A Rocky Mountain Moment

I climbed a mountain today. My feet took me to the legitimate summit of a mountain.

We've been walking different trails every day this week, but today we went for the most popular in Banff: Tunnel Mountain. We are staying in the Tunnel Mountain District, because apparently a mountain can also be a district. We got a map from the hostel but it wasn't a great map and we ended up going on a pre-hike on a very different, curvy, confusing trail. The only reason we turned back on this trail was because we reached a point where it was entirely blocked off by trees. I think the hostel needs some new maps. At this point, however, we didn't even realize that we'd been on a different trail, so we decided to keep walking to where we knew the road would meet up with another trail that would take us downtown and this was how we found the real trail!

The sign did not lie. Breathtaking.

This real trail definitely got more love, it actually had signs that said "Take it easy on the mountain" (which we misread as "Take it easy, mountain," seriously take a chill pill, ya giant hunk of rock!). It was a long walk to the top, but definitely worth it. As we rounded the corner to get to the summit, there was a sign to give you facts about the mountain (it's 1,692 meters tall), but it said "If you think you are short of break now [I was], just wait until you get around the corner -- the view is breathtaking! ... Life goes by at a frantic pace. Embrace this moment for yourself and share it with those around you. Savour this rocky mountain moment." I thought that was a really perfect way of describing not only my hike but also my trip.

It's all pretty incredible, right?

What isn't incredible is that my camera is officially broken again. I am in the market for a new lens, but at least it waited until after I'd gotten a few photos from the top of the mountain I climbed before it quit again. Very considerate of it. I'm obviously super disappointed by this because I still have lots of cool things to see, but at least I know what's wrong because then I can fix it... even if it takes a while.

And now, I'll leave you on a more positive note:

This is definitely a rocky mountain moment.