点评:Every visit to Banff should start with a stop at the Cave & Basin National Historic Site. It was here that Indigenous nations came for spiritual healings and sacred rituals. In the 1880s, three railroad workers came upon the thermal springs with hopes that it would bring them wealth and fame. Soon Canada stepped in and declared the springs and the surrounding area a federal reserve that was later designated Canada's first national park.
The Cave & Basin today features a stone building that houses the original hot spring. We entered the historic bathhouse and a darkened cave to see the original hot spring. The springs here are no longer open for public bathing.
Outside the cave, there is a hot spring pool where we saw a critically endangered species of snails that can live only in this hot spring. The tiny popcorn kernel-sized snails live on what can be best visualized as floating muck.
The Cave & Basin can be reached by taking a local Roam Transit bus that drops visitors off at the site entrance. From the Cave & Basin, you can begin a hike to Sundance Canyon. When we visited, admission was free as part of a Parks Canada summer program but admission is usually $10/adults and $8.50/seniors. We missed the free 30 minute daily tour.
翻译:每次游览班夫,都应先前往洞穴与盆地国家历史遗址。昔日,原住民族们常到此地进行精神疗愈与神圣仪式。19世纪80年代,三名铁路工人发现了这片温泉,指望它能带来财富与名声。不久之后,加拿大政府介入,将温泉及其周边地区划为联邦保护区,随后这里便被确立为加拿大第一座国家公园。如今的洞穴与温泉区有一座石砌建筑,里面就是最初的温泉所在之处。我们走进这座具有历史意义的浴场,又进入漆黑的洞穴中,想一睹原始温泉的风貌。不过如今这里的温泉已不再对公众开放。
在洞穴外有一个温泉池,我们在那里看到了一种极度濒危的蜗牛物种——它们只能在这种温泉中生存。这些小如爆米花颗粒般的蜗牛,栖息在一种可以想象为“漂浮的淤泥”的物质上。可以乘坐当地的Roam Transit巴士前往洞穴与盆地景区,巴士会在入口处让游客下车。从那里出发,便可开始徒步前往桑丹斯峡谷。我们到访时,作为加拿大公园局的夏季活动之一,门票免费;不过通常情况下,成人票价为10加元,老年人票价为8.50加元。可惜我们错过了每日举行的、时长为30分钟的免费导览活动。