Day 4 (25 October)

Today started with a two and half hour drive. After our trip to Rocky Mountain Bagel Company on Wednesday, we knew we had to go again, so we grabbed some for the drive. Those along with some coffee and tea kept us going for the almost three hour drive to the heliport.
The same can’t be said for our car. I didn’t do much pre-planning, and instead started this trip with just above half a tank of fuel. The perfect storm of issues arose right as we were getting on our way. Not only were we running a bit late due to a long line at the bagel place and taking a bit longer than anticipated to get out the door, but cell service was spotty at best as we navigated through the national park to get towards the heliport. The gas station that we had seen on the map never appeared, and the one that showed on all of the signs had closed for the winter already. We rolled into the heliport with only a quarter tank remaining - not enough to get us back to Canmore.

The first thing we did when we arrived was ask that very question. Surely, the staff weren’t driving hours upon hours to fuel up. There had to be another gas station that we hadn’t seen. There was, in fact two more to the north of the heliport, just twenty minutes away. We let out a collective sigh of relief that we wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of Banff with no fuel and no cell service. That was a task for after our tour, though.

We started our tour by meeting Michaela and the other front desk staff and receiving a safety briefing after signing all of the appropriate waivers. We then headed over to the helicopter to meet Victoria, the pilot.

Our tour was filled with amazing views of snow covered mountains, ice glaciers, lakes, and valleys full of trees. After about twenty minutes in the air, we landed in a small meadow and then hiked to a waterfall. During the hike, we all got to chatting and we learned that Michaela was quite new to the company, which is why she had accompanied us on the tour. She was learning the ins and outs of the operation and needed firsthand knowledge of the tours so that she could speak about them accurately. We also learned that Victoria had been with the tour company a year to the day and had worked in sales for Lindt before getting her pilot’s license. We arrived at the falls and spent the next hour chit chatting and taking photos. We learned that this hike was accessible by foot, but would involve about a nine hour hike to reach the point that we had reached by just a few minutes in the air. Victoria and the tour company had been very thoughtful and packed us snacks, Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate, and some Swiss chocolates. This made Bri very happy!

After enjoying the sights and snacks, we started our hike back to the helicopter. We took a few more photos with it and then headed back to the heliport. On our way back, we saw a black bear with her cub climbing a side of the mountain. Amazingly, this has been our only interaction with bears thus far.
We landed without incident and wished Victoria and Michaela well as we headed on our way. We drove about 30km up the road to fuel up at a two pump station in the middle of nowhere (for $1.50/L) and then turned around and headed back the way we came.
Just shy of three hours later, we were back in Canmore for our shawarma dinner and movie before bed.

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Day 5 (26 October)

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Day 3 (24 October)