Johnston Canyon

Happy 4th of July!!

 (We are the only ones celebrating but my flag is out)

We started out to hike up Johnston Canyon off the Bow Valley Parkway.  We had barely left the village when we saw a mobile sign saying "Wildlife - Slow Down NOW".  We had seen these signs before but were surprised to see a park ranger parked just beyond the sign and a mother grizzly and her cub nearby.  We pulled over beyond and I was able to get a couple of pictures by zooming in.  The tiny cub was always close to its mother so it is hard to distinguish between the two.

We continued on and stopped at the area of the Internment Camp that we didn't see because of the bear a couple of days ago.  It was one of twenty-four internment camps in Canada for prisoners of war and German and Austrian alien enemies living in Canada during WWI.  Much of the road we were traveling on had been built by these internees.

Continuing on to Johnston Canyon, we were early enough to find a packing space.  The trail up the narrow canyon is paved.  At times there were catwalks bolted to the side of cliffs and suspended over the rushing water of Johnston Creek.  Not liking heights and having water roaring beneath me was not my idea of a great time but the scenery made up for it.  There are seven waterfalls in all with a 10 meter falls after a half mile and a 30 meter (about a hundred feet) falls another mile after that.

Before we got to the first falls, we had stopped at an interpretive sign and a gentleman with a British accent said that the signs weren't really for information but a good excuse to rest.  I laughed as I often stop to let people pass me letting them think how polite I am when really it is a good excuse to rest.  We saw this couple several times along the way chatting briefly.

The lower falls had a walkway across the water that led to a tunnel which you could walk through to stand beside the falls feeling the spray in your face.  There was a log jam at the base of the falls between the falls and the bridge.  We took our photos and continued on.

The second big falls were in a deep canyon with smooth sides and caves in the side.  The walkway in front of these falls was wet from the mist of the falls.  We got wet just trying to take pictures but it felt good after the hot climb.

While Ted climbed to the top of the falls for more photos, I sat on a bench and chatted some more with our British friends.  They are from the Lakes District of England about an hour south of Scotland and had spent a lot of time in their caravan (RV) traveling around Europe when their children were young.  They are now in their seventies and travel by air, car and cruise ship.

We returned to the motorhome mid-afternoon and Ted did some repair work on my kayak gasket while I caught up on the blog and made a big chicken salad for lunches, and lasagne and garlic bread for dinner before a quiet evening of reading.