All 'Berta Views

Banff National Park is a huge place. The park alone covers over 2,500 square miles, and when you put it together with the surrounding Canadian Rockies National Parks, it adds up to over 50,000 square miles. Considering it is not legal to rent a car in Alberta until the age of 21, the options tend to be limited. Public transportation exists, but can get pricey and the times are not always practical. I have firsthand experience on a couple of overnight greyhound rides that cost way more than I would ever like to admit I paid to have a drug addict sleep against me for 8 hours. In my experience, as bad as it sounds, hitchhiking has actually been the method I have had the most success with.

Before leaving for Banff the two times I went, my parents made sure to tell me to only hitchhike as an absolute last alternative. Don’t tell them, but by the end of the trip, my friend Tom and I had become so comfortable with the act that we started to write up signs and put up our thumbs even if we just were too tired to hike back down into town.

The truth is, outside of the US, hitchhiking is generally accepted and common practice, especially in national parks. In fact, when the trails were closed due to avalanche hazards at one region of the park, the park rangers actually told us that our best bet was to hitchhike. Those same park rangers even gave us a piece of cardboard from the stack they had set aside for the sole purpose of making hitchhiking signs.

There are obviously some risks associated with getting into a stranger’s car, especially in the rugged mountain regions where there might be less police than some other areas, but as long as it is done intelligently, it is generally safe. The US has generally a negative connotation to hitchhiking but in around the world it is much more common and accepted in the culture. In the end, it’s important to just use common sense and definitely avoid going alone.

I have to say there is also a bit of a risk in that you never know when you will get picked up. Especially in remote areas, car travel can be sparse, so there was a time when we waited literally an hour and a half on the side of the road terrified we would never get a ride before someone finally stopped. On the other side though, just to highlight how sporadic it can be, it only took two cars after the picture above was taken before we got a ride all the way up to Jasper, 150 miles north. Clearly, rides will be sporadic, but with a bit of persistence you’ve got a ride anywhere.

Personally, I absolutely loved hitchhiking because of the people you get the opportunity of meeting. My friend Tom and I caught rides with 8 different strangers last summer and each of them were so interesting. Often, the first line following us thanking them so much for picking us up is, “I completely understand your situation, I was hitchhiking around just a couple years ago before I got a car”. Hopefully when road-tripping this summer, we’ll be able to pay it forward.

Each time we got picked up we were able to meet and get to know someone with a fascinating life. After all, the majority of people (7/8 from our experiences in fact) who pick up hitchhikers are Europeans who moved to the Rockies. They always had such interesting stories to tell about leaving their homes in Europe behind to live in the middle of a quaint Canadian National Park. They understood the struggle of not having a car because they had been through it just years before, and given that most were locals who had been living in the park for a few years, they knew  all the best spots. Even better, they knew all the points of reference, so when Tom and I hitchhiked the entirety of the Ice fields Parkway, a 150 mile stretch declared the most scenic highway in the world, our new friend Derek from Poland almost acted as our tour guide, pointing out all the incredible sights by name. I will never forget any of the discussions I had with all those really interesting people who picked us up, and I will always be grateful for their actions. Putting a little bit of faith in humanity can open a lot of doors.

 

The best hiking in the world can be found in the Rocky Mountains. Within the Rockies, Banff is known as the very best. The reasons why hiking here is so good are endless. The views are incredible, the trails are all super accessible from a short walk from the town site, there are so many different trails, and all of these range in difficulty and elevation change. There is more than just something for every type of hiker here, and I love that about Banff so much.

Personally, my favorite hike here was probably the most difficult I did: Mt. Rundle. I hiked it the first time I was out in the Rockies last summer with my two friends from PA, and two new friends from New Zealand and Australia respectively.

To be perfectly honest, the trek up this jagged rock face was grueling and probably one of the most dangerous experiences of my life, but it could not have been more worth it. Aside from the incredible sights that come from being a mile above the town and surrounding area, the sense of accomplishment at the top is more than worth the struggle to get to the top.

I found out about this hike one night in the Banff International Hostel when I made friends with an Aussie named Mike who invited us to join him the next morning. We had no idea what we were in for, but I’m so happy we agreed.

The hike technically begins on the Banff Springs golf course at the base of the mountain, but this spot is about 3 miles from down town, so it was already an hour walk to get to the beginning. However, this little extension to the hike afforded us sights of the imperial looking Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel which is a converted Canadian Pacific Rail house as well as a truly exhilarating and powerful waterfall in the Bow River Falls I’ve pictured below.

The hike starts on the other side of the golf course and begins to wind its way up a pretty steep incline for about 4 miles, at which point it opens up above the tree line. On the way up, there are several natural spring sources which was one of the coolest things I got to experience in Canada: drinking water straight from a spring (best water I’ve ever tasted might I add).

When you hit the tree line, there is only half a mile to the summit, but that was the most deceiving thing I have ever heard. This half mile hike is up about 30 degree at best loose rock and is a scramble all the way up. There are even points where a mere 20 feet wide rock separates two thousand foot drops on both sides, and with the wind howling, this was terrifying. Below I have an image of my Kiwi friend Tim making hi was up this area.

Before too long of a walk up the steep, loose, scree, the summit will be close and taunt you even more. Once there though, the feelings of relief and accomplishment are absolutely incredible, but will soon be overtaken by the awe at the sights that surround you. You are 10,000 feet up and overlooking one of the most beautiful places on earth, so that should speak for itself.

Daylight is of the essence though, and the way down is unfortunately just as long as the way up, so the inevitable will have to happen and the trek down will begin. The good thing though is that first off, it’s all downhill, and second off, it’s possible to basically slide down the mountain onto of the scree using hiking boots as sort of skis to the point where it becomes genuine skiing.

The way down is actually not that bad. Even on 15 mile depleted legs, it is much easier than the way up and soon enough, all the sights from the base: the hotel, golf course, and falls, will come into view and before long, you’ll be right down town and so ready to get an amazing night’s sleep and relive that incredible day. To this day, even after 20 or so hikes in the Rockies, Rundle was my favorite and I simply cannot get over the pictures I keep digging up. Hopefully this was interesting, if anyone here likes to hike do tell about your favorite hike, I’d love to hear!