Chronicles Of A Holidaymaker: Mountains And Heights

If you are due for a vacation and you are not sure where you want to go yet, you might want to consider Alberta, Canada. This beautiful piece about the Banff national park will set you right in the mood! Enjoy.

Today we drove down to the Sulphur mountain in Banff National Park, Alberta from Calgary, both in Canada. Being a first time visitor to the country, I did not exactly know what to expect. Nevertheless, when I was given an option to pick between a visit to the mountain or the University of Calgary, the decision was an extremely easy one to make. After all, I was on vacation, VACATION PLEASE, not academic tour. Let’s go climb some Himalayas, whaddayaknow!

There couldn't have been a better decision; I think the name Calgary must be remotely connected to the word ‘mountain’, just a wild guess anyway. It was a long drive, and in a way, the drive reminded me of the journey of the Israelites through the red sea when the waters stood like a wall on the right and the left (Exodus 14:22) affording them an opportunity to escape their pursuers.

The mountains touching the sky

For, believe me, the mountains stood on both sides of the road as though the road had been cut right through them. I couldn’t be far from the truth, our host confirmed a portion of the road that had been chiseled out of the mountain. One could actually see the cut surfaces of the mountains there.

I wondered to my self how it was discovered that there were communities beyond the mountain, how the inspiration came to carve a connecting route through the mountains. I mean, God is AWESOME- not only does He create awesome natural wonders, He also puts in man the inspiration to adapt natural occurrence to his advantage.

It was a whole new experience seeing the way the mountains seemed to touch the skies and pull out some glacial waters from there which they allowed to trickle down their entire heights, all the way to their bases. It was understandable then to see numerous water gatherings in the course of the journey.

Gondollas shuttling between the height and base of the sulphur mountain

Whoa! all my life, I had never seen so many mountains; they seemed to stretch on forever, until, finally, we drove into the Banff National Park and all the way down to the Sulphur mountains (why is it called such a name? I wonder). We had the option of hiking or being proud beneficiaries of technology. We chose the latter, bought our tickets and took the gondola drive almost to the top of the mountain- it wouldn't have been much fun to miss the whole hiking experience. 

Highway through the mountains

We ‘hiked’ the rest of the way on the man made innovation of wooden stairway. Uh la la, never knew the best was yet to come - right there at the peak of the mountain was a hut built of mountain rocks in which the park meteorologist, Norman Sanson had set up his weather equipment all those years ago.

He had made more than 1000 trips there and the hut has been preserved the way it was on the last day he visited the hut. I could have spent the whole day there, looking in through the door and window at his bunk bed, the archaic stove and meteorological machine, the old newspaper and fountain pen on his desk, plates and tea cup, the architectural and structural design of the house on the rock that has weathered the uncertain mountain weather over the years, wait a minute, did I just see 2 oranges on his table?

All too soon, it was time to leave, I had to go. It was awesome, in fact on our return journey, we joked about the highest mountain drawing from the story of the Israelites when they still used to seek the highest mountain for worship purposes. (1 Kings 3:2-4).

But honestly, I wonder, would they have climbed the sulphur mountain to offer sacrifices?

Written by The lady of purple