Sad to say that the second day of our road trip was pretty much a write-off because we spent a majority of the time on the road. We traveled from Kamloops all the way to Edgewater, with pit stops in Salmon Arm, Revelstoke, and Golden. And with road construction going on just outside of Golden, we were pretty delayed in getting to our cabin.
The following day was when all the sightseeing really began! After breakfast, we drove over to Johnston Canyon located within Banff National Park.
Johnston Canyon is perfect for us because the trail to the Lower Falls is a short, easy hike to see the waterfall. With not much time to linger, the approximately 30 minute hike gave us an opportunity to walk along Johnston Creek and breathe in fresh, crisp Rocky Mountain air.
With narrow man-made bridges and platforms hugging part of the canyon cliffs, the walk was indeed easy. However, because it had been raining, some parts of the trails were quite muddy and full of puddles...but that's what you expect when you're surrounded by natural landscapes!
Once we've reached the end of the Lower Falls trail, we saw the waterfall spilling into the emerald green pool below. There was even a little path to go into a tiny cave, then go through a small hole to get an even closer view of the waterfall! Literally, the spray from the waterfall got me soaking wet from just standing there!
*Warning!!! Graphic photo below!!*
As we were making our way up to see the Lower Fall waterfall, we saw a fox grabbing a meal for his (her?) babies!! We were so lucky to actually see wildlife in action! The fox was just climbing along the cliffs with a rabbit's leg in his mouth and within a crack of the canyon wall, we saw the heads of a couple of his pups peaking out! It was a little gruesome but amazing at the same time.
I would have liked to hike up to the Upper Falls (which was an additional 30-40 minutes) but because of our time constraints, we had to head to our next location.
After leaving Johnston Canyon, we made our way east to the resort town of Banff. We stopped for a quick lunch and by early afternoon, the sky cleared up just enough for us to see the famed peaks from the main street.
With some time to spare before dinner, we took a short drive to Bow Falls, situated on the Bow River.
It started to get cloudy and rainy again, but from certain angles and viewpoints, the colour of the water was a beautiful milky emerald green!! I love that colour!!
Our stay at Bow Falls was short but sweet. Next up was dinner at Tony Roma's. Of all places, why Tony Roma's?!?! Because all the Tony Roma's restaurants closed down in BC!!! When we saw it on the corner of Caribou and Banff Avenue, we unanimously agreed that this was the place for dinner! For most of us, it was a chance to re-live the memories and flavours of their famous ribs. For W and my niece, it was their first experience at a Tony Roma's ever in their lifetime. What a great and meaningful meal LOL!
As we made our way back to Edgewater, we encountered some more wildlife! A whole herd of them, to be exact!
There was a herd of big horned sheep (ram) just casually grazing along a road in Radium Hot Springs. This part of town is known for its big horned sheep so it's not that unusual to see them here. But still, we were pretty wowed to see so many of them walking alongside our car!! Another "Rocky Mountain" ending to our day!!
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