Banff Adventure Day 2: Kootenay National Park

For the second day of our Banff adventure, we headed back into British Columbia to discover Kootenay National Park and take a dip in the famed Radium Hot Springs.

Marble Canyon

Our first stop this day was one of my favourites of the entire trip.  If you have never been to the Marble Canyon in Kootenay Park, it is definitely worth the stop.

After a small hike up a set of stairs, you come to a series of bridges crossing over the Canyon from the main pathways on either side.  It was great to get so many different views of the canyon as you moved further up the mountain and the Canyon gets deeper under each bridge.

There were many large rocks along the pathways for the kids to climb, and beautiful wildflowers to admire amongst the burnt trees from a prescribed forest fire on the mountainside.

At the end, we found another set of Red Chairs!  The only one missing from the shot is me, but to get the dogs and kids all looking at the camera at the same time is nothing short of a small miracle.  😉 #SharetheChair

This was such a great walk for both the kids and dogs.  They were all so excited to move down the paths and cross over each bridge, that I don’t even think they noticed how far we walked because of it.

One other thing that made this a successful hike with the dogs was a great shallow area of river right at the beginning of the trail.  We stopped both coming and going so the dogs could get a drink and cool down from the short trek.  Water to wade in always makes our Hound dog a happy girl!

Radium Hot Springs

After a stop at a picnic spot for our packed lunch, we carried on to the Radium Hot Springs.  My kids love swimming, so we were pretty sure this would be a hit.  I have been to the Banff Hot Springs, but was excited to finally check out Canada’s biggest hot springs pool in Radium.

This photo of Radium Hot Springs is courtesy of TripAdvisor

I didn’t bring my camera along, but the hot springs are beautiful set amongst the mountains.  The pool was nice and clean, and we kept to the warmer pool which was shallow enough for my young kids to walk in.  We did attempt the colder pool, but quickly changed our mind (chickened out) after stepping in and feeling the difference!

I thought this attraction was a great value with the family admission costing just under $20 for the 4 of us.  We were also advised to keep our receipt for a refund just in case the threatening storm rolled in.  It did start raining while we were in the pool, but it was a nice gentle rain that was a refreshing contrast to the warm mineral water.

We wrapped up our day with a campfire and s’mores back at Johnston Canyon, then it was into bed to be ready for our Day 3 Adventures at the Banff Gondola and Minnewanka Lake Cruise.