The mountains are calling....

Laura Sprenger
Dec 29, 2019
2 min read

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity"

- John Muir

It was late November and the snow was falling as we drove eastward from Vernon over the winding passes of the Rocky Mountains. I could fill up this blog post with words, but there simply are not enough of them to adequately express what we experienced. The Rockies in the winter are more than something to see. They are felt, and lived. It is an experience of mind, body, spirit, and soul, and words seem so limiting for something so all-encompassing.

With winter leading the way, we set out for the blustery trek through. Curve after curve, we were rewarded with vistas of towering grey rock peaks each more breathtaking than the last. In the foreground, the snow capped pine trees, frozen glaciers, and giant snowflakes kaleidoscoped onto our windshield and created a scene so powerful, beautiful, and serene that it truly silenced all of us.

Passing through Mt. Revelstoke National Park

Glacier National Park

Yoho National Park and the Natural Bridge

Banff National Park

It was extremely cold when we pulled into Lake Louise at night, and the forecast was for an overnight low of - 18C. At $150 for a family room in the hostel, and prices going up dramatically from there, we opted to layer up and hunker down for the night in our bus. We left our propane heater on as long as possible and planned to turn it on again first thing in the morning.

Here is how the thermometre read inside the bus when we awoke.

How we all ended up.

The view out the window.

It was all worth it however, for this:

Leaving Lake Louise, we opted for the slower, less maintained route into Banff along the old Highway 1. The snow covered road-less-travelled was worth the white knuckles in exchange for unsurpassed beauty.