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North America » Canada » Alberta » Banff National Park
July 20th 2011
Published: July 23rd 2011
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It is Wednesday the 20th and tomorrow I have my follow up with the hand surgeon in Kelowna. That’s why I am sitting in the greyhound since 2:35pm with more than four hours to go. The trip is about 8 hours in total, with stops at pretty much every town along the way. I’ve charged my laptop and phone so I have enough to keep myself busy with for that time. I must say I am really getting used to the long travel distances. Before I came here any trip longer than two hours already felt long. Now anything between two and eight hours is quite standard. Here at least you have the fortune you can stare at the beautiful scenery the whole way. I’ll try to give you a slight description of how inmensely scenic it is here.

What is most apparent when you enter the Rockies is the vast amount of trees there are. Left and right are bumpy fields filled with densely packed forest of pine and what not. Just imagine one big blanket of greenness. Almost nowhere can you see the forest floor through the trees. On my right I see more trees and far away are long stretched rows of different shapes and color mountains. Through the clouds, at some spots the sun shines on the mountain hills. This gives spectacular bright brown and almost orange reflections. On the highest peaks and in the wrinkles of some mountains there is still some snow that makes it through the summer. So the bottom of the view is an explosion of different colors of green, followed with patterns of green, brown, red, orange, grey, white and probably more. Above that, the subalpine, are the parts without trees, also called alpine level. Learned that on my boat trip on lake Minniwanka. The colors on the top are mostly grey, black, brown with patterns of white all around them. It is so hard to describe how spectacular it looks. You can just see how the elements have shapes the environment, what brutal force has crushed these rocks upwards. It’s like rows of wrinkled sea bed that are carved smooth in the valleys by the pressure of massive gletsjers. You can actually see the different layers of soil on the mountain tops, like age rings on a tree trunk. Only these aren’t round, they have their own special design.

Oh, and how perfect! There is just a long train passing me by on the next hill on my right, just visible between the trees. Containers of orange and red pass by slowly just above a flat valley of river and trees. Some of the rivers here are truly remarkable. They have a green or turquoise color, really bright, and the water seems to spread out and take it’s time to go anywhere. This results in different depths and little islands with trees everywhere in between. The only thing I can say is; you have to check it out and see it for yourself, it’s surreal! Maybe my love for the mountains has taken an extreme form with the years. I always feel like in heaven when there are mountains around. It’s so damn pretty! And the never ending amount of trees everywhere is just crazy.

What I also think makes it different every day is the weather. The weather can change suddenly and the clouds make some awesome spectacles. For example, I just sat in the sun during our rest stop and now we are driving through a big grey curtain. What is extra neat is the few blue spots that allow the sun to shine through. They must have some amazing rainbows here. Haha, I looked over my right shoulder and yes there is an AWESOME rainbow! Man, I love this place.. You can see that some clouds are just above our head, floating slowly, some even stuck on the hill side. I love seeing how nature is at work here. Stuff you learned in high school now gets revealed right in front of you. I could talk about it forever but you might as well check out the pictures, they speak for themselves.
My plan for the next two weeks is making my way back to Vancouver, say goodbye to my friends in Victoria, Seattle, fly back to Buffalo, greyhound to Toronto and Waterloo until my plane leaves on the 4th of August. Jasper thus was the last stop of my trip. I would want to see so much more around here, there is so much more to discover. I am certain I’ll be back here some day soon, already can’t wait for that.

(Can't upload the pictures yet, it's not working with this crappy internet)



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