The Rocky Mountains located in North America stretch more than 4800 km North to South the continent from Northern British Columbia to New Mexico. It occupies 2 Canadian provinces and 6 American states.
In the 1800's the natives of the area were of great help to European traders and explorers who were not familiar with the place. They helped them giving knowledge of ancient routes to traders and explorers who were hired by fur companies to find routes to the Pacific Ocean.
Fur trade used to be one of the largest commercial activities in these territories.
- SULPHUR MOUNTAIN
Situated in Banff's National Park territory Sulphur Mountain is one of the top places to visit while in the area.
This place is not only very beautiful but very rich in history since it has been used for more than one scientific purposes that we will mention later on.
On the site you can ride a Gondola that will take you to the highest point of the eastern slope.
There you will find a restaurant, a gift shop many observation decks and even a little museum with all of this precious place's history.
Once up and high you can get into the woods and wander, you can take the boardwalk to Sanson's peak, wich was named after Norman Sanson the most famous curator of the Banff Park Museum.
This peak has been home to two research facilities.
In 1903 it was used as a meteorological observatory where Norman Sanson led his investigations for over 32 years. Weather reports warned of major snowfalls, fires, droughts and floods and helped farmers decide when to plant or harvest. The small house is still there and you can even peek at what it looks like from the inside to have an idea of what it was back then.
Also in 1956 The National Research Council built a lab on this peak to study cosmic rays one of the six existed in Canada. This station remained operating until late 70's and was later removed in 1981.
The best thing about this place is the self-teaching you can do while walking back and fort the route on the mountain and of course the breathtaking views. A must go visit!!