Sulphur Mountain & Johnston Canyon

We found out last night, that on Tuesday this coming week it’s going to get to -14 degrees in Jasper. That’s just too cold. Far too cold. We’d definitely freeze. So Amelia sensibly booked a hostel for 2 nights to see out the freezing temperatures... Back to today, we were up early and ready for Sulphur Mountain. On a blog it says it’s about 5.5 hours in total, whereas on the trailhead sign it says 5.5 hours one way. Very conflicting. We headed up anyway and with Amelia ‘mountain goat’ Kirk leading the way we were making excellent time. We then met ice. A lot of ice covering the path with a very steep drop to one side. After debating whether to turn around we gingerly made it through the treacherous pass and to the summit. There is also a gondola that ferries the lazy ones straight to the top, which arrives at a rather swanky 4 storey coffee shop/gift shop/restaurant/learning centre with rooftop for panoramic views. These views are ridiculously stunning. It was a pretty hazy day but even with the cloud cover you can see for miles, across Banff to The Canadian Rockies and beyond. Very much recommended. 

After warming up with a couple of hot chocolates in said swanky building we, also gingerly, began our descent. Amelia picked up a crooked walking stick which I initially derided as ‘looking silly’ but as I witnessed her expertly traversing the icy path I began to change my tune, and when she found an appropriate staff for me to use I was converted to the use of a walking stick completely. It really did help a huge amount on the way down, and we got a number of jealous compliments from fellow hikers. A good choice all round. 

After jumping back in Kevin we had a very important job: Bear spray. Amelia insisted upon going into the centre of Canmore, to a street with impossible parking, to purchase some bear spray and a bear whistle. After parking illegally (she encourages breaking some rules) she jumped out and, to her delight, the hardware store had some in stock. It’s basically souped up pepper spray so she had to sign a waiver to not use it in humans, I better not be out of line...

After this was a short drive to Johnston Canyon and the first outing for the bear bell. It was not needed. It was possibly the busiest, most touristy part of our trip thus far, so very much not necessary. It did, however, have the upside of parting pedestrian traffic in front of us. Johnston Canyon itself is beautiful. It’s surprising, not at all what I personally expected but delightful. You follow a path around the inside of the canyon leading to two sets of waterfalls. You have to wait for other tourists to decide on how to use their cameras for about 12 minutes each, so I can imagine in summer it’s pretty annoying to actually visit. I was very surprised that my fear of heights didn’t rear its head at times, as it does get slightly high on a rather thin path, bolted to the side of the canyon. 

The bear bell did get some comments from a group of youths comparing it to a reindeer etc, but we didn’t see a bear so I guess it did it’s job (not due to the hundreds of other people walking around at all...).

The campground tonight is back at Lake Louise ready for our venture North up the icefields parkway, earplugs in, ready for the train traffic.