Sunday 28th August: Banff -Lakes, Rivers and Hoodoos

We have settled into our new home, chef is very excited as the kitchen is very well kitted out. It's another dark room, they do like brown decor in these parts and trees covering the few windows !!
It is a beautiful sunny clear blue sky morning and stays that way all day.
We have decided to stay fairly local today, first stop, above pic, is Cascade Lake, not sure why it is called that as no cascading but a nice lake !) 

Next stop Lake Minnewanka (no comments please, we have done all of the jokes!)
This is a beautiful lake, it used to be much smaller but there have been 3 dams built over the years the last in 1941 despite local protests and now it is the biggest lake in Banff National Park.
We walked along the easy 1.5 km lakeside trail to Stewart Canyon, more a canal than a canyon

Another view of Minnewanka.
The old town with the building of the last dam is underwater at the bottom end of the lake. It is a big attraction to scuba divers, in fact many were in the water or at the side of the lake as we drove past that area on our way to the next stop

Two Jack Lake, sorry didn't find out why it is called this

We were hoping to see the hoodoos in Yoho National Park, but having read up on it since being here it might not be possible so we wanted to see these just in case. The view points are on a fairly easy walk up a steepish track, a good leg stretch.

The Hoodoos with the Bow River and Valley in the background

The beautiful blue of  Bow River.
The Bow River source is in the Columbia Icefield and it flows right down through Banff.
 While walking up to view the hoodoos we spy a great spot to have our lunchtime sandwich and although it means walking back to the car and back up again it is well worth the effort. There is a bench seat in the most peaceful spot with this fantastic view, the sun was shinning what more can you need.  It was the best sandwich spot so far on this trip.

The thin "strips" of different shaped hoodoos

This and next 4 photos are of Banff. It's slightly bigger than Jasper and certainly seems to have more tourists.
It is very hot temps in high 20's a good excuse for a Cows Ice Cream, the number one in Canada, it was indeed very very yummy

We've had another wonderful day..........