Photo essay: A picture-perfect tour of Lake Louise

Memories from working in Canada’s most breathtaking park

Image supplied by: Supplied by Hannah Stafl
Hannah worked at Lake Louise in the summer after her first year.

When I set out looking for a summer job, I didn’t plan on living in a postcard.

As it turns out, pleasant surprises are a reality.

After first year, I worked at Lake Louise in Banff National park for three months. If you Google “Canada,” you’re basically guaranteed to see photos of either Lake Louise or Moraine Lake, which are equally blue and about a 15 minute drive away from each other.

I knew virtually no one there and nothing about the Rocky Mountains, other than how it snowed from around October to May and was obviously stunning.

I knew I’d be foolish to pass up the chance to live in a place like Lake Louise. It’s where people go to get married, check an item off their bucket list, or even as their last stop before they pass away.

To live in such a consistently breathtaking place and breathe in alpine air every day was an honour I can never be grateful enough for.

I canoed and took an inflatable raft out onto one of the most famous lakes in the world. I summited a mountain. I took a trip with my parents to the nearby park of Jasper, driving down what I would call the world’s most beautiful highway, the Icefields Parkway.

 I also made friends within days of arriving that I still stay in contact with.

 

The mountain humbled me. It reaffirmed that life was beautiful, which is all so easily forgotten while stuck in our daily routines.

It’ll never be easy to do something scary, but our most meaningful moments come from  intimidating challenges.

If I took anything away from my summer there, it was that even as fast as the world moves around us, there’s plenty of reasons to slow down.

Tags

Photo essay, Postscript, summer

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