Surprise point and Bow falls trail - Banff National Park

The previous post on this series is here..

After dinner, we drove to the surprise point outlook and took a walk. You get a beautiful view of the historic Fairmont Hotel while hearing the roaring sound of the water going between the view point and the hotel.

we had purple skies!

It was us and another asian couple there at the vista point. We were happy to see someone else there as they were! we took photos for each other and off we went to the Bow falls trail. 

This is an amazing trail. Well maintained, just gorgeous attention to detail.. 

then there is the falls.. it is wide and the water flow is something to see! The setting sun (at 10PM) made for interesting hues. By the time we went up the trail and took the photo on the bench (at the top of this post) and got back down, the rest of the folks were gone. We had spent an hour and a half here without realizing it. The walk was not tiring and we were smiling from ear to ear! This place was just beautiful and fresh and inspiring! 

It started getting a little chilly at that point and we decided we had spent good time here. We got back to the hotel and it was still bright out. The sunlight finally went down at 10:30 PM and I could make out the light through the shades even at 11! We had to get some sleep as there was a long full day planned for Saturday. Banff is one hour ahead in time compared to California, so it was still early for us to sleep, but we closed all the blinds (reminded us of Alaska!) and got some shut eye!

This video shows you bow falls and the beautiful trail..

Had I known it was going to be this pretty, would have rushed to the hotel to grab the SLR as well.. after this, had the SLR on me throught the rest of the trip!

If you visit Banff, check sunset timings and dress accordingly to see bow falls at sunset time or golden hour.. just breathtaking!

Not to be missed!

A weekend in the Canadian Rockies

We went...

scratch that.. 

My wife took me along,

on a wonderful weekend trip to the Canadian Rockies. She was sick and tired of not being able to go on a vacation. She had tried everything to beg the kids to come so all four of us could go somewhere for a few days, to no avail. Finally she snapped and said "We are going somewhere for two days. You give a choice from this list!". That was it. I picked Banff National park based on photos we had seen from friends and family who had visited from 4 years ago!

It was a last minute plan. We could not find cheap tickets for 4th of July weekend but found decent ones for last weekend. So took Friday and Monday off, flew into Calgary Friday, rented a car and drove to Banff. Monday afternoon to evening was the return back to SFO. We got a night , two full days and a morning to spend. 

San did everything. All I had to do was go with the flow and walk as fast as I could when prodded. 

Home to hotel was 7 1/2 hours! We were treated to amazing views on the drive there and I got to take a few photos and videos while she drove around exits that came rather abruptly while simultaneously getting used to speed limits in kmph! 

A few photos from the drive.

 

It kept reminding us of our trip to Swiss Alps.. the only thing missing was the cows and their bells! and the cottages with the spires in the middle of the fields!

This was a great Ad we saw on the way! 

As soon as we checked into the hotel, we went to find dinner. As usual, when I am hungry or worse case Hangry, we get to eat at an Indian restaurant. There were three options in the town of Banff all within a few minutes drive. The first two were full or had some server attitude problems. The third one was the charm. 

After the dinner, the owner told us that sunset was post 10PM and we have a good two hours left. He suggested that we hike up to see "surprise point" and then come back down and do the "bow falls" trail.  This was going to be a good 3+ miles of hiking after a travel day but we were up for it. The heavy food had to be put to use.. so off we went..

Here is a video of the beautiful drive to Banff!

The post on Bow falls and a separate restaurant review to follow..

ps. It is unlike me to wait for days to post things after a trip like this, but sadly got sick a day after getting back. Just recovering today. Till yesterday the headache would not allow me to stare at a screen at all.. keeping this blog short.. to be continued.. 

It is good to be back on the keyboard and sift though photos and videos. Right now 30 minutes seems to be the limit for staring at a screen before the eyes start watering!