Mickey had promised to take us on his favourite hike today - the Cory Pass Trail. He knew Jill's discomfort at steep down hill paths but assured us that this walk was perfect. It was a round trip, steep going up but a longer and gentler return loop. Micky's good friend Gaye joined us and we set out in shorts and t-shirts on a glorious sunny day. The trail head car park was only a short drive out of Banff and we were soon climbing briskly up through trees. We s...

Today was effectively a rest day from hikes for us. We had wanted to thank Ruth for her generosity in letting us use her condo so we'd agreed to take her out to lunch in Calgary where she had her main home. Calgary is 100km south east of Canmore but with a good main highway so only took a little over an hour of uneventful driving. Calgary had been a Winter Olympics venue and we saw the ski jump area to our right on the way into the city. Fortunately Ruth's apa...

Tuesday saw a lovely sunny day and us setting out on our own for a 11.5km hike up Johnston Canyon Trail to see the waterfalls and on to the Inkpots. We knew this would be a popular spot, particularly the Lower Falls but we were a little bit unprepared for the crowded car park where cars spilled out onto the grass verges for quite a distance. The path is exceptionally well maintained and includes stretches of 'catwalk' that take you close to the falls along the cl...

Following a suggestion from his old school friend Bill Mullaney, Dave had contacted Micky, a walking friend Bill had met in Spain who lived in Banff and a walk was planned for Monday on the Bourgeau Lake Trail. We actually walked beyond Bourgeau Lake to Harvey Pass some of the way to the summit of Mt Bourgeau. This was about 20km, with a climb of approaching 1000m - quite a hike! The day started with coffee at Micky's house where we met brothers Luke and Gent, t...

After our lazy day, Sunday turned out to the the first of many quite strenuous hikes, although not entirely by design! We had spotted a relatively modest hike along the Watridge Lake and Karst Trails. The most arduous part of the day looked to be a long drive up the gravel mountain road in our hire car with huge 4x4s zooming past and leaving us in thick dust clouds. Spray Lake Reservoir was a typical bright blue colour - all the lakes have tones of blue and turqu...