THE FIRST ROCKY MOUNTAIN WE EVER SAW

Back in June 2017, my friend Amy and I were leaving our home of one year on the West coast of British Columbia and heading back home to Quebec on a 26 days road trip through Canada and Northern US. One of the places I was most excited to hit on this trip was Jasper and Banff. I had never been to the Rockies and couldn't wait to see the most popular mountain range of America. Traveling in the summer, I was naively expecting it to be sunny and, if not warm, at least not cold. Although I was not disappointed, I was surprised when we arrived in the Rockies under heavy, almost snow, rain and low cloud cover. Let's just say that our visit to Mount Robson State Park, the tallest mountain of the range, was not exactly what we expected as we never really saw the mountain.

The next day, we were driving to Jasper in the same weather, only to get to the village where it was snowing like Christmas Eve. Our plan of camping was quickly thrown out the car window and we were lucky to find a room in an airbnb in the village. When we woke up the next morning, there was still snow on the ground and we still could not see the mountains as we made our way to Five Lakes trail, but at least it wasn't snowing or raining anymore. During our walk along the trail, as the wind shifted the clouds, we could see the silhouette of the enormous mountains surrounding us, but still no luck seeing the summit or getting a clear view.

As the day went by, the cloud cover started thinning slowly and we started to get our hopes up. Maybe, after three days of waiting, we might finally catch a glimpse of these renowned giants. We drove to Maligne lake where the snow was even higher than at Five Lakes, went to the hot springs where we saw our first grizzly bears and as we were driving back to the campground, there they were. Standing tall and majestic all around us, the Rocky Mountains. We parked the car on the side of the road and got out to admire them and take pictures. We still couldn't see the summit, but it was better than anything we had hoped after the last few days. Just looking at the pictures I can still remember turning the corner onto the lane that led to the campground and noticing for the first time that the clouds had finally shifted enough for us to see.

It turns out that we worried all for nothing as the very next day, as we were driving through the Icefield Parkways on our way to Banff, the sun finally came out and we enjoyed two days of clear blue sky and enough mountain views to last me a few years. ​