pestudkaru

[pestudkaru]

My Canada

After six and a half years of PhD and two years of plague, it suddenly seemed like a good idea to pack my bags, grab my bestie, and head out to the wilderness.

Somebody (no names shall be named) had the brilliant idea to dip their gonads into the Arctic Ocean, so Canada it was.

I landed in Calgary! The exact moment was immortalized in this picture!

Apparently, this is how everybody gets here...

That is Calgary

and here is where I saw my first bear.

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Our roadtrip started in BANFF!! I swear it's a real place and not a sound effect. While waiting to get checked in we looked around the area.

This is what looking looks like.

Glad I brought my wide-angle lens!

It is I, posing with a very fancy hotel

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The first thing we see after checking in - animals!

And more animals

And more

I felt like a fuckin Disney princess, almost burst out singing!

Also, my first time seeing a real-life tree-hugger! I hear they are quite rare in these parts of the forest. I decided to keep that one and call him Charlie!

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Once we got our campground access sorted out we decided to carpe the fuck out of this diem and hiked up the Sulfur Mountain trail.

It didn't smell but the view was amazing!

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The next day, we took a day trip to Johnston Canyon and after getting my coffee fix we hiked to the upper...

... and then back to the lower falls.

And also saw some middle ground with trees and all.

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And just like that it was time to say goodbye to Banff :(

Wish I had had a bit more time to see more Banff, definitely one of the places I wouldn't mind visiting again!

Banff Banff Banff... I wonder what kind of a pokemon would go banff banff banff... 🤔

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Next campground - Lake Louise.

Saw some nice buildings (Fairmont Château)

and met some cool dudes (or dudettes, can't really tell what's under all that fur)

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The lake itself apparently hadn't yet gotten the memo that spring had arrived (an almost left, it was like two weeks until summer).

Since everything was still mostly frozen and covered in snow, we decided to take a nice long hike!

I bet this is what people in Florida think Canadian summers are like. :D

The trail took us up to a giant prehistoric fossilized beehive (true story!) and to Lake Agnes which, despite the higher altitude, was about as much or as little molten as Lake Louise.

Someone's contemplating world domination.... or pizza.

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On our second day at Lake Louise, we took a day trip to the Natural Bridge

and I got to try out my ND filters to slow down(speed up?) time

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Our second stop for the day (and the final resting place for a couple of my memory cards) was the Emerald Lake - the winner of the prettiest lake award 10 years in a row!

Just. Look. At. It!!!

I have a picture from every side, angle, and corner.

Even Olaf agrees, it's damn pretty!

This is where the water comes from

and this is where it goes.

We weren't the only ones enjoying the view.

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Bye-bye, Lake Louise.

Today is the day! We got on the Icefields Parkway and started heading towards Jasper.

We were forewarned that it might get pretty but I wasn't quite ready for this!

Oh look! There are some mountains!

Stop here! I wanna take a picture!

Just... one... more... stop... in Mistaya Canyon

We passed the Sunset Pass, just past noon.

We saw some big curves and even bigger bends.

Even some ice on the field. I know! Who would have expected that from a place called Icefields?!

Later that day we got all tangled up in Tangle Creek Falls.

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From one waterfall to the next. Our next stop was Sunwapta Falls.

It was getting late but we were close now! Our last stop for the day was Athabasca Falls.

This was, by far the best-looking 200+ km of highway I have ever traveled on! To wrap it all up we had a nice welcoming committee meeting us in Jasper.

Consisting of a brown bear,

a white goat,

and some monochrome geese.

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We had two days in Jasper.

What could we do with those two days? See the Five Lakes, but of course!

There were a bit more than 5 of them tho, but who's counting.

Here's one,

and here's another,

and one more for good measure.

The weather wasn't great for landscapes but the little critters seemed to enjoy themselves.

Bath time!

Squeaky clean and as good as new :)

One more cloudy panorama before we packed up and left.

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Jasper, as amazing as he was, was not able to keep us for more than a few days. We were ready to move on!

First stop, Portal lake! I bet that if you'd jump in it, you'd get wet!

Second stop, Moose lake!

With a lot of Meese!

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My biology teacher once told me that plants are the best things to study since they don't run away. So I took him at his word and got really damn close to some trees. Viewer discretion is advised for the following images!

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Our next stop was Mount Robson. The highest point in the Canadian Rockies. You can tell that it's quite high as you can't really see where it ends!

Since Mt. Robson was being all shy and bashful we decided to ignore him and go climb some other mountains.

I think I found my favourite place to have a cuppa!

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Leaving Mt. Robson, our day started off with a hungry (for dandelions) bear

and continued with some more hungry (for dandelions) bears.

Just look at the way he stares at those poor flowers! Wouldn't wanna be a dandelion :/