Banff Cave and Basin National Historic Site

Today we wanted to have a less demanding day. We had a good breakfast, filled our freshwater tank and moved site, it was quickly noon. We saw a Parks Canada ranger with an airsoft gun walking past our trailer and she was checking every corner. First I thought they have a team building event for employees but then I ruled that out as the campsite is still full of tourists. Then we asked her and she said that a few minutes ago a black bear passed our trailer and they are looking for that. Until now I thought the campsite is just overly cautious but I have to admit bears are really near now. They even enter campsites. As the berries have limited supply this year bears are searching food everywhere before the cold weather arrives.

Then we realised we need laundry so we packed everything (except the detergent... ) and drove to the town center. The laundry had good wifi and we walked a bit to get an icecream.

After the clothes were nice and clean we visited the Cave and Basin National Historic Site just 10 mins from the center of Banff.

It has a relatively small cave but it was the first of the National Parks and even the aboriginal people used its sulfurus hot water for healing.
We enjoyed the short movie and the exhibition and the favourite was the giant Jenga from used cardbox.

After the exhibition we took the lower boardwalk, watched the scenery and some fish and birds.

Just before leaving I wanted to take a good shot of the Canadian flag and the mountains. I did not realise there was a moose just under the flag pole. It was slowly moving and eating grass, then almost entered the exhibition which was closed by then, so he (or rather she?) decided to wander off.

In the evening we had a good shrimp-pasta with some California wine and therefore I installed our new licence plate in good mood. It has the Canadian flag and says: "Bear crossing".