Hey steemies!
This is a continuation to my Banff trip (gawd I'm slow eh!! lol) I left it off in the last one when we got into the gondola, now time for the walk and what to expect. At arrival, we got off into the trinket shop, go figure...SELL SELL SELL, the motto of tourist traps! 😄 Of course I laugh now but that's actually one of the features that annoys me the most in highly touristic venues when I'm simply looking for information about the history of certain features, everyone trying to sell me things I have no interests in. Once you get out of the trinket shop, there is a viewing platform where you can walk almost the full 360 of the building (except the small portion where the cable cars go in and out) and get a view of all the lower mountain ranges. If it's your lucky day, wildlife can be spotted. In the summer there is a small trail on the backside that will take you to a more natural setting and a great view below. We didn't do it on this day because it was full of snow but certainly indulged the first time we took the trip up.
Shot 1/320 sec. f/9 34 mm, ISO 100
The image above was taken from the back of the observation deck, probably not the most popular selfie spot but spectacular view of the valley and mountain range nonetheless. For that perfect selfie, the front of the observation deck is the favored spot, overlooking the town of Banff, Lake Minnewanka (which appears to be frozen solid in the month of April), Mount Rundle and all it's other glorious snowy peaks and valleys from what seems to be the heavens! Beware of photo bombers, it get really busy in mid afternoon, you better be quick with that selfie if you find yourself alone for a moment!
Picture taken by 
Is that it? all we went up for? The perfect selfie? Of course not!!! In 1903, an observatory that became a weather station was built on Sanson Peak of Sulfur Mountain, named after Norman Sanson, the meteorologist who monitored the readings at this altitude station who would have hiked there countless times to obtain his data. Back in his day, it would have been a much different experience when the area was completely natural. Today, a 600 meter boardwalk lines the dangerous mountain side for the safety of visitors and ease of access to Sanson Peak and the famous observatory landmark. The observatory is still standing and preserved in it's historical conditions for us all to enjoy if you are willing to retrace Mr. Sanson's footsteps.
The boardwalk has several resting areas and benches to enjoy the surrounding beauty at various intervals. No need to be an expert climber, just enjoy the view and the walk as fast or as slow as you wish. It has several small stair cases to get thru the altitude gains and equipped with handrails the whole way so if you are bringing small children, no need to worry about their safety as long as they stay within the barriers. At these altitudes, there is still a variety of wildlife to be spotted if you keep an eye open. Animals that can be typically found are the big furry Mountain Goats (not to be confused with the Ram aka Mountain Sheep, many get confused between the two), Marmots, small chipmunks and various birds like Grey Jay's, Eagles, Hawks and large Ravens. I keep hoping to see the large long haired goats every time I have gone but unfortunately not yet and it would be no different on this day...They must be laughing at me or something because I always run into guests that have seen them right before I passed!
After taking our selfies, it was time to hit the boardwalk and enjoy the view along the way. Given we went mid afternoon at peak times, it was pretty crowded, luckily the boardwalk is large enough to accommodate everyone. Naturally at every viewing point, we had to stop and admire the landscape, taking as many pictures as we could to immortalize our memories, not that we could ever forget such a dreamy landscape. The picture above was taken looking in the direction of Lake Louise, the small road you see, it's the highway we take back to our accommodations near Castle Mountain. It looks so tiny and nothing more than a little trail from over 7 000 feet!
Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 31 mm, ISO 110
At first, the tree line blocks the view towards the gondola landing platform but as we gained elevation, the landscape started to reveal the mountain range behind the restaurant. Can you just imagine going out to eat and that's the view outside your window during a special romantic dinner! (As mentioned in my prior post, you do have to book a seat in advance to eat there) One of Banff's popular recreational area is the famous Mount Rundle, up until now it was hidden behind the trees but it too started to reveal it's high altitude snowy beauty...Looks much different above and you really get a sense of it's gigantic size compared to viewing it from the bottom at the Vermilion Lakes.
Shot 1/320 sec. f/9 18 mm, ISO 100
We carefully selected today as the day to be on the mountain top because it was the day with the best conditions for the weekend, we didn't want to spend a bunch to go see the whiteout from the day before. As much as we wanted to hike all the way to Ink Pots at Johnston Canyon earlier, I'm glad we saved time to do this as a priority after all. It was colder than on the ground but dressed appropriately it was perfect. We took our sweet time taking this walk since it's not an activity we do very often but it really doesn't take long at all to do. Seems more intimidating than it actually is. Once we reached the last viewing platform before the weather station, we found a sign that illustrates all of the valleys and mountain names we can see on the walk, it becomes helpful for me to make these posts. I don't always remember all the names, there is a lot to remember! I tried to take a picture for you so you could understand the topography and get oriented but it didn't quite turn out into anything legible so I guess you are just going to have to go see it for yourself one day!
Shot 1/320 sec. f/9 46 mm, ISO 100
At last, we made it to the old weather/observatory station! All the lichens growing around it seems to bring a rather boring picture to life! Once at the station, there is just a tiny bit more to climb and there we found the best 360 view of the day, once again, it gets really crowded on an even tinier platform so patience is a virtue. If you take the time to go up the gondola, don't miss out on the boardwalk hike it's amazing up there. Sanson Peak isn't the true summit of Sulfur Mountain but the easiest to access. The return trip was un-eventful, it was more of the same as the way up except towards the end we saw a Grey Jay stealing food from the guests, he stopped moving just long enough for me to snap a quick shot but he definitely made me work for it after several attempts, they are known for being a very active bird that doesn't stay put for very long.
Shot 1/1000 sec. f/6.3 200 mm, ISO 500
Chateau Fairmont Banff Hotel
View of Cascade Mountain and the resort town of Banff.
I originally posted this to my weku, since it's steemit's turn to get the second posting, here is a few additional pictures as a bonus! I try to split the original posting half here and half there to be fair to both platforms from here on out. If you are unfamiliar with weku, it's a new platform that runs from the steem blockchain that is similar in design. It's still very young and flawed but we'll see what comes of it I guess, If it helps me get more exposure then why not try! Some steemians have migrated over there to seek refuge during the great steemit crash of HF20! Some days it makes me wanna bang my head against the wall with all the spam and plagiarism but they are trying to clean up the streets.
All images taken with Nikon D7000 and Sigma 18-200 lens.
Here is the first part of the post with instructions as to how to make it to the top of the mountain:
https://steemit.com/travel/@ladybug146/canadian-rockies-gondola-in-the-town-of-banff
Cheers my friends! X🐞X