I awoke very early in Calgary, prepared to do a 90-minute drive west into the Canadian Rocky Mountains. My destination was Banff National Park. Banff has been a dream destination of mine for nearly 10 years. It all started when I attended a local Cleveland, Ohio showing of the Banff film festival. I remember watching an inspiring film about Old Snow Skiiers.
I arrived in the town of Banff around 7am and started to plan my day. This town had a swiss alps kind of atmosphere. I liked that. It also had an Aspen, Colorado Richie-rich kind of touch that I did not like.
One of my first destinations was to take a ride on the Gondola (cost was about 50$) up to the top of 8,000ft Sulfur Mountain. It was rainy and overcast so I was taking a risk of wasting money because I might not get to see anything from the top. On the bright side, however, at least I would avoid the tourist crowds. In the end, the clouds cleared just enough to get a couple of spectacular views.
There was a 1km trail boardwalk to the other peak. None of the other tourists were going that way, so I decided to go explore. It was worth the discovery.
In the visitor center, I was reminded of why I love the mountains and outdoors so much. What I wonderful saying!
To be continued…
