Canada (ii): Highway Giants

I headed north in the morning to outrun the rain. Emerging from the clouds on the Icefields Parkway I found myself surrounded on either side by towering peaks and more glacial lakes glimmering in the early morning sun. The Icefields Parkway is rightfully considered one of the most scenic drives in the world. I stopped almost every 15 minutes to step out of the car into the crisp, mountain air to just stand at the feet of geologic monoliths.

About an hour up from Lake Louise was Bow Summit. A short and easy trail up to a viewing platform over Peyto Lake. Bare faced rock reaching up above the tree line dotted with fat, low hanging clouds resembling sinking dirigibles rising up to frame another pristine aquamarine lake and a valley of evergreens. Breathtaking is an adjective I've used before, but none so aptly as when I was standing there. 

Further north, just before reaching the divide between Banff and Jasper National Parks, I pulled over to a trailhead by the highway. Parker Ridge is a few miles up a seemingly featureless plateau. Switchbacks through a brief section of alpine foliage and then just a clearing for the last mile or so. At the top is a broad, flat headland that was backdropped by a thick veil of mist. As I approached the edge, the last wisps of cloud floated by and revealed a dramatic glacier hewn gorge in front of me. It's trails like this that make this place so satisfying. Short hikes with minimal effort yield such spectacular rewards. I sat in the grass and ate a granola bar while I watched the glacier drift in and out of view behind the swift clouds. 

Nearby was a mound of loose shale framed in front of mountains that looked like it would make for an interesting photograph. In order to get the kind of perspective and depth of field I wanted, I set my camera up on a tripod about 20m away and zoomed at 70mm.  I put it on a timer and hit the shutter. Bear in mind, that means that in 10 seconds, I have to run 20m and up a hill of loose shale (which is sharp) and stand in frame. It took several tries to actually get myself in the shot, including one attempt where I almost slipped off the other side down a very steep slope. Thankfully no one was around to see my ridiculous scrambling. 

For the rest of the afternoon, I made my way slowly toward the town of Jasper as I meandered the different sights along the Icefields Parkway. Once there, my first stop was the gondola to a high peak with another dramatic view of mountain ranges and the town of Jasper below. It felt almost like cheating to get so high without actually hiking. The view was also not as dramatic being so far removed from the other formations.

Afterward, I made the drive to the nearby Maligne Lake for one of the most pleasant sunsets of my life.

Canada (i): Of Pressure & Time

All of my trips in the past year have mostly been to large cities. I've been looking for an opportunity to do the whole commune with nature thing for a while. A few weeks ago it looked like work would be slowing down for a bit and my boss was going on vacation, so I booked a flight to Calgary and set out a few days later. Before I get to the main point, I should comment that Calgary is the most obnoxious immigration checkpoint I've ever encountered. The officer grilled me on what I was doing in Canada and regarded me suspiciously when I informed him I was traveling alone. He took my phone and swiped away without showing me what he was looking at, ostensibly looking for evidence that I've been researching things to do in Canada. Unsatisfied, he then instructed me to retrieve my checked bag and show him my hiking shoes. I complied, but I've never been so dumbfounded at how ridiculous airport security can be. In Canada of all places! 

When that ordeal was over, I went over to Hertz and picked up my ride for the weekend (a Jeep Compass). Loaded it up, dialed in the first episode of This American Life-I loaded the 20 most recent episodes (481-500)-and set off west toward Banff. It's a straight forward, 1-hour drive to Banff. I arrived in the early evening at around 5pm. I stocked up on supplies at the town's Safeway, found a cheap hostel (I hadn't made any reservations for the weekend before hand-another red flag for immigration it seemed), and then stopped in a local tavern for dinner. While at the bar, Ryan, the bartender, recommended I hike the nearby Tunnel Mountain trail and catch the sunset over the town of Banff. It was a great recommendation. An easy 3 mile hike up a local peak for a spectacular view of the valley. I headed back to the Bear Street Tavern for a beer afterward and discussed other activities with Ryan for my weekend. I also met a guy that had just finished biking from Jasper to Banff that morning with his father (who had fallen and broken two ribs the night before).

