So today I figure I should write another hike post, and I'll do one of my most recent ones, which also happens to be quite an easy easy hike. These are nice for the spring months, where if you don't have access to winter hiking apparel, you can still do them, at least for the most part.
Today's hike is the Sundance Canyon hike that can also end up connecting with about 4-5 different hikes along the way. We had initially planned on doing the Marsh Loop trail, but decided we had more time, and wanted to do a longer hike than just 2-3 km. Sundance Canyon ended up being close to 8 km if I recall correctly.
The trail head is located at the entrance to the Cave and Basin in Banff, AB. You're going to start by walking down a paved trail, almost wide enough to allow commercial vehicles through. I'm telling you, it's super convenient, a great family hike, and there is hardly any elevation change. It will offer you beautiful mountain views, and at the right time of year, plenty of wildlife through birds, and fish, and maybe the occasional deer.
One of the most interesting parts about this hike, and if you know anything about the cave and basin, is it's a hot springs site, and so all along the hike, you're going to find green vegetation, and steaming water, every day of the year. When we went, it was still covered in snow, except for these little streams and pools of hot water. However, I don't recommend touching the water, as some endangered snails live there, and the oils from human hands can be extremely detrimental to their well-being, and can end up killing them. But, feel free to put your hands above the water to feel the heat rising and warm up your fingers if you happen to go in the chillier months.
We started going along the hike, and soon to your right, it opens up to a marsh land, full of birds, and there is a look out point to check out, with tons of fish swimming around. You are advised to keep your volume to minimum however, as loud noise will scare the animals away, and then you aren't able to fully enjoy the look-out.
After about 10-15 minutes of walking, you start getting into thicker trees, and the marsh view is left behind for huge spruce and cedar trees, mountain peeks, and rock faces. It's beautiful, and when we were there, we only ran into a couple of other hikers. I can see it being much more popular in the summer months however.
If you're interested in snowshoeing this hike is considered a good one for that, but I would recommend going in the earlier winter months for that then, as by the time we went the snow was packed in, and you didn't need anything but a decent pair of shoes to get through it.
It's not a loop hike, so you will eventually have to turn around to head back, but as we mentioned, there's something nice about getting to see the same things you saw on the way there, but from a different perspective. I found I actually enjoyed the view more heading back from our hike, than our way in, and that's saying something. Along the path there are other trail heads, for much longer hikes. We saw one for at least 32km hike which also connected to another path, and then on the opposite side of the path, we saw the trail head for Sulphur Mountain, or the Gondola. You can hike to it from there, and then take the Gondola down if you wish.
Just before turning around, we made it to the actual "Canyon" part of the Sundance Canyon hike, but unfortunately it was way too icy for us to conceivably hike down to see it. There's a short little wooden bridge you can take across a creak, then there's a huge rock face, and what I believe is a water fall, however it was completely socked in with ice, and we didn't bring cleats or anything appropriate to get down to the part of the trail, so we took pictures from where we could see, and turned around. I'm looking forward to doing this trail again, so we can continue going, and possibly take some more of the trail heads that we saw along the way.
All in all, it was a beautiful hike, extremely easy (We walked behind a family with kids no older than 10 for a decent amount of time) but totally worth it. THEN, when you're done, you can go look at the historical Cave and Basin, the site of the original hot springs pool in Banff, where two men saw steam coming from the ground and decided to investigate. What they found was a steaming natural pool of hot water, slightly smelling like sulphur, in a cave. It's really quite amazing, and I recommend anyone to check it out. The entrance fee the last time I was there was 9.00 dollars and totally worth it. They have an area inside that usually has some sort of interactive learning site. I've seen native american artefacts with people talking about them and their significance on our history. The last time we were there, they were curling. LOL. So....they have tons of things to keep younger ones entertained as well.
Another great way to end the day of course, is going to the Upper Hot Springs, the now active pool for the town, and soaking in those healing hot waters. Don't be surprised if it's a little smelly at the time, that's just the sulphur, which means it's got the natural waters flowing.
