August 25 - Riding the Icefield Parkway

Another great day for a motorcycle ride.  This time we will ride north from Banff back the way we came.  One road we didn't travel though is the Bow Valley Parkway.  This is a nice slow ride on a smooth road through the woods.  Not far down the road, we came on these bighorn sheep after salt along the road.  Close enough to pet, but no thanks - those horns look mean!

Next we stopped at Johnson Canyon and falls.  There's a lower and upper falls, with the hike to the upper falls being 2.7 km, or a little over 1 and a half miles.

The Upper Falls at the end of the trail.

Back on the road, there were more mountains, glaciers, and blue lakes than we could take pictures of.

At one of the view points, we snacked on some granola bars and it didn't take long for the beggars to show up - a Clark's Nutcracker and a shaggy-looking raven.

Next stop was the Bow Pass Overlook.  A short, but steep, uphill hike to a great view.

Worth another panorama shot.

More road and more mountains.

At our last stop, a little over 90 miles north of Banff, Mistata Canyon.  Here, the river has cut another narrow canyon through the rock.  Again, it's hard to believe a wide river gets squeezed through such a narrow space.

A video might do it justice.

More great views on the way back to Banff.

From our campsite, we can see mountains all around us.

Makes for a great sunset!

Tomorrow, it's south to the border and Glacier National Park.  We'll definitely be glad to get "home" to the lower 48!