Banff to Canmore on the Bow

The Bow River through Banff was running fairly high, with a nice cloudy blue colour from the tail end of spring runoff and brief showers we've had. Again, another nice day to go play in the kayaks. We parked below Bow Falls amongst the myriad of tourists, and the current quickly took us away to the very beautiful run towards Canmore. It's basically Class 1 water, with a few channels to choose from on occasion, and fallen trees along the cutbanks to stay clear of.

The first section goes by hoodoos formed from erosion of the thick glacial deposits. After that, the views of Rundle and Tunnel Mountains keep you entertained. On this occasion, we saw one blue heron - no other wildlife. There was only one other group of canoeists along the way.

Once in Canmore, we pulled the kayaks into a friend's yard, grabbed the road bikes, and zipped back to Banff along the Legacy Trail to retrieve the vehicle. That revives your legs after a 2.5 hour paddle!

Another great way to spend a day in Canmore-Banff!