A Sabbath Well Spent

Being in Alberta for the summer means that Banff is not far away! My friend Brad was in town for the weekend so we decided to head to the mountains for the day. The weather forecast was not hopeful, but we prayed for good weather and decided to risk it. It rained for most of the 3-hour drive there, but by the time we ate our lunch and got out of the car, the sky had dried up! So we headed up the trail that led us long the Johnston River Canyon.

The river was gorgeous! It was super relaxing and rejuvenating after the first few days of my intensive summer classes. It felt like the roaring waters were washing all those worries away.

We stopped periodically along the way to take in the spectacular water falls. This was our attempt at getting the Lower Falls and us all in the picture.

The Upper Falls

Looking down stream from the Upper Falls, this rock face is "growing" rather than eroding like most rock does in the presence of flowing water.

After the Upper Falls, we kept hiking up towards the meadow where we found the "ink pots". These are natural, cold-water springs on the meadow floor. If you look carefully, you could see where the water was bubbling up through the sand. It was soooooo cool!

Then, we found a quiet bench, and Brad being the artist that he is, pulled out mini canvas and easels and we painted our surroundings. It was a really neat way to capture the moment!

(My painting is the one on the left - I'm clearly a beginner, but I still love it!)

Taking a break on the hike back down

Experimenting with the settings on my camera

Playing around with Mr. Bear at the end of the hike! :)

It was such a lovely and peaceful way to spend the Sabbath!