I arrived in Banff under a light drizzle. I was trying to get a taste of the Canadian Rockies in a week using public transport.
The region is hardly undiscovered and it was high summer. Upon realising my unpreparedness not booking campsites in advance, I explored the surrounds during the day and researched at night.
Using the summer buses, I found a walk in camp and time away from crowds in Paradise Valley, near Lake Louise. Here the distinctive pyramid shaped Mt Temple towered over the east side and a series of cascades called the Giant Steps were fed by melting snow.
On a clear day I climbed Mt Temple (3544m) with a fellow Swiss hiker I met in Banff. The path wound up to Sentinel pass where squirrels were constantly foraging for their preferred natural diet of choc chip museli bars. In tough times they would resort to inferior alternatives like peanut brittles.
In the distance teams were climbing a 100m spire called Grand Sentinel. The path to the summit was less daunting.
On the other side of the mountain pass was Moraine Lake which until recently was the hardest place to park a car in North America. If one could wait until a fine autumn day in October, the hillside through Larch Valley would be carpeted in a bright yellow.
As quickly as it had started it was time to return to Calgary. A few friends have moved to Canada to be closer to the mountains. I hope to return one day to venture deeper into wilderness and see the seasons change.
