First thing, we headed to inspect some of the nearby trials around the campgrounds. Unfortunately these we closed due to bears that we were warned about on arrival. A warning poster showed that the affected area was specifically in the area opposite our particular plot!
We then returned to Canmore for one of the main planned highlights of our holiday - a helicopter tour of the Rockies. After a few wrong turns, we eventually arrived at the heliport on the outskirts of town just in time for our initiation.
Our booking was a private charter tour, so it was just us and the pilot. Jamie rode in the front for the first half of the journey, and Becky for the second. The first leg took us passed many of the mountains that we'd seen in our time at Spring Creek - the 'Three Sisters'. We flew very close over some small, but impressive glaciers and eventually landed at our halfway point - a secluded area high in the mountains called Marvel Lake.
We were allowed to have a wander here for half an hour, so we decided to walk down to the lake to get some photos, whilst getting off the helicopter we spotted today's first new local wildlife - a 'prairie dog'! We carried the ridge along down to the lakeside where we were greeted with a great view, but also lots of midges and horse flies that seemed intent on eating Jamie alive.
Just as we started to head back, there was a lightning flash directly overhead, immediately followed by a deafening cracking of thunder. We've found thunderstorms are virtually a daily event in the afternoons here, but they're rarely accompanied by much rain and don't last particularly long. Still, we found our way back to the helicopter, and the pilot was kind enough to take some photos of us both. After using up the rest of our time to explore another nearby ridge, we re-boarded the helicopter for our return flight around Mt. Assiniboine, which is one of the highest mountains in the Rockies. This also marked our first, brief venture into British Colombia.
We returned to Canmore to land and then made our way to our next adventure - the local launderette! After a quick look around the town of Canmore, which we'd neglected to do during our stay, we headed back to Banff to revisit the same restaurant we'd eaten at before! On our return to our camper we received our latest souvenir - a $55 parking fine for 'parking opposite to the flow of traffic'. Oops.
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