Anniversary Trip: Critters, Lake Minnewanka, and Johnston Canyon

Hi again!  I'm back with another installment of our anniversary trip...geez, this is going to take forever!  I'm technically still on day one...eek!  Anyway, after we left Johnson Lake, we continued up toward Two Jack Lake, which is a smaller lake (though larger than Johnson Lake) that feeds into Lake Minnewanka.  Hence why the road up to the lakes is called the Minnewanka Loop.  While heading up to the two larger lakes we had our first animal sightings since our arrival...

How cute is this little mountain goat?!

I think this is a ground squirrel, though I'm not sure.  It could be a marmot, who knows!?  I think Antoine was bummed that we hadn't seen a bear yet, but it was only our first day!

Confession time...I have no idea if this is Two Jack Lake or Lake Minnewanka.  No clue!  It's pretty though, right?

There were a lot of people waiting on the dock for, I'm guessing, a lake cruise of Minnewanka.  It was the perfect day for a lake cruise!

After our hike around Johnson Lake and briefly stopping by Two Jack Lake/Lake Minnewanka we decided to drive about a half hour west to Johnston Canyon.  The canyon consists of lower and upper falls with a pathway/elevated walkway along the Johnston creek.

The entrance of Johnston Canyon.

I really enjoyed the canyon!  While the walkway was very steep at points and we were pretty tired after a long day of exploring already, the creek and surroundings were very beautiful and I liked that at times you were high above the creek (sometimes that was slightly terrifying) and at other times you could actually put your hand in the creek (also, kind of scary because people have fallen in before and it would not be a fun journey down the creek)!

I love this neon moss...which I spotted several times while we were in Banff and Jackson.

The lower falls, I think?

The falls from above.

We never made it to the upper falls.  The canyon was getting darker as the sun was setting and we wanted to make sure we made it back to the car before it got completely dark.  We enjoyed the canyon...me probably a little more than Antoine, but just because it had been a long day and a lot of hiking/walking.  I would totally recommend Johnston Canyon to anyone going to the Banff area.  I kind of wish we had gone there first though and then back-tracked to the Minnewanka Loop and then the Cave & Basin National Historic site, but regardless, we had a great time and it was beautiful!

Happy Friday, everyone!  Any exciting plans for the weekend?!  I'm hopefully going to do some more photo editing so I can have another post ready for next week.  I'm also getting together with some work friends to make some books, eat food, and drink wine...always a good time!  Anyway, hope you have a fantastic weekend!