Incredible Hiking in the Canadian Rockies

Leading up to crossing into a new country, there is always a ton of planning and work that goes into getting us there. But when the chores are done and the border is close and all that's left to do is to enter a new country, that is when the excitement finally sets in. The best way that I can describe it is that we feel giddy because a border so clearly marks the start of a new adventure. We had been in Canada for less than 24 hours before we got on trail for our first big hike. We had a lot of ground that we wanted to cover during our time in the Canadian Rockies, so we wanted to get straight into something that would get us warmed up for all that was to come. We felt like we've had unfinished business in Alberta and BC for a long time. Back in 2017, we were forced out of the area sooner than expected due to forest fires, but we had seen enough to know what we were missing. We obviously had enough knowledge of the mountains in that area to want to see them in the first place, but I don't think that we were remotely prepared for just how insane those mountains were going to be. In all of our time hiking around North America, I don't think that we have had the pleasure of seeing anything quite like what we were seeing on that hike. The mountains just went on forever. What the hell? Yeah. We've come across a few places that really challenge our understanding of physical space and our place in it. The Grand Canyon was the first place I remember ever having that feeling, and now I feel like I need to add the Canadian Rockies to that list. I think that we've come to love the feeling of learning how small we really are in the grand so far? Easily a six out of ten. Easily. I think that it's definitely one of the best hikes we've done in a long time and a great way to kick off Canada. I feel like nobody does the mountains quite like Canada. Something that took me by surprise on that hike was just how many people we overheard talking about how clear the visibility was and how out of the norm that was. I think that we came into Canada feeling like what we had experienced on our previous visit was something out of the usual, but hearing everyone on trail it kind of gave us a new appreciation for what we were able to see on that hike because those views are something that I will how can you not? Look at this! Look at it! All night we had thunder, lightning, and hail pelting our camper. Sadly we've come to have a experience with being in fire prone areas during fire season and we both had a feeling that we might have seen our last clear day. Even though I burned the crap out of mine it was still really good. For today's hike I am wanting to experiment and do something that I've only ever done once but it's low 35 millimeter film into my 120 camera. It's cool because they're panoramic shots and in this landscape I just feel like it's kind of the perfect way to capture it. You can kind of see that's about all the frame it covers. All right. What's up? What is it boo? What is it? What do you think? Long before we entered Canada we had been scheming a hike with our friend Brent. We had the pleasure of meeting him in Peru because he came with us on one of our group trips and we really hit it off. He's a fun loving Newfoundlander who's found his way out west and I think that what I love most about him is that he's always down for a good time. When we texted him and mentioned that we were coming into his neck of the woods I think his exact text read, hell yeah let's get into some suffering. And if you're not familiar that is that last ascent was tough. Getting over that last horn was so sketchy. If you slip you're going all the way down. Don't worry it doesn't hurt. It wouldn't hurt for long. I'm a big fan of the strawberry apple. Yeah I likes it because it's quick sugar. My mom used to buy a big jar. Big jar? Big jar applesauce like the big thing of Mott's from Costco. Yeah. Pop that lid off just like guzzle it down. Really? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's the way. When you need it you need it now. Well you can pretty much drink it. You're rough. You're hard. Hard. I just well yeah I guess so. She got that dog in her. No one's ever described me that way. Nah you're like a you're like a fearless kitty cat. I'm like Boo. You're like an alley cat. Not afraid of nothing. I do call myself an outside cat. Oh yeah. Even though we only had a single day with Brent, being able to do something incredibly epic with him while also getting to catch up on life made an already memorable hike feel that much more so. One of the greatest gifts of our travels is that we find our way back to people from every corner of our life. Not only does this allow us to visit them, but it also gives us the opportunity to make new memories with them. Discovering a spectacular place with people that you care about always brings more gravity to both the experience and the place. Yeah I love I love the look of these boots like these this wide toe. Oh you like the look of it? Yeah. I don't love the look of it but I love the comfort of it. But I like I know I know by looking at it how comfortable it is. Yeah but like look at kick a foot over so we can see like the tread. Yeah gone. It's just so gone. That's why you slip all the time. You did pretty good up there though. I actually meant to say something. You did much good. I was careful. You did well. Take rolls of ankle up there you're done. You're done. It's the sensitivity. You're old man like it? Well he's older see. jammed after only a single image. I later re-shot that roll in Japan which resulted in a really wild double exposure. I did however shoot a successful roll of film that way a few weeks earlier. Just proof that you win some and you definitely lose some. Yeah it's a darker one. It was a black bear? I don't know about that. Our hunch from the night before was sadly correct and the air quality was deteriorating faster than we were expecting it would. There was a lot more that we wanted to do in the area. Genuinely I think that we could have spent our entire summer hiking in just Canmore but considering all that we came into the area to accomplish we made a quick decision to relocate closer to the Icefields Parkway. We just wanted to prioritize the things that we weren't able to do on our previous visit. When we found camp that night we decided that we needed to sit still for a few days in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the developing conditions as well as what we needed to do about it. It has been so lovely to circle back to this part of Canada. The last time we were here it was incredibly smoky and we didn't get to see hardly anything so I feel pretty lucky that we got the opportunity to see it as clear as it has been before all of this moved in because we got some incredible hiking in so it's always nice to come back to an area you felt like you needed a redo in and to have like a really good time doing it. I just wish we had more time but I'll always wish we had more time. That evening we spent some time evaluating fire maps and the quickly evolving conditions. There were fires burning all around us. The air quality was only expected to get worse and on top of all of that there was a heat wave that was showing no signs of letting up. It was clear that it would be dangerous to stay in the area even though there was still so much that we wanted to do we needed to think of our safety and remove ourselves from the equation in the event that the area needed to be evacuated entirely. Obviously it sucks to have to ditch your plans that you've had your hopes set on for a long time but when conditions become dangerous you just have to be practical. You have to make fast non-emotional decisions with the information that you have at the time and so that's what we did. We decided that in the morning we would head west towards the coast. We didn't really know where we were going and in the end it didn't really matter. We just needed to find our way to breathable air and out of the fires. You two look funny creeping in the window.