Moose Tour part 2 - The Rockies
Day 11: Banff
Today was our day to do as we pleased in Banff. After waking up late enough to miss the included breakfast, I took one of the instant porridge sachets and a box of blueberries I had with me and found the kitchen, where I sat for at least an hour leisurely catching up with a couple of people on Facebook. After that I wandered into town and found the activities centre Ryan had pointed out (it took a while, there are quite a few, but we could get a discount at this one) to book to go horse riding later that afternoon.
I booked the 2pm two-hour ride (at about 1:20pm) and it was a twenty-minute walk to the stables on the edge of town, so I bought a take-away lunch from the wonderful organic bakery-cafe across the courtyard. It was very busy and I had to wait for about ten or fifteen minutes to get the fruity quinoa salad I had ordered, so had to hurry to the stables. It was really good, though, so tasty!
I didn't enjoy the horse riding as much as I'd hoped. Before we'd even set off, my horse Louie had wandered away from the others a little and I didn't know how to turn him around, so I was sat almost with my back to the rider who would be our guide for a few minutes while he gave us brief instructions on how to ride western-style. Needless to say, I felt somewhat stupid. I was at the back when we left in single file and made our way up the track, but for a few minutes until we reached the woods there was someone else from the stables riding rearguard. I really could have done with her being there five minutes later when Louie decided he wasn't going to follow the others and set about wandering off track and eating grass. When I tried and failed to stop him, he probably got a bit annoyed, sensed my inexperience and took off running. One of the four women still following the guide let him know, he came straight back and it took a minute or two to get Louie under control, by which time I was very shaken and honestly had to fight back tears. Not the best re-introduction to horses after not sitting on one for nine years. The guide roped my horse to his until we were about an hour into the ride, and for the rest of it I was able to keep Louie away from the grass and under control. Despite never having ridden western-style before, once the horse and I calmed down it was quite easy.
Apart from all that, and the fact that sitting on the saddle was incredibly uncomfortable, the scenery was lovely!
Back at the stables, I bought the photo they'd taken of me on Louie as we set off. At fifteen dollars it felt very expensive but I kind of wanted a photo of me horse riding in Canada, and (hatefully) I can't seem to pause and think "no!" when I'm put on the spot: I added a five dollar charity donation to my bill at the supermarket a few weeks ago because I didn't want to seem mean in saying no but had no idea what an acceptable amount would be. I realised as soon as I'd said "five" that one dollar would have sufficed. Gahh!
Anyway, on the walk back to the hostel I ate the oh so delicious raspberry and lemon muffin I'd bought with my lunch, and read then dozed for an hour or so when I got there. The three other girls were out hiking up Sulphur Mountain to catch the cable car ("gondola") back down, so I joined the two guys for a walk round the town.
Unlike Jasper, which began as a trading outpost in the early nineteenth century but has become touristy, Banff was created as a resort town and is one of Canada's most popular tourist destinations. It's Downtown area isn't large but is extremely commercial. It's pretty, and I'd like to see it on a winter night with snow and lights, but I couldn't live there. Once the parks and hiking trails are snowed under, there'd be nowhere to go to just get away from the bustle for a few hours.
We walked along the main street and decided to follow the Bow River, eventually coming to Bow Falls where we could also see some of the impressive Fairmont hotel, "the Castle in the Rockies", behind us. We were out for maybe an hour and met the three others in the bar at 9:30pm (along with a Belgian guy who they'd been hiking with... he was in our dorm room too and had woken us up by coming in at 3am with two friends and a headlamp). My belated dinner was a very tasty slice of pizza, and we stayed for a couple of hours, most of that time spent playing quite a fun game, before heading to bed.
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