Sulfur Mountain is a famous tourist attraction in Banff National Park. It is known to give visitor a perfect view over Banff and a perfect look out place for enjoying the view of valley carved out by the glacier thousands of years ago. The view of sun rise and sun set is even more spectacular at the top of Sulfur mountain.
There is a gondola that takes people from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain. However, the gondola ride is very costly. It costs $25 one way, and $50 Canadian dollars both ways. The trail to the top is about 5KM, thus we decided to hike up the mountain and save $50 per person. We can use this $50 to treat us a very nice dinner at Banff village.
The trail is not beside the gondola station. The starting point of the trail is actually on the far side of the parking lot. So don't park close to the gondola station. Park the car at the parking lot at the higher level since that is where the hiking trail is at.
It took us about 1.5 hours to get to the top of the mountain. The trail zig zags all the way up to the mountain under the gondola line. When we were hiking up, there were people jogging up the mountain really fast. Before we get to the top, those people were already coming down!
When we got to the top of the mountain, it started snowing hard and it was at the beginning of September! We quickly took shelter inside the museum gallery building to wait for the snow to stop. After about 10 minutes, it stopped snowing and the sun came out again.
We walked long the ledge when the weather was good again. We even saw a Labrador retrieve enjoying his time at the top of the mountain. There is a trail the goes further out into the mountain, but we did not venture that far.
At the top of the mountain, there was also a closed weather station for people to visit, but really nothing special.
Overall, this was a great experience. We love to hike to the top of the mountain peak and next time we definitely want to hike up there before the sun rise and enjoy the view of sun rise when we can. Keep in mind that the Gondola only start operation at 8AM, so if you want to view the sun rise, you will have to hike up the mountain. Lastly, make sure to bring jackets and warm clothes since the weather at the top of the mountain is very unpredictable.
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