Spotting wildlife and more around Banff

I got up early this morning in order to check out the place Cody had shown us for seeing elk. It was about a 30 minute hike from the hostel. I knew that I would have a better chance if I arrived early but I only managed to leave the hostel at 9 AM. I still hoped that this would be early enough. At first I couldn't see any elk but that was due to their color blending in with the surrounding vegetation. When I got a little closer there were at least 20 elk. There was one male elk with extremely big antlers and the rest of them were female. Apparently I wasn't the only one who came to that spot in order to see elk - there were two older people who were taking pictures as well. They advised me not to get too close as the male elk can be dangerous but I already knew that. After a few minutes the elk herd started retreating.

I decided to keep walking and a few minutes later, I also saw two deer - a male and a female one. There was a 'Marsh Loop' a bit further down the road. It was a nice 2.3 km hike close to the Bow River and offered some nice views of the scenery and surrounding mountains. The only annoying thing was that the trail was also used by horses and very muddy. So walking there wasn't too nice even though the mud was mostly frozen.
Shortly before I reached the end of the trail, I saw an extremely cute squirrel which was carrying a big nut in his mouth.

Next I arrived at the 'Cave and Basin' a National Historic Sight. Unfortunately, it turned out to be closed today. Consequently, I couldn't enter the cave. However, I could still walk on two broadwalks that lead me around the site. That way, I could see 'the Basin', a natural hot spring pool, as well as several holes in the ground filled with hot water. The natural hot springs emerging in that area were filling up those water basins. Furthermore, they were flowwing down into the marshland and creating a unique ecosystem that offered many warm loving species a habitat. I didn't stay close to the springs for too long, though, as they were smelling like sulphur, which wasn't a nice smell.

The second broadwalk lead me through the marshland and offered a few chances to see and find out about the birds and fish living there.

When I had seen everything I could see in that area today, I decided to walk back in the direction of Banff. 

I arrived back in Downtown Banff around half past noon and against my better judgement, I decided to walk to and then try and climb the local 'Tunnel Mountain'. I was already exhausted, so I wasn't sure if I could do it. However, I still had a few hours until my bus was supposed to arrive so I thought this was a good activity to fill the time. The trail wasn't too hard but as it was going uphill the whole time, it was still very exhausting. The view I had on the way was well worth it, though. After about 3/4 of the way, I saw the cutest chipmunk. It was running around really quickly and eating some buds, which was just adorable to watch. When I reached the top just before 2 PM, I was extremely proud that I did it. After a really short break, I climbed back down, which only took 35 minutes now. 

On the way to the Samesun hostel, I stopped at the supermarket to get a late lunch snack. I only picked up my suitcase at the hostel and then walked to the Greyhound bus station, where I arrived around 4 PM. 

My bus was supposed to leave at 5:35 PM. After waiting until around 6 PM, I was told that the bus had broken down in Lake Louise and they would send another bus from Calgary, which would take another 1.5 hours. So I had to keep waiting even longer.

As we were still waiting by 7:30 PM, the bus driver brought donuts and muffins for everyone.

The bus finally arrived at 8:30 PM but it still took a little while until it left Banff: The 9 PM bus would only make it here around 4 AM due to the highway being closed off. Thus we were waiting for potential passengers of that bus as well.

I arrived in Calgary around 10:30 PM and then still had to get to the hostel. Getting from the Greyhound station to the tram stop was kind of tricky and I was quite sure I took a path I wasn't supposed to take but at least I got there somehow. Getting to the hostel from the tram stop was easy and I arrived just around 11:15 PM.