Mt. Rundle

Mt. Rundle, which overlooks Banff, Alberta, is at least as weird and wonderful as the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. They’re both in areas of outstanding natural beauty, and part of much greater geological landforms. However, Mt. Rundle’s publicists eschew the fairies, dragons and kelpies that make up so much Scottish clickbait. Mt. Rundle stands on its own as a peak to look at, paint, climb or hike.

A pastor’s wife in Eagle River, Alaska had looked at my winter gear and judged it insufficient. She gave me a heavy down jacket that I paint in to this day. I’d also picked up a pair of heavy fishing gloves in Anchorage. In open places like this, the whistling autumn wind would have been unbearable without them.

According to the Internet, which never lies, Mt. Rundle is the most-photographed peak in the Canadian Rockies. It’s easy to see why. And to be pedantic, Mt. Rundle is a thrust sheet and the Quiraing is a landslip. To the untrained eye, they look almost exactly the same.

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In 2016, my daughter Mary and I set off across Alaska and Canada on a Great White North Adventure, which you can read about starting here. We arrived in Anchorage at the beginning of September and got home in mid-October. In between, we visited every province but PEI (been there, done that), and Yukon Territory. In retrospect, it might have made more sense to do this during the summer, since Alaska and Canada threw a mess of strange weather at us.