The Passionate Hiker: Banff Award Winners

Fri. 1 November: Banff Award Winners: Tunnel Mountain, Sulphur Mountain, and lots more

My valuable geocaching coin from Parks Canada!

Parks Canada is into this geo-caching craze. The lady at the Banff Visitors Centre, handing J and myself each a sheet of paper, told us that, if we could find the five geo-cache sites and answer five questions, we could each win a special coin. “No problem!” J & I replied, with confidence. Six hours later, we were back at the information desk ready to claim our awards!

Tunnel Mountain was our first destination. The upper Tunnel Mountain Road was closed off at both ends for some reason, so we did a bit of driving around the base of the mountain before parking at the lower parking lot for the trail up the mountain. The parking area was full of cars, but no other hikers were to be seen, apart from a couple of young women with several dogs in tow. Our first cache was just a few yards from the bottom end of the trail, hidden behind a bush. Inside the small box was the answer to a question, and a tiny log book to sign. This first box gave the reply to the question: “Is there a tunnel in Tunnel Mountain (NO)”.

It’s a nicely graded route up the mountain, and is the most popular trail in Banff. As a result, even on this cool November weekday morning, we met a dozen assorted people along the way. Several people seemed to know each other and were probably regulars on this short journey. At the top we stopped to admire the views down into Banff townsite, but did not linger as the wind was biting. There was some blue sky above, but off to the west the clouds were starting to gather ahead of tomorrow’s snowstorm. Part way down, there were impressive views down to the Bow River and the golf course below the sharp edge of Rundle.

Our next cache was along the road below the Tunnel Mountain campsites, opposite the Hoodoos. These sandstone outcrops stand about thirty feet high, beside the Bow River downstream of Banff. Again, hidden under a bush, this box contained a surprising answer: the oldest tree in Banff is a 695 year old Douglas Fir!

Driving west along the Bow Valley, we stopped at the semi-frozen Vermilion Lakes, where there were two more caches. One was under a pile of rocks beside the third lake, and the other under a bench along a forest trail. The sun shone directly across the water, as if the lakes were filled with silver. The National Parks have been doing a great job over the past year putting up new signs everywhere, and building little boat docks along these Vermilion Lakes.

For the final cache, we could simply have driven up to the Upper Hot Springs and walked a few hundred yards up the Sulphur Mountain Trail. This was far too simple. Instead, we paid for tickets on the Banff Gondola and made a swift ascent to the top of Sulphur Mountain. There were just a few people at the gondola base – very different from any typical summer’s day.

The boardwalk along the summit, up to Sanson Peak, was mostly snow-free. A few well-wrapped-up tourists were enjoying the views, although up here the wind-chill must have been several degrees below freezing. The tiny stone cabin at the summit would be a lonely place to live. We could see inside to the bunk, table, chair and stove; hardly room to stretch out.

Returning to the summit restaurant, we relaxed inside to warm up before heading down the steep mountain trail. The surface was snow-covered and we were glad of our MICROspikes or equivalent. I almost bet J that we would not see anyone else on this descent of over two thousand vertical feet. I’m glad I didn’t do so, as we must have met thirty or forty people coming up or going down the slippery zig-zag path. Nobody else, as far as we could see, was wearing spikes, making their journeys precarious at times. We picked up our final cache near the foot of the trail and rushed into town to claim our prizes. These colorful coins, depicting a Canadian beaver clutching a GPS device, were well worth the effort!

Our final destination was the Cave and Basin, reopened this year after major renovations. The original “basin”, a hot pool discovered by the railway builders in 1883, became the start of Canada’s National Parks. It was certainly impressive, but I wonder whether they might have found a way to turn these back into working hot pools, not just a large museum.

We thought there might be a final cache in this area, but were out of luck. But who cared? We were already Banff award winners.

Statistics:

Total Distance: 11.4 km (hike)

Height Gain: 950 ft.

Max. Elev.: 7,449 ft.

Time on Trail: 3 hrs. 59 mins.

Tunnel Mtn:

Distance: 4.8 km

Height gain: 800 ft.

Max. elev.: 5,544 ft.

Dep. car: 9.36 am

Summit: 10.25 am