#3 Johnston Canyon – Up Close

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It’s not often you can reach out and touch the  upper part of a waterfall as it cascades below.  You can almost do that at Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park in Canada.  There is a rock tunnel (for lack of a better word) that brings you breathtakingly close to the waterfall.  Brendan at Johnston Canyon Resort told me that it’s believed nature created a big indentation in the rock  and a pioneer  bore a hole through it, creating a small viewing area.  It offers a spectacular view of the lower waterfall which drops about forty feet.  You’ll get drenched by the mist of the waterfall and the roar of the rushing water sends a clear message from Mother Nature about who’s boss.

There is an easy twenty minute hike on a paved walkway to the lower fall and for the more serious hiker, you can venture further on to the upper fall.   That hike will take about two hours roundtrip I am told.

Unless you’re into ice climbing you might want to wait until late spring of summer to visit.  Alberta’s frigid temperatures ice over  the lower falls.

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Filed under Banff National Park, WorldsBestWalks

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