Banff - Up the Mountain
I ducked into a mall that was an hour from opening and went into their washroom to wash, change into warmer clothes, and brush my teeth. [It was weird changing and brushing my teeth in a mall bathroom. I felt very much like a drifter at this point]
While looking for a breakfast joint, Dad called and I updated him as best I could. I'll call him again with set details. I finally caved and now I'm in McDonalds with my eaten breakfast, writing and waiting for my camera battery to charge. Hopefully the weather is better now. [I found a random wall plug at the McD's]
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Well the weather was slightly better. [Still pretty cold]
I went back to the terminal and stashed my stuff behind the greyhound desk because there are no lockers in town or at the station.
I got a phone card and some water from a convenient store and called mom then dad. With my bus time deadline, I bussed out towards Sulpher mountain.
The mountain was completely covered with clouds. I found the trail and started up. The sign said it was a 2h-5h hike, moderate -> strenuous. I didn't recall such signs on my previous hikes.
The trail itself was relatively clean and a bit gravelly. It was basically a whole bunch of switchbacks all the way up the mountain face [switchbacks are those sharp U turns that makes you go back and forth slowly up the face]. Also it crossed under the Banff gondola (cable car) for much of it.
I realized on my way up that this was my 3rd mountain in one week. The path was tedious and leisurely. I rarely had to stop at all for the first half. The view was of course bright fog, so I didn't take a lot of pictures. At one point I saw a side trail leading to a cool waterfall and view.
The trail suddenly got steeper a bit before or after the half way point, but it was still very managable.
At about an hour and a half. I saw saw some french hikers going down. Apparently I was only 10 mins away. This home stretch was very muddy for some reason. I saw a couple coming down when I was on the last switchback, and he said the peak might be closed from fog.
I finished in about an hour and 40 mins. This surprised me because I didn't feel I was going all that fast. It must have been my lack of breaks.
The clouds were just as thick at the top. There was a little gift shop so I bought some mineral salts from the mountain (there are natural hot springs at the base of the gondola) for Nita and Colette.
While looking for a breakfast joint, Dad called and I updated him as best I could. I'll call him again with set details. I finally caved and now I'm in McDonalds with my eaten breakfast, writing and waiting for my camera battery to charge. Hopefully the weather is better now. [I found a random wall plug at the McD's]
-----------------------------
Well the weather was slightly better. [Still pretty cold]
I went back to the terminal and stashed my stuff behind the greyhound desk because there are no lockers in town or at the station.
I got a phone card and some water from a convenient store and called mom then dad. With my bus time deadline, I bussed out towards Sulpher mountain.
The mountain was completely covered with clouds. I found the trail and started up. The sign said it was a 2h-5h hike, moderate -> strenuous. I didn't recall such signs on my previous hikes.
The trail itself was relatively clean and a bit gravelly. It was basically a whole bunch of switchbacks all the way up the mountain face [switchbacks are those sharp U turns that makes you go back and forth slowly up the face]. Also it crossed under the Banff gondola (cable car) for much of it.
I realized on my way up that this was my 3rd mountain in one week. The path was tedious and leisurely. I rarely had to stop at all for the first half. The view was of course bright fog, so I didn't take a lot of pictures. At one point I saw a side trail leading to a cool waterfall and view.
The trail suddenly got steeper a bit before or after the half way point, but it was still very managable.
At about an hour and a half. I saw saw some french hikers going down. Apparently I was only 10 mins away. This home stretch was very muddy for some reason. I saw a couple coming down when I was on the last switchback, and he said the peak might be closed from fog.
I finished in about an hour and 40 mins. This surprised me because I didn't feel I was going all that fast. It must have been my lack of breaks.
The clouds were just as thick at the top. There was a little gift shop so I bought some mineral salts from the mountain (there are natural hot springs at the base of the gondola) for Nita and Colette.