hitch hiking pt 3 Alberta

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The drive from Moose Jaw SK to Canmore AB seemed that longest probably because I expected to hit Alberta and start to see mountains which just wasn't the case. A lot of Alberta is prairies, and ranches, but basically a lot of flat land which we had already spent days in. I was ready to see the mountains I had only ever seen in pictures I was ready to gaze in wonder at something new. It wasn't until we hit the other side of Calgary that we could see them in the distance and they looked like weird clouds from so far away. The drive from Calgary to Canmore was about a hour and it was about 30 mins till we realized how the little mountains in the distance were getting a lot bigger. It was dark when we got to Canmore, we called our friend who didn't believe we had made it so far so fast and she came and grabbed us with some of her friends and we started to celebrate our first night in the Rockies by having a bonfire in the woods drinking some random cheap whiskey and telling everyone about our adventure so far.

Canmore: Is completely surrounded by mountains and I personally feel has a better view of them then Banff. The mountains surrounding Canmore are: Chinamens peak (now known as Ha Ling Peak) but everyone who lives in Canmore still calls it Chinamens , Three Sister ( which are named Faith Charity and Hope), Lady Macdonald (named after John A Macdonalds wife our first Prime Minister), Mount Lawrence Grassi (named after an Italian miner who emigrated to Canada in 1912, worked in the coal mines and built many trials including the grassi trail) And Grotto Mountain. Many of the hikes through these mountains are amazing and beautiful with rivers and streams so clear that you can see everything in crystal clear detail.

Downtown Canmore is charming everything about it somehow different from Banff there is no night clubs or over the top tourist attractions distracting you from the simple beauty of the mountains. Canmore is simple and sweet and only 30 mins from Banff. Almost all of my time in Alberta was spent in Canmore with random trips to Banff and Calgary. I fell in love in Canmore with the locals, the natives, the crowd that hung out at the dive bar downtown, the people i worked for and with. Canmore became home in a way that summer and a part of me will always think of it as one of my homes. But now for the tourist stuff... unless you are serious about hiking and or the outdoors there isnt that much in canmore a few bars lots of shops with local artists and no over crowded streets if you arent much of a hiker most of the trails have an easy and a hard route although i find the harder routes usually cover a more impressive landscape then the easy trail option. In downtown Canmore there is the policemens creek boardwalk which is an easy and beautiful walk i would often take, it never failed to capture my attention and lighten my heart

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