Day 14, 03/08/2016 Banff - cloudy, rain

Today we slept in and got up around nine o'clock. It had cooled down a lot during the night, it felt like it was about 6-8 degrees celsius. So we turned on the heater. We didn't have an electrical connection, but there was still enough power in the RV battery. Anne made breakfast and then we sat at the table in the RV and looked outside. Today, for the first time, there was no sun, it was cloudy and foggy. But that also had its charm in the forest. We planned the day and decided to first visit Lake Two-Jack and Lake Minnewanka, and then go to Banff for sightseeing. As we sat at breakfast, Marie suddenly called out 'look, a deer' and sure enough, about 5 meters from our RV, a herd of elk, a bull and several cows, were grazing calmly and were not bothered by us. It was an impressive sight, in the middle of nature. I thought the RV was already worth it. You wouldn't see something like this in a hotel.

The herd then slowly continued through the forest. After breakfast, we packed everything safely and checked out of the campground. We drove a short distance to the parking lot of Two Jack Lake and walked to the shore. Here we spotted a marmot, a chipmunk (which fascinated the children a lot and many photos were taken) and many Asian tourists, which took away a bit of the romance of this landscape. But still, it was a beautiful lake surrounded by towering mountains, which were partly hidden by clouds. Then we drove about 10 minutes further to Lake Minnewanka. This is the longest lake in Banff National Park, about 20 km long. We were not alone here either. So we walked a section of the Lake Minnewanka Trail, in light drizzle. The further we went, the more isolated it became. Most tourists really only drive to the parking lot of the lake, take a selfie photo and then continue on. On the trail, we saw plenty of chipmunks hopping around without being afraid of us.

As the weather worsened, we went back to the parking lot and drove to Banff. It is a nice little town, nestled in the Rocky Mountains in the national park of the same name. The main source of income seems to be tourism. In any case, Banff was swarming with tourists. Since the weather wasn't so good, we wanted to join in. This was the first time the size of the RV became noticeable. We couldn't find a parking space. So we had to search for a long time until we found a suitable parking space outside of Banff, at the Banff Curling Club. Luckily, it was only a short 15-minute walk to the town. Here there were many shops, restaurants, cafes, ... Many houses were nice to look at, well-maintained and restored from the last century. We also passed the time and bought some things (including bear spray, which was practically forced upon us by the friendly vendor). In the afternoon, the weather improved. After a break at a cafe, we found our campground for today, 'Tunnel Mountain 1'. It is beautifully located on the Bow River, in the forest. This one was also fully booked, but luckily we had reserved in advance.

As we drove to the campground, I saw a beautiful canyon on the right side that I wanted to take a closer look at. After we were on our booked site, Anne and I walked back there. It turned out that a very nice trail had been built there, leading to the Hoodoos, with an incredibly beautiful view over the wide valley of the Bow River. We walked along this trail for a while and enjoyed the view. We didn't see any bears, but we saw many squirrels. In the evening, we returned to the RV and the children and cooked 'Papa Noodles'.

Compared to the previous campground, this one was very crowded and the sites were quite close together. But there were clean showers, which we also used. The weather was nice in the evening and it looked like the next day would be nice again.