Wow, what a gorgeous day! It was a little chilly when we woke up, in the mid 30’s, but warmed up quite a bit throughout the day. We finally get outside of the town of Banff to explore the national park and went for a hike in Johnston Canyon. On our drive to the hike we encounter a small traffic jam on the road because of this majestic elk having his morning breakfast. He is not at all concerned with all the cars parked next to him.

Johnston Canyon is a popular hike in the park, and you definitely know it is going to be crowded when a tour bus pulls into the parking lot. Luckily most people just hike to the lower falls, which is about 1/2 a mile from the parking lot. Some venture on to the upper falls, a mile and half from the parking lot, and very few venture to the ink pots which are 3.5 miles from the parking lot. Brendan and I searching for solitude so we venture on to the ink pots, which are cold springs…and they are very cold! But in the winter they never freeze, which I thought was interesting.

The canyon has some beautiful waterfalls, one of my favorite things in the wilderness to photograph besides wildlife.