A Summer in the Canadian Wilderness

Exploring the National Parks of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.

Location: Rocky Mountains, Canada

Mt. Rundle

It's 7am on Banff avenue. The street bustling by day is still in slumber and barely lit by the dawn glow. Leaving my hostel nestled amongst hotels and guesthouses on the high road, this first bus is headed to the edge of town. The interface between urban and wild. Cross the Bow River, walk through the resort and skirt round the back of the golf course to the tree line - and the Mount Rundle trailhead appears.

I'd banked on finding others at the route's start, making the most of the cool morning air on the steep forest trail. But this morning, there's no-one. Just the insesant mosquitos probing my breathable layers and deepening awareness that I'm in bear territory. This part of Banff is notorious for bear activity, and this is my first wild hike in North America. Numbers are noise, and noise is deterrant. Bells, clap, sing, don't take a blind corner quietly. Bear spray on the hip. Make sure you're upwind. Check.

A couple hours in and still amongst the pines and firs, crossing gulleys now and the gradient ramps up a gear. Scrambling switchbacks through the greens and browns finally lead out to the silver limstone runway, pointing right up to the peak. The surefooted earthen gives way to polished rock and skree. The gradient is set - 30-35%. The route narrows, the peripherals drop off into deep ravines, the adrenaline rises. It's midday, hot and high at 2700m, and progress is slow, too slow. Weighty clouds are closing in, I'm behind schedule. I should be topping out about now, and this is not a place to be caught in the wet. I turn it around 100m from the summit, not before taking in the epic vista.

Bagged the view, down before the slope turned into slip n' slide. A great day out.

Landscapes

Mystical Peyto Lake under a haze of smoke. Banff National Park

Colourful, smoothed bedrock lining the route to the Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park

Ice walking giants on the Athabasca Glacier

Sunwapta Falls, a top stop along Highway 1 in Alberta

Limestone towers along the David Thompson Highway, Alberta. The most scenic route into the mountains

Luteous river valleys for miles, near Revelstoke British Columbia

The Saskatchewan Glacier, as seen from the lookout on Parker Ridge. A top stop along the Icefields Parkway.

The terminus of the Athabasca Glacier, creeping down from the Columbia Icefield.