Johnson Canyon, Sulphur Mountain & Sanson's Peak


Monday 17th September 2012, Sulphur Mountain
A big day that dawned crisp and clear, if a little chilly (0C at best!).  Our plan was to head over to Johnston Canyon (wiki) and take in the waterfall before heading to Sulphur Mountain (2,451m) (wiki) for the 5.5km (each way) slog up to the cable car station and then the short walk to the summit of Sanson's peak finishing with a welcome dip in the Bannf Upper Hot Springs (wiki).

After one of the best breakfasts that I've ever had while camping we set off to Johnston Canyon - this canyon and the resulting waterfalls are where the Johnston Creek has forced its way through the rock over time on it's journey to meet up with the mighty Bow River.


 The waterfalls themselves are quite impressive and there is a natural cave, made by the water from the main fall forcing through the rock over thousands of years, that you can walk through and view the waterfall crashing into the pool only meters away.   We were lucky that, as we'd set off so early, there was hardly anyone else around - this had the added benefit of the 2-3km trail being fairly quick as there were no crowds to contend with.

 Then into the good old Toyota again and off to Sulphur Mountain.....

 Standing at 2,451m and with a commanding view over Banff and the Bow Valley Sulphur mountain is a fairly serious affair and the 5.5km path from the main (gondola) car park to the summit is portrayed in the guide leaflets and books as "Strenuous".  You can, of course, take the cable car/gondola to the summit - but where's the fun in that?!

 The weather was forecast to be good for the whole day and by now the temperature had climbed over the 20C mark and in hindsight we were a little bit too overdressed - but we'd find that out, and suffer for it, later on!

The walk up is steep, and the switchbacks are a pain in the ass as the offer a tantalising view, up (or down) the line of the gondola, of the summit and then tear it away from you with another corner and another gradual, painful, grind to the next switch.  But they do save you from what would be a horrifically steep walk directly up the mountain and  you get a nice chance to see lots of wildlife on the way up!

 After a few hours we arrived at the summit - somewhat hotter and sweatier than when we'd started - and from here you can start to see why it's so popular with tourists, the views are amazing!

Sulphur Mountain with Sanson's Peak in the distance
You can only really reach the gondola hut/cafe - the real summit of Sulphur Mt is still some way off and there is no direct path to the summit.  You can however walk to the summit of Sanson's Peak which is around 1km away and was the sight of a meteorological survey hut - built in 1903 this hut was used for over 30 years by Norman Bethune Sanson and in 1948 was named after him.

 As with most mountains and summit walks the descent doesn't really give a lot to talk about other than to say it's much quicker getting down than it is getting up!

We were both very pleased to reach the bottom of the trail and the car and even happier that the Bannf Upper Hotsprings were only 300m away. A 20 minute soak in the hot springs has, I swear, magical qualities and it's a real shame that every UK mountain doesn't have them waiting for weary walkers and climbers on their return!
Location: Banff, AB, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wild camping on Cadair Idris

Image
Leaving Romsey behind at 2pm on a Saturday may seem like a crazy idea when the aim is to travel to the foothills of Cadair Idris in Snowdonia National Park but there is method to my madness! The idea was to arrive around 6pm, park the car and then head up to Llyn Cau (Lake Cau) and set up the tent for a night of Wild Camping and then set off early the next morning on a circular route to the summit of Penygadair (893m) via Craig Cau and Mynydd Moel (863m) before returning to the car and heading home! So it was almost bang on 6pm that I pulled into the car park just off the A487 at Minffordd - unfortunately there is no ticket option for an overnight stay so paying £6 to the (very eccentric) owner of the campsite a few hundred yards down the road achieved the required parking spot for the night. Heading off up the very steep steps that follow the course of the Nant Cadair river from the visitor center takes you up to around 400m and the split of the paths where you fork off to th
Read more

You can't win them all - short walk to Llyn Cau at the foot of Cadair Idris

Image
You always hear it don't you, said by other people, they're the classic words of mountain wisdom: "knowing when to turn back is the most important skill" and for most people who walk, hike and climb in the hills and mountains this saying is never anything more than that - a saying or a phrase to remember just in case.   But sometimes a situation presents itself and you find yourself thinking and remembering that phrase and you realise why it really is the most important skill you can take with you into the hills. Monday 26th August 2013 From the small cottage in Snowdonia national park where we were staying for the August bank holiday weekend we headed out towards Dolgellau and car park at the foot of the Cadair Idris range just off the B4405 in the small village of Minffordd (pronounced "Min futh") which was to be the start of our walk. We'd planned a circular walk from the car park; up towards Llyn Cau ( where we've wild camped before ) vi
Read more

Winter walk on Pen-y-Fan

Image
Back again! Pen-y-Fan summit Somehow it's taken me nearly 3 months to write this walk up so, for those who were with me on the walk, please excuse any bits that I've missed and put them down to poor memory, nothing else! In preparation for a more arduous walk in the summer (a Triathlon of sorts on Ben Nevis to be precise) and as a "intro" to the mountains for Gareth, who'd be part of the Ben Nevis team and who had no real mountain walking experience, I'd planned a trip to Pen-y-Fan and a slight variation on a mountain I've walked up numerous times. The plan was to head up to Wales fairly early and start walking before 9am ideally - mainly so that we'd encounter fewer people on the hill and also to make the most of the snow that would hopefully still be on the mountain after a few days of rain and warmer weather. As mentioned earlier I'd planned a slightly different route for this walk as all of my previous walks on Pen-y-Fan have started
Read more