"Sketches from the Canadian Rockies"

Sometimes you can finish a sketch and sometimes you just have to get back on the road. The top sketch is the highway coming into Banff. We stayed at at a camp site with a great view of HooDoo mountain..From there we were able to trek to Sulpher mountain and the hot springs, Lake Louise, Moraine lake and the Columbian Icefields.

The picture (above) is the view from about two miles up Sulpher mountain. It encompasses the town of Banff and the Bow river valley. We didn't want to pay the exorbitant fees for taking the tram so decided to hike the four miles (vertical) to the top!  That was the first day in Banff and got me broke in for the rest of the trip! Fortunately they allowed us to ride the tram down for free!

This tram cost about $30.00 canadian per person and takes about 15 minuets to get to the top(as opposed to the two hours it takes to hike) but you miss a lot of great mountain scenery on the way. Before we started, the sign at the bottom stated that you need to buy a ticket to ride the tram down. At the top we really didn't want to hike back down so I asked the operator if we could ride and she said "Sure"!  If you don't ask you don't receive....I'm just sayin....