Johnston Canyon

A catwalk bolted out over the creek, and six spring-fed pools above it

The canyon itself is a limestone slot that Johnston Creek is still cutting, and the reason it is one of the busiest walks in Banff is the engineering: a catwalk bolted to the canyon wall with rails and bridges carries you out over the water, past the lower falls and up to the upper. Past that the built trail ends and a rougher natural one goes on up the valley to the Ink Pots, six blue-green pools in a meadow above the canyon, fed from below by springs that keep them running and cold all year. In winter the falls freeze solid and ice climbers work them. Two things worth knowing before you go: a few of the informal paths near the falls were closed in August 2018 to give the small nesting population of American black swift a chance, and those closures are not suggestions; and the car park at the bottom fills early enough that the walk is a different experience before nine.