Little hikes and bike rides or spring mountain life in general

"The mountains are calling and I must go..."

- John Muir

Very well said. This is how I am constantly feeling living in this tiny little mountain town named Banff. Well, that is not quite correct, I always kind of felt like this and when I came over to Canada, I knew that this is where I want to live while I am here, in the mountains. Full input. As much outdoor as possible.

It's the pull of being able to go skiing in a matter of half an hour... I am magically drawn to be outside and live life to the fullest. Also, I did get into a bit of hiking... For those who know me this might seem a bit strange, as I never was a fan of hiking anywhere when I can also go by bike. But somehow it got me. Hiking has a bit of a different vibe then biking. I still would always prefer my bike over walking somewhere, but I accepted that some places are better to be reached by foot. Also, because I would be missing out on so many things as you can't go there by bike ;)

I am a bit behind in sharing my stories with you. It's just that we are incredibly busy at work again (1 day off a week, working 10 days in a row) and in my free time I have to squeeze in all my outdoor activies as I would totally go crazy otherwise. My day and night rhythm is totally messed up because of working all these pm shifts. Right now, I go to bed at around 3 am and get up around 10 or even 11 am, which for me already is highly unusal. When we finish work early, I go hang out with the night shift as I simply cannot sleep at around midnight anymore. So, going skiing turned out to be quite an effort as I specifically have to get up early to go up and leave the mountain early to start working at like 4 pm. Crazy crazy. But money for my biiiiig roadtrip!!!!!!!!!!

Furthermore, the bigger issue was actually that all my creativity seemed to have deserted me. I started a few times and just couldn't do it. I did not like at all what I've been writing, but the flow finally is back! The sun is shining outside and with the sun's rays dancing on my living room floor, I am sitting by the window writing this entry :)

So I finally made it to the Cave and Basin National Historic Site!!! Thea, Konstntin and me visited the birthplace of Banff National Park. The mysterious place of the original hot springs, where now the very special snails live. Meaning you can't bathe in these natural pools anymore plus you will be highly fined jumping in the pool. It is kind of a cool place, although I wouldn't specially pay money to see it again. Luckily we got in for free from our Banff Ambassador pass :)

The little pools have quite an unnatural green color! Very cool!

There is a little trail called the marsh loop you can do. Still a bit brown, but i think in summer it must be beautiful!

View on Cascade mountain from the marsh loop

One of the pools at the actual historic site.

Furthermore, I saw some more auroras! They were not half a s strong as the last time we've seen them, but the same feeling of being utterly insignificant hit me. Konstantin explained a few more things on my camera to my and I managed this:

!!! So pretty. I wish the lights were a bit stronger that day,

I also managed to finally go for a few bike rides! I went all around town and all the way down to the Vermillion Lakes. Funny, last time I've been there everything was still frozen, now the lakes have  thawed completely! Seems somehow unreal and it happened so fast! That day was such a stunningly beautiful day that I had to stop at one of the little jetty things and just sit there for like 15 min to take in the beauty of the landscape.

Fenlands trail

Biking along the Vermillion lakes

View on Mt. Rundle

pisses me off that this is so blue... messed up the settings on my camera :(

Proof that I actually was there!!! ;D

Another day, I tried to bike the Spray river loop... It starts at the parking lot of the Fairmont and I wasn't sure how far I can just go and somehow I ended up not finding the trail head (I found it when I returned. It is kind of obvious and I felt really really stupid for not finding it in the first place) but going to the golf course instead. Turned out to be very cool as well!!! It's more or less an asphalt road with parts of it being kind of a dirt road thingie. I was utterly alone. Meaning it took me 1h 15 min approximately to do the loop and I met exactly 2 cars on my way. This gives you lots of time to think about stuff. My mind was occupied by the fact, that all the bears and stuff are waking up now. And I did not have bear spray with me... Luckily, I didn't meet one!!! One of my next puchases will definitely be one of these...

View on Tunnel Mountain from the golf course!

Hoodoos

My bike!! Can't believe it still doesn't have a name... But I just can't find one that suits it.

A beautiful spot!

 Finally!!!! I finished this!!! There is a few more exciting things I did. Coming soon!!!!