Thrilled to visit the gorgeous Canadian Rockies in the digital age. For some time, I’ve felt guilty for not having Canada posts even though I’d visited Toronto, Niagra Falls, Montreal and Winnipeg. Canada deserves better than grainy, scanned snapshots.
From Calgary to Vancouver, the scenery compelled attention. As Nature is wont to do, we visitors were bereft of intelligent language; it was best for all of us to be still and look, truly look. Only when still, were we truly in the Rockies. Words only took us away from the commanding intelligence of nature. Our divide from nature was evident through words. Indigenous people tended toward useful descriptors. Crow’s Foot Lake designates useful information to people arriving there. If it looks like a crow’s foot, you’ve arrived at the correct lake. These People who lived in nature name usefully: “salmon creek,” “mosquito creek,” “bear mountain,” and “buffalo valley.” One knows what to expect from these place names.
The Western “discoverers” thinking highly of themselves and their achievement of finding land that wasn’t lost, named things after themselves or their financial patrons. No names are the best names. Each breath needs no name; it simply is, complete in itself. The photo gallery will let you be in the experience and if you must have the names and details, let the Canadian Park service be your guide.
The town of Banff is a lovely destination within the park. Eschewing the shops and eateries, to explore, we found the Cascade of Time Gardens. This lovely four-acre garden, built in the 1930s, is free to the public and feature both exquisite landscaping against the backdrop of the mountains and also friendly gardeners happy to tell you about the flowers in bloom. Add a sunny day to the mix and it is heaven.
Banff National Park (pc.gc.ca)
Hi Clare. I visited Banff nearly four decades ago when I drove from Sacramento to Philadelphia with my dog in my trusty Datsun. It is still as beautiful as I remember.