a photogenic place.

Since the rent-a-car was available only at noon, I decided to take some time exploring the town of Banff.

Watching Banff Spring Hotel and Bow Fall.

The complimentary breakfast was very good. I finished the breakfast around 9:30am, and then I strolled toward the city of Banff. I confirmed that getting a permit to the Lake O'Hara would be extremely difficult. They ran out of permit about 3 months before the hiking day. The Bow River runs through the city; I took the short walk to the Bow Fall. It was nearly flat and pleasant walk. It would be best for before breakfast or after dinner walk. The Bow Fall was, hmm, nice, since I did not expect anything spectacular. From the fall, I walked up to the Banff Spring Hotel, the king of the resort hotel in this area. I took a few photos of flowers. It was still one hour before the noon. But "what the heck", I asked if the car was ready. And sure yes, the car was ready. When I was behind the wheel, I felt I was in the right place. I needed a car to explore this park.

Peyto Lake from the viewpoint.

My first destination was the Peyto Lake, about 90 km from Banff. As Richard (met in Devils Tower NM) mentioned, this view was breathtaking. The lake was a strange star-shaped with painted-blue color. Together with the far-reaching view of the Mistaya Valley, the view would make a perfect photo. The viewpoint was filled with people. Thanks to only 0.2 km of trail, not enough to repel even the laziest tourists. I set up my tripod to keep others away from me, then started taking some photos. What could I do to take a better photo at such a perfect place? This is the place anybody can take a good photo.

I continued driving north on the Icefield Parkway. But after about 40 km of driving, I started to think "where am I going?" It was already late in the afternoon. I could not see or do anything extensive, and I would come back here for Wilcox trail in the subsequent days. So, I turned back. On the way back, I stopped at several lakes along the highway. One of them was Bow lake. The third large lake located right next to the highway. It also faces 2 large glaciers. Moraine Lake was another beautiful lake I saw today. There was a stockpile of rocks right at the end of the lake, which made the great photo-shooting place. Back picture of Canadian 20 dollar bill used to had the photo taken from here. While I was taking great photos, a squirrel came to me. I ignored him for a while. Then, he jumped onto my jeans. Not just once, several times. That squirrel was too human-friendly. I was afraid that he would not survive for long.

Bow Lake.

Looking at Mt. Rundle from Vermilion Lake. The lake had little water after a near-drought summer season.

View of the town of Banff from the Gondola to Sulfur Mountain.