Wednesday morning, we woke up to some brisk mountain air at our campsite on Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park.  The water in the lake mirrored the mountains beneath the morning mist – what a great sight to start off our day in Banff!  We had a quick, warm meal and headed into town to explore.

We browsed through the shops in this quaint little mountain town before taking on our first Banff hike: Tunnel Mountain.  It was a short, fairly easy hike up one of the smaller mountains in town whose summit provides great panoramic views of the town nestled in the Bow Valley.  Fun fact about Banff: The Town of Banff is actually located within Banff National Park and its boundaries are fixed by federal law to prevent further development and reduce human impact on the rest of the park life.  Banff is one of only two of these unique national park communities (Jasper being the other which we will see early next week!).

Having got an aerial view of the historic Fairmont Banff Springs from the top of Tunnel Mountain, we decided to head down to get a closer look.  On our way to the hotel, we stopped by to admire the  popular Bow Falls which illustrates how the Bow Valley has been carved out by rushing glacier water.  Although we didn’t spend much time at the Fairmont, we did take the time to appreciate the beauty and  massive size of the chateau … and, of course, to fantasize about being able to afford to stay a night or two in such a lavish accommodation.

Finally, we finished off our day with a drive around the Minnewanka Scenic Loop before settling in to our slice of life on Two Jack Lake.

Our next adventure is to discover the highly anticipated, one-of-a-kind Lake Louise 🙂

Morning view at our campsite on Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park.

Elk across from our campsite on Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park.

Bundled up for a fall camping sleep. It got down to 1 degree Celsius this night.

A couple common mergansers in Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park.

Mist in the morning on Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park.

Beautiful reflection with som morning mist on Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park.

Downtown Banff.

Downtown Banff

Amanda enjoying the view on our hike up Tunnel Mountain in Banff National Park.

View along the Tunnel Mountain trail in Banff National Park.

We made it to the top of Tunnel Mountain and enjoyed a well deserved snack in Banff National Park.

A view of Bow River in Banff National Park.

A view of Bow Falls in Banff National Park.

The beautiful Fairmont Banff Springs in Banff National Park.

Beautiful view along the Lake Minnewanka Scenic Loop in Banff National Park.

Johnson Lake along the Lake Minnewanka Sceinc Loop in Banff National Park.

Adam enjoying the view of Two Jack Lake in an Adirondack chair in Banff National Park.

One of the many trains that pass through Banff National Park.