July 4, 2012 - Canmore/Banff Canada

Had to be on the bus by 8:30 this morning as we left for the Bow River in Banff. We took a 1 hour raft float tour from the base of Bow River Falls down the river between Tunnel Mountain and Mount Rundle, past the Hoodoos, landing near the towering face of Mount Rundle. Had a great time and very relaxing with fantastic scenery. Found out the water was about 2 degrees above freezing so you didnt want to go skinny dippin in the river.

Getting ready to board the raft for the trip down the Bow River.

This was the rapids from the Bow River joining the main water. We did not go over any rapids, just let the current take us down the river.

Some of my raft-mates - what a cute couple on the end over there.....

These are hoodoos that we saw along the way. They are hard rock formations that resist errosion and end up looking like statues of rock

Typical scene along the river - beautiful.

Following the raft tour we went to the Cascade Gardens in Banff.

Huge flower displays all over the property. This is just some of the flowers.

This is a look at the main drag down thru the town of Banff where all the shopping and eating takes place.

We then had a really nice lunch here at the Banff Park Lodge Resort. Had a couple really good local beers.

Ended up the day at Johnson Canyon where we hiked back into a canyon to see the lower falls from the melting snow up above.

  

This was the raging river that we followed up to the falls.

Here are the falls at the end of Johnson Canyon.

Should be another busy long day tomorrow.

You can check out all the pictures that I have taken by going to my photo page:

https://picasaweb.google.com/106137482761610674940/2012CanadianRockiesTrip#