Day 5 - Johnston Canyon & 'Ink Pots' - 06/08/13

After a first nights sleep on our surprisingly comfy sofa bed, we awoke - freezing cold - at our first campground at Spring Creek, Canmore. With the sun now in the sky, we were greeted to our first glimpse of our surroundings - blue skies, rivers, and mountains in every direction. Our plot was situated next to a creek and quite secluded.

Next door to us was a family from Idaho who introduced themselves to us after Becky was caught petting their dogs.

Our first excursion of our holiday was to Johnston Canyon, near to the town of Banff and about 20 minutes drive away. This drive was a lot less scary in the light of day! The canyon followed a mountain river upstream passed several waterfalls, and often along walkways that jutted from the canyon side. The river, much like the Bow River in Calgary was a vivid cerulean blue, apparently caused by the infusion of minerals as the water bubbled up from underground springs.

The walk consisted of following the Johnston Creek Trail,  luckily we fetched our trusty pedometer with us and managed to take a few stats along the way:

STEPS: 5426
TIME: 01:46
DISTANCE: 2.71km/2.16mi

Having made it this far we decided  to  press ahead to the Ink Pots at the top of the canyon heading through deep forest into bear country,  and of course here are the stats.

STEPS: 10592
TIME: 03:03
DISTANCE: 5.29km/4.3mi

Upon reaching the top, the forest opened up to a vast open space, with the river that flows into the canyon below, and surrounded by deep, clear blue springs known as the Ink Pots. These were cold water springs, though they did occasionally bubble as gas was released from beneath the pool bed. We spent a while here taking photos and enjoying the view before the sound of thunder prompted us to hurriedly make our way back down the way we came. Final stats:

STEPS: 21316
TIME: 5.23hrs
DISTANCE: 10.63km/8.3mi
TOTAL CLIMB: 1100ft

After our first hike, we returned to the campgrounds and treated ourselves to beans on toast and an impressively sized chocolate muffin (that proved too much for Becky's belly).