Monday/Tuesday: We started the day at 7:30am. Drove to Lake Moraine. We arrived at the road that brings u to Lake Moraine at 8:30am and were able to take the road to Lake Moraine. Fortunately😊 When we arrived there, the Parking Lot was almost completely full. At 8.45am on a Monday. There are so many tourists, just like us. A lot of asian people and people from Québec. Honestly, Lake Moraine is beautiful, but even during Covid so crowded. I don´t wanna imagine how it looks like if there is no Covid. U probably gotta reserve a spot to get there, otherwise people will kill each other to get there. Anyways, we took beautiful pictures and headed after 30 minutes back to Banff. We relaxed the whole day. Went swimming at the Lake Minnewanka and just chilled. Why? Mario and I are planning to do the Ha Ling Peak Hike in Canmore (Canmore is about 30 minutes from Banff) in that night. The Hike is just 3.6km long, but has an elevation of 780M, so a lot. In the evening we drove tot he Parking Lot, slept until 2, well actually I tried to sleep, but honestly I wasn´t able to. Anyways, we started the Hike at 2.30am. It was dark, weh ad our headlamps with us, bear spray close to the body and listened to music. Honestly, I was a bit scared hiking this exhausting Trail in the dark. Why? WILDLIFE! I don´t wanna have close contact to a grizzly or a cougar at night. So u might ask yourself, why did u do this trail. Well, the Ha Ling Peak is known for it´s beautiful views over the mountains, and especially u can watch the sunrise from up there, like nowhere else. And it was worth it. I was really tired when we arrived after 2 hours up there. The Hike was really exhausting , but so worth it. We still got an hour until the sun started to rise. So we just relaxed, enjoyed the beautiful views and the silence up there. When the sun started to rise, I felt incredible, I had such an amazing feeling. Don´t k why, but I´d loved it up there. After probably 2 hours we hiked back down. All the pain, the suffering, no sleep was worth it. I forgot about everything when I saw this sunrise. Further we had perfect weather, so the sunrise was even more beautiful. At 7 in the morning we´ve been back at the Parking Lot, jumped into our car and headed to Calgary. We parked in front of our BnB and slept two hours in the car. Then we headed tot he Calgary Zoo. TBH I don´t really k, when I´ve been the last time in a Zoo, so I loved it. Further now I am able to say that I saw a Grizzly in Canada, I mean nobody has to k that it has been in the Zoo. Anyways, was cool up there. Around 4pm, we headed back to our BnB, went for grocery shopping, cooked something and went to bed early. A really cool, exhausting and amazing day. Probably the best thing to end our Road Trip, because tomorrow we gotta bring our Rental Car back to the Airport in Calgary. I enjoyed the two weeks with Mario so much, that I would love to do two more weeks. But honestly I start feeling how exhausted I am. 9 weeks of travelling and work. I don´t even remember one day where we didn´t do anything. We were always busy, so I am happy to get back to my routine in Germany.
Wednesday/Thursday: First of two days in Calgary. What did we do? Well, it can be described with one word: Selling! We sold all of our equipment of the West Coast Trail and got almost the whole amount back. Well not almost, but pretty much. Afterwards we drove to Peter´s Drive In, got a milkshake and kept going to the airport to drop off our Rental Car. Now it is official. The Road Trip is over. Unfortunately. I really enjoyed the time together with Mario. We experienced a lot, hiked a lot and had a handfull of fun. Further it is in general the end of Marios and my journey together. I really enjoyed every second with u pal. During these 2 ½ months I got to k u really good and we became great friends Will see u again in Germany buddy. Take care and a lot more fun in Canada and your journeys in this country. On Thursday I took care of some thing for my Flight back to Germany and Mario and I went in the evening tot he Scotman´s Hill. A nice palce in Calgary from where u can see the beautfiul sunset behind Calgary Downtown. Further it has been the first of july, this date is called the „Canada´s Day“, the day where Canada became independent. It was crazy busy up there. Because everybody was there to watch the firework that should start at 11pm. The Celebration of the „Canada´s Day“. Honestly the Firework wasn´t that impressive, but still cool to get to k a bit more of canadiens and canadien culture. Tomorrow is the day, the day of coming home. Looking forward to it.
See ya all soon, stay healthy and safe travels.
Tom
Canada Work&Travel 