More waterfalls than you can shake a stick at in Johnston's Canyon! And a lovely easy hike around beautiful Emerald Lake in Yoho NP.
More Canada
Johnston Canyon is not far off the Bow Valley Parkway, the scenic road between Banff and Lake Louise. There is restricted access to the eastern section of the road at times, so we had to go to Castle Junction and turn east to get to Johnston Canyon. The western section is fully open though and we did drive along it when we left Banff heading north. There are an awful lot of trees lining the road so the views aren't as great as they might be, but Morant's Curve is well worth a stop.
Johnston Canyon is a very pleasant walk, not strenuous, a steady climb with many waterfalls in the, at times, narrow gorge. We walked up to the Upper Falls before returning to the car.
Emerald Lake is an absolute gem, in the south west corner of Yoho National Park.
After the Bow Valley Parkway we joined the Trans-Canada Highway through the mountains with some spectacular views.
I was very impressed with the wildlife crossings that have been constructed so that the highways don't stop the animals from moving around. We say several bridges but there are also tunnels beneath the roads.
We arrived around 9:30, the sun shining from a beautiful blue sky, and set out to walk around the lake. It's 3-3.5 miles but very easy as it's flat all the way.
We started from the small store and walked anticlockwise around the lake. The sun was shining on the impressive peaks on the west side making for some great photos with reflections in the green waters.
The water draining into the lake at the north end carries fine silt which forms a delta as it builds out into the lake. Rocks, gravel and heavier material gradually create an alluvial fan deposited onto the delta so that the lake is gradually filling up here. Apparently this is a very rare phenomenon in the Rockies, an alluvial fan building on top of a delta.
