The view is great at the top.
The climb is the biggest struggle.
After climbing up and down so many steep hiking trails and exploring miles and miles on end of pure wilderness, one thing is for sure- the muscles in my legs are really shaping up.
Another thing is also for sure; the fact that if there really is "God" then damn, whoever it may be has an amazing view.
The spiritual part of this journey began at Maligne Lake.... Which is ironic in itself because "Maligne" means "medicine" en Français, and this was definitely a healing part. The lake itself was beyond anything I had seen before... Lined with tall peaks, each peak being unique in it's own way. It seemed to be like a "hallway" of some sort... Then it came to my mind- this is as if I have entered some sort of "Hallway of the Gods." And it really did seem that way. If every God, I imagine, would come down to earth at some point for a "meeting" to discuss whatever Gods' discuss, then each one would be able to sit on top of one of the peaks an the lake would serve as the middle ground. It sounds pretty loopy; however, I found it to be such an interesting, thought-provoking idea.
Amongst many other adventures, walking on Columbia Ice-field is probably one of the most thrilling things I have ever done. Basically, Columbia Ice-field is a huge glacier that sits on the side of a mountain... The crevasses in this field are as deep as the Empire State is tall, and that only applies to the crevasses that are open. One wrong step and down the rabbit hole I'd go, with no coming out. The young Canadian tour guide dude told us that it was okay to drink water from the glacier. Naturally, I was the first to lay on the ground and put my entire face inside the melting glacial stream which was below freezing and get a gulp. That water, man oh man, it was the cleanest and most refreshing thing... I do not exactly know if the water is what was so refreshing or it was the fact that the experience was one that nobody else I'd ever known had gone on. Perhaps both. Whatever it was, that moment was so vivid and breath-taking.
Speaking of breath-taking, being an asthmatic and all, I made the mistake of not bringing my inhaler and climbing up and even driving up these high elevations was getting to my respiratory system big time. It still is actually, as I sit in one of the grande lodges at Lake Louise Inn. Nonetheless, struggle is strife is success.
I cannot stress how beautiful British Columbia, Jasper, and Banff truly are. I don't think I would ever be able to describe the beauty with words or pictures, it just simply needs to be shown. So if I am ever asked something like "how was the trip?" Or "how was Canada?" I'll simply say, "Go see it." Because that's all I can say, really. I mean I still have a solid five-six days here and I'd like to really gain the full experience.
Update: photo blogs and all that visual jazz will be coming soon.