Today's hike is the Sundance Canyon hike that can also end up connecting with about 4-5 different hikes along the way. We had initially planned on doing the Marsh Loop trail, but decided we had more time, and wanted to do a longer hike than just 2-3 km. Sundance Canyon ended up being close to 8 km if I recall correctly.
The trail head is located at the entrance to the Cave and Basin in Banff, AB. You're going to start by walking down a paved trail, almost wide enough to allow commercial vehicles through. I'm telling you, it's super convenient, a great family hike, and there is hardly any elevation change. It will offer you beautiful mountain views, and at the right time of year, plenty of wildlife through birds, and fish, and maybe the occasional deer.
One of the most interesting parts about this hike, and if you know anything about the cave and basin, is it's a hot springs site, and so all along the hike, you're going to find green vegetation, and steaming water, every day of the year. When we went, it was still covered in snow, except for these little streams and pools of hot water. However, I don't recommend touching the water, as some endangered snails live there, and the oils from human hands can be extremely detrimental to their well-being, and can end up killing them. But, feel free to put your hands above the water to feel the heat rising and warm up your fingers if you happen to go in the chillier months.
We started going along the hike, and soon to your right, it opens up to a marsh land, full of birds, and there is a look out point to check out, with tons of fish swimming around. You are advised to keep your volume to minimum however, as loud noise will scare the animals away, and then you aren't able to fully enjoy the look-out.
After about 10-15 minutes of walking, you start getting into thicker trees, and the marsh view is left behind for huge spruce and cedar trees, mountain peeks, and rock faces. It's beautiful, and when we were there, we only ran into a couple of other hikers. I can see it being much more popular in the summer months however.
If you're interested in snowshoeing this hike is considered a good one for that, but I would recommend going in the earlier winter months for that then, as by the time we went the snow was packed in, and you didn't need anything but a decent pair of shoes to get through it.
It's not a loop hike, so you will eventually have to turn around to head back, but as we mentioned, there's something nice about getting to see the same things you saw on the way there, but from a different perspective. I found I actually enjoyed the view more heading back from our hike, than our way in, and that's saying something. Along the path there are other trail heads, for much longer hikes. We saw one for at least 32km hike which also connected to another path, and then on the opposite side of the path, we saw the trail head for Sulphur Mountain, or the Gondola. You can hike to it from there, and then take the Gondola down if you wish.
Just before turning around, we made it to the actual "Canyon" part of the Sundance Canyon hike, but unfortunately it was way too icy for us to conceivably hike down to see it. There's a short little wooden bridge you can take across a creak, then there's a huge rock face, and what I believe is a water fall, however it was completely socked in with ice, and we didn't bring cleats or anything appropriate to get down to the part of the trail, so we took pictures from where we could see, and turned around. I'm looking forward to doing this trail again, so we can continue going, and possibly take some more of the trail heads that we saw along the way.
All in all, it was a beautiful hike, extremely easy (We walked behind a family with kids no older than 10 for a decent amount of time) but totally worth it. THEN, when you're done, you can go look at the historical Cave and Basin, the site of the original hot springs pool in Banff, where two men saw steam coming from the ground and decided to investigate. What they found was a steaming natural pool of hot water, slightly smelling like sulphur, in a cave. It's really quite amazing, and I recommend anyone to check it out. The entrance fee the last time I was there was 9.00 dollars and totally worth it. They have an area inside that usually has some sort of interactive learning site. I've seen native american artefacts with people talking about them and their significance on our history. The last time we were there, they were curling. LOL. So....they have tons of things to keep younger ones entertained as well.
Another great way to end the day of course, is going to the Upper Hot Springs, the now active pool for the town, and soaking in those healing hot waters. Don't be surprised if it's a little smelly at the time, that's just the sulphur, which means it's got the natural waters flowing.
*One of the many hot streams of water you'll see.*
*Trail that the horse drawn sleighs will bring people down*
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