Day 50

2004_0521Image0001.JPG inside the Park Museum 2004_0521Image0007.JPG Downtown Banff 2004_0521Image0024.JPG inside the Luxton museum 2004_0521Image0030.JPG 2004_0521Image0032.JPG administrative offices for Banff National Park 2004_0521Image0033.JPG Banff Springs Hotel 2004_0521Image0036.JPG lobby of the Banff Springs Hotel 2004_0521Image0041.JPG 2004_0521Image0051.JPG Banff from above 2004_0521Image0053.JPG 2004_0521Image0056.JPG Sulphur Mountain and the top of the Gondola 2004_0521Image0063.JPG Former weather station

Day 50 - 5/21/04
Banff, AB to Banff Gondola, round trip
6 miles

According to the weatherman it was supposed to rain all day so I committed to staying in Banff another day, but there was no rain at all.  I spent the day checking out the museums in Banff and riding the Gondola up to the top of Sulphur Mountain.  I hit three museums: the park museum, an Indian museum called the Luxton museum, and the Whyte  museum.  The latter was the most fascinating, and of course they didn't allow pictures inside.  They had a great photo exhibit showing many of the regions features as they have changed over the last century.  You can really see the recession of the glaciers.  The park museum is done to retain the look it had in the 1920's and 1930's, a time when taxidermy was very popular, so it has stuffed animals of pretty much every creature that roams these parts.  The Indian museum featured life-sized panoramas of various aspects of life.  Above I highlight one of the ceremonies that I'd rather not participate in. 

The Banff Springs Hotel is the spectacular hotel built by the Canadian Pacific Railway (the flagship of several they built) to get tourists using the newly built railway. 

The gondola ride provides a great 360 degree view of the region, including the town of Banff from above.  Just across from the top of the gondola is an old weather station.  The guy who maintained it hiked up the mountain every week or two for over 30 years to check on his instruments.  It is a major hike that they say took on the order of 9 hours.  Imagine hiking up a mountain every week or two in mid-winter.