Before I get to that, let me tell you about the good part of the day. I left Lake Louise to drive to an area of Banff National Park called Johnston Canyon. This is the location of the most popular hike in the park and, according to one site I read, the whole of Canada. When I arrived, at 10 AM, the huge trail-head parking lot was full and I was lucky to get the one remaining space in the overflow lot. The trail was beautiful and clung to the edge of the canyon for much of the way, overhanging it in places, as it wandered its way up the canyon to the lower falls, past several unnamed falls and on to the upper falls. I can see why it is so popular and, by the time I left the parking lot, there were at least 100 more cars parked at the side of the road.

My only reason to visit Calgary on this trip was for a bit of adventure. in 1996, when I visited with my friend Bob, we went to the winter sports complex where the 1988 winter Olympic Games had been held and “enjoyed” a luge run down the bottom half of the bobsled track.  I say “enjoyed” because it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. My foot slipped off the steering blade part way down and I had some scary seconds in one of the turns as the luge oscillated up and down the banking.

When looking at their website I noticed that they no longer offered the luge but did offer a ride in a bobsled piloted by an Olympic bobsledder, so I thought that would be fun. What is not clear is that this is a “fake”, wheeled sled running on a dry track. In hindsight I can see that the image on their page just shows the wheels but it is designed to look as realistic as possible and, as far as I can see, it does not state that the sled is on wheels. Anyway the ride cost me $75, I couldn’t see anything and it felt like a bumpy, low g-force roller coaster without the loops. It was pathetic and, by far, the biggest rip-off and disappointment of the trip.

The map/video of the drive is here.

Johnston Canyon Trail becomes part of the canyon in several places.After about a kilometre you get to the lower falls.followed by a couple of pleasant, unnamed falls and eventually arriving at the 100 foot high upper falls.It’s a beautiful hike.

Here I am, being separated from my money and dignity, to ride a fancy trolley down the bobsled track.
Just for reference; this is the top-of-the-ride photo when I had real fun on real ice lying on a real luge.