Banff

Sunday, August 28

I picked a strenuous hike for Sunday – Auggie and I certainly got a workout!

We hiked up Sulphur Mountain, which started at 5,200 feet and ended at 7,484 feet – a total elevation gain of more than 2,200 feet. We are gonna feel the legs tomorrow! (After that horseback ride, what was I thinking???  J)

I don’t know how many switchbacks we covered, but it was a lot. It was a fairly popular trail with lots of people out on a Sunday, so we didn’t really have to worry too much about bears. (But I did have my bear spray with me. Can someone please make sure my dad knows I had it with me?)

The trail also crossed under the Sulphur Mountain gondola lines – cool to see those people ogling us down on the trail from their gondola cars. We waved, watched them ride by and reminded ourselves what a good workout we were getting.

We kept getting more and more beautiful views of Banff and the valleys. It really looks fake, it’s just that beautiful!

As energetically as he had started out, Auggie began to take a few breaks toward the top. I had lots of water for both of us and we had stopped every 20-30 mins for water. And then I realized: Auggie has never hiked at altitude before! He’s only ever been close to sea level where we live. He’s in great shape, but he was just sucking wind getting used to the altitude.

He did a great job! We made it to the top in good time and took a break to take in the view and have some snacks.

Auggie was hungry, but also very distracted by the large number of chipmunks that live up top on that mountain. They were cute. One was close, so I tossed it one of my cashews. He picked it right up and started nibbling.

Those chipmunks are clearly very used to humans, perhaps too comfortable for their own good. That silly little chipmunk finished my cashew and then started coming closer, wanting more. I grabbed Auggie’s collar to hold him back. I shushed my backpack toward the chipmunk to scoot it away, but it didn’t move away. It came closer! I warned that chipmunk that it was about to die – I was doing my best to hold back the dog, but Auggie had unbelievably brave/stupid prey right in front of him and was pulling hard. Then that chipmunk came right up to Auggie’s nose! I had to quickly ask someone to come scare it away because I wasn’t going to be able to hold Auggie back much longer. He’s a strong dog and he really wanted that chipmunk!

Whew – crisis averted, and the chipmunk went over to someone else looking for more food. But I held Auggie close the rest of the time we were up there – chipmunks were everywhere!

We did a little more walking up to the Cosmic Ray Station that was up on top of Sulphur Mountain. You really feel like you’re on top of the world up there!

(Yes, that’s Auggie looking away toward another chipmunk!)

And here’s yet another stare-off, which ended with Auggie barking at the chipmunk and me trying to pull him away from it. Good lord, dog, let’s go hike back down the mountain. It is, indeed, always interesting hiking with Auggie. J

As we got down to the bottom of the mountain, we took a little detour to check out the hot springs (yes, that’s why they call it “Sulphur Mountain” – there are hot springs there!). I decided to splurge and ended up booking a massage for the next day (anticipating some sore muscles), and I then did some good stretching when we got back to the van.

But before we got back to the campsite, we took a little detour first to the beautiful Banff Springs Hotel, then to Bow Falls, which sit just behind the hotel. Both very lovely spots.

We poked around downtown for a bit, doing some window shopping – just look at that view down the main street!

That stretch felt good before going to sleep, and I gave Auggie a massage, too. We were both pooped and ready for bed and fell asleep in no time flat.