A Day Off in Banff

The morning was a lazy morning. I got up slowly and made my way into town. Mailed some more useless stuff home so that I don't have to carry it. Then I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in town. The waiter messed up my order so instead of getting tofu with blackbean sauce, I got a mixed meat pot. When I question him on the food he said that's what I had ordered. There was still lots of tofu and I ate my fill anyways. I wasn't in the mood to fight with him.

I checked out the information place to try to find something to do. I decided to hike Cory Pass Loop, "one of the most difficult hikes in Banff National Park." The guy at the information building was a little hestitant about suggesting it to me because I had only biking shoes to hike in. It's a 13km loop with an elevation gain of 915m. The recommended time is 6 hours.
The hike was incredible. Definitely a rival for my favourite hike of all-time. The start of the hike climbed and climbed and climbed and climbed....you get the picture. Eventually I was able to see the intended pass and began a meandering trail leading to it across the slopes. There was quite a bit of snow in the pass and my ankles were a little cold. The biking shoes just didn't have the insulation I needed. (Nothing to worry about though) When I finally made it over the pass the valley that opened up was beautiful. It had rock towers on both sides. The trail was extremely steep and for some sections I had to make my own platforms in the snow. (which was on top of scree). Most of the next trail section was scree. Very fun to walk on. When descending the pass it began to snow lightly. Very magical. The rest of the trail was uneventful and meandered through the woods. It took me 4 hours (I pretty much ran it:)) and I only saw about 6 people.
Here is the description. "This is one of the most difficult hikes in Banff National Park for strong hikers with good route finding skills. Return from Cory Pass by making a loop around Mount Edith and descending the Edith Pass Trail."
At night in the hostel I met some of the people staying in my room and we got a couple drinks at the bar in the hostel. It was a pretty early night.