Banff Part 2- Caves and Snails

The other big thing in Banff, which deserves a whole post to itself, is the hot springs in the cave, and the surrounding walks. There are quite a lot of hot springs around here, it seems. Though given that it's all on Sulphur Mountain, that's not too surprising. The route from town to the caves and museum is particularly delightful as well, especially with a light dusting of snow.

Waking up to a view like this, you just know it's going to be a good day

This was the view from the bridge over the river heading out of town towards the caves.

And this was the footpath towards the caves. I forgot to take a picture of it, but there is also the rather excellent Buffalo Nations museum on the way to the caves. I can't tell you very much about it since we didn't have time to go around, but the building itself is a rather lovely log fort.

After a delightful walk through snowy woodlands and across a boardwalk over some of the slightly swampy ground where the spring runs down toward the base of the mountain. At that top of that section of the boardwalk is the museum building and inside that, at the end of a short tunnel, is the cave itself.

The caves were known to the local populace for a century or two, before being found by European colonists in the 1880s, and used for a variety of ceremonies. Participants would be lowered into the cave through the small hole visible at the top of this first picture on a rope ladder of rawhide or woven sweetgrass.

The cave has a very sulphurous smell, thanks to the high sulphur content of the spring water. Back in the 1880s, it was a very popular spot for hot spring bathing and this was seen as a good thing, for some reason. Novelty value, I suppose. Or possibly it was just nice to have found somewhere warm.

The water is still crystal clear, though, and contrasts beautifully with the pearlescent mineral deposits on the cave walls and the thin shaft of sunlight falling through the small hole in the cave roof.

Bathing isn't permitted in the cave of springs anymore, and there's a very good reason for that; the Banff Springs Snail! This delightful little beastie is unique to the springs around the cave and basin and is very sensitive to chemical changes in the water. Any sort of disruption to the delicate balance of minerals, bacteria, and plants can have quite a dramatic impact on the snail population. Which would be a shame since, uniquely among snails, they have their eyes on their heads, instead of on their antennae. Which doesn't sound very significant, but it does make them really cute!

Look at that little snaily face! Adorable.

In addition to housing the entrance to the caves, there's a small museum about the history of the site and the tourist trade that surrounded it, with a few interesting exhibits and bits of information.

And here, the lovely Wendy is modelling one of the most interesting exhibits- an old fashioned camping car! Fully equipped, and complete with its own tent.

Round the back of the museum is another section of boardwalk, that works its way up the side of the mountain. And by golly is the view good from up there:

There's another interesting little spot up at the top of the cave, just a short distance from the original entrance to the cave- the site of the first hotel in the area, built in 1883.

And on the way back down the mountain, I spotted a rather lovely little squirrel. I do like these Canadian red squirrels. Slightly cuter than the greys back home, and much easier to spot than European reds.

For some reason, the museum was flying a Union Flag. I'm afraid I neglected to ask why, though.

At the base of the mountain the hot springs flow out into the nearby river. The wetlands here are a breeding ground for a wide variety of small fish, since the water stays warm and unfrozen all year round, thanks to the hot spring water.

And that's about it for our little trip to Banff! There's a fair bit more to do there, but I think that's certainly a snapshot of the highlights. And just to finish off, here's a rather nice picture of Lake Louise that I took on the way back to Jasper.