Day 1 – Tunnel Mountain

Hey everyone!I was recently in the Canadian Rockies, and I don’t even know where to start. I feel as if I have so much to say about my trip and so many photos to share, but it’s the sort of thing that you’d just have to experience for yourself. My whole life I’d have people come back to Ottawa from out west and tell me how amazing Alberta and BC are and how I’d fall in love with those places. It got to the point where I’d hear it constantly, coupled with the plethora of Instagram posts of these places, that I said ‘screw it, let’s go to the Rockies’, just cause. I mean why not explore all that this beautiful country has to offer!?Granted, I was only there for a week, but what a week it was. I had never been to the Rockies before, and while I had seen mountains before in Greece, it was a completely different experience.

Day 1: Ottawa – Calgary – Banff – Tunnel Mountain

NOTE to self and any others reading this post – Don’t pack at the last minute! I was up packing until 4am the night before my morning flight, meaning I only got two hours of sleep, with a whole lot of driving and hiking ahead of me. After a largely uneventful flight (minus Jurassic World of course),we finally arrived in Calgary and all I could think of was food – which marked the beginning of my 10b weight loss throughout the trip (but my gains ahhhh).Fast forward a bit and we were on the road, west bound towards Banff, but first we had to escape the endless suburban sprawl that comprised the outskirts of the city.Well on the road at this point, we eventually turned this one particular corner and that’s when the view finally hit us. Rugged white peaks arose seemingly out of nowhere, breaking the horizon and rising majestically as the sun shone on their faces. I remember being in complete awe, as my jaw literally dropped. Needless to say, driving became much more of a challenge. My eyes were completely drawn to this novel sight. And all of this still many kilometres away from the bases of these giants.The closer we got to Kananaskis and Banff, the more in awe I became. At this point I couldn’t help but express how I felt. I felt like Double Rainbow Guy. That’s probably the best way I could describe it. I immediately fell in love with the mountains.Anyway, some time later, we finally arrived in Banff, settled in and ate because FOOD. The view from our room included such sights as Cascade Mountain and Tunnel Mountain – again, I was blown away by these sights, definitely something I could get used to!Once we were settled in we set out to warm up by hiking Tunnel Mountain (prominence: 305m). In hindsight, driving to the trailhead would have been the best way to go about it, but hey we did get to enjoy some amazing views all around, while having a comical encounter with two ridiculously high hikers. So there we were at the trailhead, hiking gear in tow (including, yes, the infamous trekking poles) ready to tackle what lay ahead. A few hundred metres up the initial switchbacks, we soon realized how ridiculous we must have looked. Using trekking poles, decked out in hiking swag – all of this for Tunnel freaking Mountain! We were soon passed by the most casual looking hikers ever, making their way up effortlessly and nonchalantly up the switchbacks.On our way up we both questioned how we were so out of breath. I mean, the two of us aren’t exactly what you would call out of shape. At this point we actually had to take a breather and stow away those darn trekking poles, which were more of a hindrance than aid. We eventually realized that despite how in shape we were, altitude would take some getting used to. It really was a bizarre feeling to me. Tunnel Mountain could be somewhat likened to King Mountain in Gatineau Park, in terms of prominence – so there I was thinking to myself ‘man, I can run up King in 5 minutes, and this little peak is KICKING MY ASS’. I was not used to being that out of breath, especially while hiking.So on we went, until we reached the summit, full of fantastic views of Mt. Rundle and the town of Banff itself.The view westward was beautiful as well, with a faint glimmer of the sun trying to peak its way through some ominous looking clouds.Tunnel was a cool little warm up hike – not too different from what I had been accustomed to, but definitely a nice way to ease into altitude. Worth mentioning is that our naive selves were set on scrambling up Ha Ling Peak or even Cascade Mountain on our first day in Banff. Pfft, yeah right, right?!Next up: Day 2 – Lake Minnewanka and Johnston Canyon – plus everything else.For anyone reading this, thank you! I really do appreciate it!P.S Huge thank you to my friend Steph Kennedy for the wonderful photos she took and for the solid tunes and jams provided throughout the trip, check out her instagram at @stephanie.kennedySteven