devil like me / banff

In the past two weeks, I graduated, went home, and then spent a week camping in the Canadian Rockies. I bought tickets to Calgary in April, on a bit of a whim, to meet up with a friend I met on Tumblr in 2010, but had never met in person before. Stranger danger (s/o to Angel if you ever read my blog). It proved to be quite a memorable experience, because 1) I'd never camped for an extended amount of time before 2) My friend is in way better shape than I am 3) It's really cold in the mountains in June 4) It was one of the most unreal places I've ever been to and 5) It's interesting how the internet can bring together similar people who never would've otherwise met in real life. I spent the plane rides there reading and finishing Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, which set the stage quite well for a perspective shift on humanity and a desire to be cut off from most of the world for a few days. 

We spent the first 1.5 days at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park at the Elkwood Campground. It was super cold and pretty wet. First day consisted of a hike to Rawson Lake, which was still frozen. The surrounding area was still covered in snow, but we tried to make a loop around it anyway (unsuccessful). We did another shorter hike afterwards but I honestly don't remember what it was called at all. The high elevation was pretty rough on my lungs.

Rawson Lake

Rawson Lake

After Peter Lougheed, we made our way over to Banff, and did a short hike to Grassi Lakes, where I witnessed some legit rockclimbers and felt bad about my upper body strength (and leg strength, too, I guess...) I played disc golf for the first time and sucked.  Afterwards, we drove around a bit and took some pictures of lakes near the Tunnel Mountain campground. 

Grassi Lakes

Grassi Lakes

The next day, we woke up early to check out Moraine Lake, and then did the hike to Eiffel Lake. Saw some cute marmots on the open mountainside. We stopped by Vermillion Lakes in the evening because my legs were too broken to do anything else.

Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake

Eiffel Lake

Eiffel Lake

Vermillion Lakes

Vermillion Lakes

The longest day consisted of a drive to Emerald Lake, attempting to see some waterfalls, Peyto Lake, a muddy hike to Chephren Lake, Johnston Canyon, and staying up for some astrophotography. 

Emerald Lake

Emerald Lake

Random waterfalls

Random waterfalls

Chephren Lake

Chephren Lake

Peyto Lake

Peyto Lake

Johnston Canyon

Johnston Canyon

Standing outside in the cold trying to keep my hands steady enough to not ruin the photos with my Gorillapod anchored on the car

Standing outside in the cold trying to keep my hands steady enough to not ruin the photos with my Gorillapod anchored on the car

I'm back at home for the next few weeks before embarking on the segment of my summer in southeast Asia! Currently taking book recommendations :)