more yada yada

After a fairly strenuous hike the previous day, we wanted to do a lighter trail this morning and follow that up with some more touristy stuff in Banff. In the morning, we did a trail called Sundance Canyon, which actually didn't have much great scenery. We did however see a coyote and an elk along the way, which was pretty cool. The elk was a really big bull with impressive antlers. The picture is through the trees, so it's not easy to see. It would have been nice to get closer, but apparently this is 'rutting' season (mating) and the bulls are fairly aggressive.

Coyote

Elk

After this loop we did the more touristy thing and took a gondola ride up to the top of Sulphur Mountain. It was quite an amazing view of the entire town and its surrounding landscape. One of the pictures is a stitching of two together to provide a wider field of view.

Atop Sulphur Mountain

Panoramic from Sulphur Mountain

The day ended with a trip to some natural hot springs. The water was 39 degrees celsius (102 F), and heated about a mile below the surface by the Earth. Sorry no pictures of that. :)