Hiking the Bow River

The perfect start to our second day in Canmore was doing something we don’t often do. Sleeping in.  Really sleeping in. 4 hours longer than we usually do and that still had us up before 10.

Our hotel had free hot breakfast so we took full advantage of that, even knowing that we were going to get juice when we finished.

After eating we got ourselves dressed up for hiking and packed a bag with a few warm layers, snacks and water bottles. When we first set out it was a bit cold and we were concerned that the day would be less than ideal for walking around, but by the time we walked down Main Street and got our juice it was already warming up beautifully and we were excited to get exploring.

The trail we planned to take starts just at the end of the road along the bright blue river. Instead of taking the paved path we went down a small ridge to walk along the rocky shoreline. Spending time by the river with the mountains in the not far distance was such a lovely way to spend the morning. We eventually ran out of shore to walk on and had to climb up the bank between the trees where we found ourselves back on the ‘proper’ path. Not seeing much more ahead we turned back to explore the rest of the path on the opposite side of the bridge where we started.

This side was much more exciting. We climbed a giant set of stairs up the side of a mountain and found some really amazing views. We explored the area up top for a while before making it back down the stairs to continue following the river.

Just further up we crossed a bridge leading to an island where we abandoned the path again in search of our own route. We found more views and soaked in more sunshine while exploring and then eventually thought to check for any geocaches in the area. There turned out to be one very near to us on the island so we searched it out, signed the log book and moved on back to the main trail.

Across another bridge again we got to the opposite bank and a path leading back into town, fortunately, since it was late in the afternoon already and we hadn’t eaten lunch.

We quickly walked back to the hotel, stripped off a few layers and ditched our backpack before going in search of food.

Along the way I couldn’t resist stopping to buy myself the leggings I’ve been drooling over. I had to be quick about it though because Ryan was about ready to pass out from starvation.

We chose to visit Grizzly Paw for lunch. It’s a local brewery/restaurant and it looked like a great place to try out.

Because neither of us drink we got the soda they make instead. Ryan got a burger and fries and I got a Caesar salad and poutine! It was a really great meal.

After lunch we went for another walk in search of a garage sale that we had seen a sign for earlier. We didn't find it but since we weren't looking far anything in particular it wasn't a big deal. 

Back at the hotel we sat around being lazy for a bit (and feeding bunnies!) until Ryan suggested we look for another geocache that was just down the road. It was barely 2 minutes away from us but in an awkward spot overlooking a swimming pool. Considering all the kids in the pool it may not have been an ideal place for someone to hide it. We found it and got away as quick as we could..

From there we found that a couple more caches were around and so we went to collect them. None were very difficult so it was a pretty quick trip. Actually, the highlight was walking underneath a train bridge on our search just as a train was unexpectedly passing above. I screamed and we both ran out. Even though it's perfectly safe it seemed very wrong to be under there!

With our adventures finished for the day we stopped to pick up a late snack before going back to the hotel for bed. 

Only one day left in this trip!