Some think that Tunnel Mountain at our Banff, Canada town site, really doesn't deserve to be called a 'mountain'...It certainly shouldn't be seen as any kind of summit either, many serious climbers would say...
Quite a few summers ago... during a very early morning training session, I was to learn to see this summit of sorts very differently...
It had misted during the night. One of those fine rains that touches everything, but was not heavy enough so the moisture up in the trees all falls to the ground.
It was quiet and it was very early... with just enough first light to see the well used trail up to the top of Tunnel Mountain... I made good time slowly jogging up and was now walking quietly and quickly down when I met two other early starters...
This patient father was making his way with his young daughter up along the easy grade of this mountain trail... We spoke briefly, and I could see it was going to take a long time for them to reach their goal...
"We are going all the way, aren't we," the father said to his daughter, who looked up with that innocent friendliness that many challenged persons have... "It will be her first mountain", dad said so proudly...
Then they carried on... the father guiding... the daughter walking back and forth... often distracted by the many sights, noises, and wonderments we mostly overlook on a typical well used trail...
I have no doubt they made their summit that day on Tunnel Mountain...
It would have been a long one going up, and even longer coming down... As challenging as any I have been out on... I sense they may have appreciated it more too than many other climbers out that same day, on any of the surrounding, much higher, more rugged Rocky Mountain peaks...
We all have our own mountains to climb, and our own summits to reach...
And yes, that little rocky point in Banff, is indeed a Mountain as that challenged young person and her dad taught me that day.......
DSD
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