The next morning I headed north on the Trans-Canada Highway to Lake Louise. It's one of Banff's most famous attractions and it's easy to see why. Walking up from the parking lot, Lake Louise appears like a flash. An electric blue pool shrouded by clouds and dramatic peaks. The shockingly bright and mirror like surface of Lake Louise is really hard to describe. It's the cold, android blue of Daniel Craig's eyes in Casino Royale... er... It's the vibrant turquoise of a freshly cleaned and unspoiled toilet first thing in the morning... um... It's the artificial, Kool-Aid teal of the freezer packs your mom used to put in your lunch...

...  OK, maybe none of those are artful analogies, but you get the point. The vibrant, perfectly still surface of glacial water kind of made me want to walk out onto it and let myself slowly sink at its center until I was encased in it like a giant marble.

There was a slight drizzle, but I zipped up my North Face and set off on the Plain of Six Glaciers trail. It's a 7-8 mile hike that leads around the lake and straight up to the glaciers that feed it. Walking along the valley carved over millions and millions of years by giant walls of ice, it's hard not to feel the enormity of time. Like looking out over the ocean. Or up into a dark, star filled sky. 

It rained for the first few hours of the hike. By the time I got near the end, I was soaked and cold. Thankfully, there's a teahouse near the top. I spent an hour there enjoying one of the most welcome cups of coffee I've ever had. I waited out the rain and from there, there's another mile along a rocky, unmaintained path that takes you right up to the glaciers. It's not terrain I've ever encountered before. The valley is barren and desolate from glacial erosion. A stark, gray wasteland echoed by the oppressive clouds overhead.

Once I'd taken it in, I head back down the trail to Lake Louise. The rain hadn't started again, thankfully, until I got back to my car. For the rest of the evening it rained fairly heavily. So, I simply drove around Banff for a while. Saw a huge waterfall (Takkakaw Falls). Even overcast and drab, Banff is a sight to see. Nevertheless, I had a solid day of sunshine the next day as I headed further north to beat the rain and it's even more magnificent in the sun. 

Paris (iii): Tour Eiffel & Final Meals

From Versailles, I headed back to the city to meet my friends by the Eiffel Tower for a picnic. I actually did not go up the tower and didn't really have any plans to. As it turns out, the workers were on strike for most of the week I was there, so I probably couldn't have gone up even if I had wanted to. We picked a spot a ways down the lawn and set about attending to a cobbled together spread of baguettes, wine, cheese, cookies, and a bag of Haribo gummies of The Smurfs that, in France, are Les Schtroumpfs. Peddlers carrying shopping bags full of alcohol sauntered by idly. Pockets of tourists posed ludicrously with forced perspective. Waves of dark clouds rolled by, but mercifully kept their contents to themselves.

After luxuriating on the grass for a time, we parted ways. A and K were headed to catch a train to London to attend Wimbledon the next day. G and I made our way to the ubiquitously recommended L'as Du Fallafel for dinner.  The line wasn't bad, but I did not have much of an appetite at that point for some reason. It was good though. We strolled a bit along the Seine to Point Neuf before calling it a night. We walked west as it grew dark and the river lit with boats filled with river-going revelers and the Eiffel Tower shone it's rotating beacon across the city.

For my last full day in Paris, I did very little. I allowed myself a late morning before heading to Frenchie To Go for a superb pastrami sandwich. A bit different from what one might find in the States. Less fatty, but still flavorful. I then went to the Galeries Lafayette to wander and pick up some macarons from Pierre Hermé for folks back home. The Galeries were pretty obnoxious, over crowded shopping malls. Having not had anything else planned before dinner, I went to the 6th floor cafe and actually fell asleep on a table for a little while. I think I may have spent too much time in Paris asleep in random places.

For dinner, I made a point of going to Le Severo. A small corner shop that I'd found frequently referred to as the best steak frites in Paris. Not having had any other notable steak frites in the city I couldn't say for sure, but it was pretty amazing. The steak, a thick medallion cote de beouf, was prepared perfectly. A stellar piece of meat, to be sure. It was the fries, though, that were the most remarkable. The intensity of the potato flavor was just not something I'd ever had before. I don't really know why they were so good. I could have eaten a bucket of those. It was my favorite meal in Paris.

The next morning I made the trek back to CDG in the rain and concluded that CDG is the worst airport ever. But Paris was a nice wind down from a tiring couple of weeks in Nairobi. I deliberately left my itinerary pretty unstructured so I could just go about the city leisurely. There are a million things I didn't do or see, but Paris will always be there. Perhaps I will go back one day. There's a chance I may be traveling to Nairobi again in September or October. I think then I may try to swing through Italy.