(My solo road trip of western Canada – Monday 21st September)
Ok, I got up this morning hyped up for a hike, I had drove past Sulphur Mountain yesterday and chose this to be my first hike of the trip, it was excellent and well worth it…much more than I expected.
The plan, if I survived this, would be to hike up the mountain and then take the gondola down and maybe treat myself to the hot springs!
The hike up was fantastic and I met some lovely people on the way up (hardly anyone coming down which was a sign to me that maybe this may be a touch difficult).
I don’t know how, but I managed the hike up in 1 hour and 35 minutes and I decided not to take the gondola down (although it was free) and I walked briskly down in 55 minutes, quite proud of myself.
My body was aching and my feet were a little swollen…Oh that’s handy, there are hot springs…yipee!
Sulphur Mountain is a mountain in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains overlooking the town of Banff, Alberta, Canada.
The mountain was named in 1916 for the hot springs on its lower slopes. George Dawson had referred to this landform as Terrace Mountain on his 1886 map of the area.
Sanson’s Peak was named in 1948 for Norman Bethune Sanson who diligently attended the observatory recording equipment atop Sulphur Mountain for nearly 30 years.
Upper Hot Springs are commercially developed hot springs located in Banff National Park in Canada, near the Banff townsite. The hot pool is outdoors and while in the pool, visitors can look across the valley to Mount Rundle.
The Upper Hot Springs are one of nine different naturally occurring hot springs in the Banff area.The hot spring water flows naturally through the Sulphur Mountain Thrust Fault, with the source area located at higher elevations on either Sulphur Mountain or Mount Rundle.
The flow rates fluctuate seasonally with snow melt, with highest flows in the spring and lowest during winter.
Since the early 2000s, flow to the Upper Hot Springs has stopped for several months of the winter. During these times, municipal water is substituted for the recreational pools. Water temperature is kept at approximately 38°C (100°F).
