Hiking – Page 7 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

Yamnuska In Lieu

It seems I’m about to lose count of the number of times I’ve hiked and will hike Yamnuska.

On Sunday, Robbie, Adriane and I ventured out to Heart Mountain, but we discovered that Heart Creek Trail had been completely wiped out due to flooding and rock slides. It was quite the sight :S. We ran into a Parks Canada guy who explained that most of the Kananaskis landscape has now been changed. Bridges are destroyed; rock slides and floods have completely altered the trails; and many areas are now inaccessible. I think he said something like 400 mm of rain in a 24 hour period (or maybe a 48 hour period?) plus an additional 300 mm of melting snow. With that crazy amount of rain in such a short period of time, flooding seemed inevitable. It was very sad news to say the least, and it will be many years before the Kananaskis trail system will be back to ‘normal (… after such an event, is it even possible?).

He did recommend the east side of Yamnuska as a good place to go. We were itching to hike so of course we would venture off… and so would many other hikers. The lot was super busy, which made sense, seeing as it was one of the only trails in the area deemed safe for hikers. The sun was ridiculously hot that day and the mosquitoes were swarming like mad. Irregardless, it sure felt good to get out to the mountains! We didn’t reach the summit, but that’s okay- I think there will be many more opportunities this summer to conquer Yamnuska. Again.

Stats

Start time: 12:10 pm
End time: 4:50 pm

A Little Vertigo Can’t Stop Me!

After the Booty Hunt on June 1st, I decided to go hard core… again… with P90X. It seems like my body is getting tired of it, though, since it decided to revolt! After day 3, I developed a nasty rash on my forearms and torso, followed by a horrible occurrence of positional vertigo that made me crazy dizzy. Okay, so I can’t say for sure that it’s the P90X that caused that, but what I do believe is that my body is unwinding from stress, unbeknownst to me, and manifesting in interesting ways. As everything has gone in the last few months, I was a bit derailed and needed to rest. But this has not stopped me from having a busy first half of the month!

The day the vertigo started, Adriane, Sarah, and Adriane’s friend Jo and I decided we’d hike Prairie Mountain. Yes, I’ve done this several times now, but for an early season after-work hike, it’s always a good one. And what a great group- so many stories being told, and so much laughter! It really did feel like the quickest ascent of Prairie in a long time. I do enjoy hiking on my own, but the time does pass faster when sharing the experience with friends.

Once the hike was done, I rested for a few days on Robbie’s orders. I tried to get lots of sleep and watched a bunch of TV (HIMYM is so good!). By Saturday, I finally decided to call Healthlink and a nurse advised me to see a physician, who diagnosed it as a bit of positional vertigo before sending me for a bunch of lab tests and an EKG. What a fun way to spend the weekend! But following this restful period, I did slowly get better throughout the week. On Wednesday, I walked over to the UofC to see Paul and Rob graduate. Congrats to Paul on his PhD and Rob on his MSc in Community Health Sciences. I still assert that my Certificate in Relational Databases trumps those :).

By Friday, I was stir crazy. I got in my car and decided to drive to Banff. Even though it was rainy, there’s always something new to see, so I stopped by the recently opened Cave and Basin National Historic Site, the birthplace of Canada’s national parks. It’s always fun to learn something new: The first national park in Canada was Banff in 1885. The underground cave contains bubbling thermal waters that smell of hydrogen sulphide gas. Translation: it smelled a lot like rotten eggs. I also learned that there’s a Banff Springs Snail, which is only found in the springs of Sulphur Mountain. A visit to Banff would not be complete without some random perusing of stores. So I did that too. The next day I would finally get to hike again by conquering Ha Ling, but more on that later…

June would not be complete without a few birthday celebrations. It was a fun dinner at The King and I for Samir’s 31st, and a great evening with lots of catching up and laughter for Selina’s 40th. So all in all, despite the vertigo, it’s been a pretty awesome first half of June!

Stats (for Prairie Mountain):

Start time: 5:20 pm
Summit: 6:45 pm
End time: 8:30 pm

The Hoodoo Trail and Lake Minnewanka

After a fairly lazy April filled with lots of TV watching (Spartacus!- an amazing show…) and a relaxing trip home, I decided enough was enough. True, things have been a bit up in the air lately and the down time was much needed. But a month is all I can do. It’s time to kick it into gear. I’m slowly going to get into the swing of things again and keep myself busy, active and social. To start, I decided to take a day trip out to Banff yesterday for some fresh air and inspiration from the mountains. It definitely did some good.

This hotel continues to impress :) — This hotel continues to impress 🙂

I decided on the Hoodoo Trail, which starts at the Surprise Corner parking lot on Buffalo Street. After admiring the view of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, I made my way to the trailhead. I’ve done many hikes, and though this trail was beautiful, I wouldn’t place it at the top of my list of must-do hikes. But walking along the river, past Tunnel Mountain, and through some meadows and forest was very nice.

I didn’t realize you could drive right to the hoodoos, so it was a bit shocking to end the hike beside a road and parking lot :o|. Nevertheless, the hoodoos themselves were impressive. The Hoodoo Trail took about 2.5 hours (4.2 km each way) at a pretty leisurely pace. It wasn’t too strenuous, having only 60 metres of elevation gain, but it made for a refreshing excursion.

Then it was off to see Lake Minnewanka. After 4 years in Calgary, I finally went to the lake :). Similar to many lakes in the Rockies, the scenery is gorgeous. I intended to make my way to Steward Canyon, but alas, I had to jet back to the city. There’s always next time!

Prairie Mountain: Hiking Season Begins!

View from Prairie Mountain. Always a wonderful sight :) — View from Prairie Mountain. Always a wonderful sight 🙂

It may only be the end of March, but I have now declared the start of hiking season! The weather has been so gorgeous lately that it’s hard not to drop everything and get out to the mountains. After Thursday’s attempt at Tunnel Mountain with Sony (only to encounter sheets of ice on the trail), I headed out to Prairie Mountain on Friday, which always makes a good shoulder season hike. Thankfully, all the squats from Shaun T’s Insanity have truly been doing wonders, and my legs did well to get to me to the summit. My XTR ice spikes also helped with all the snow on the mountain. Prairie continues to be a grind each and every time. I started the trail around 1:40 pm, reached the summit at 3:10 pm, and then was back at the car for 4:10 pm. This will be my initial metric to compare future times, as this will not be the last time I do Prairie Mountain this season!

Tunnel Mountain- We’ll get you next time! *shakes fist!*

Hiking Fullerton Loop

FullertonLoop2013-2 It’s been almost a month since my last blog post, yikes! It’s easy to say that life and stresses got in the way (which would be true), but that shouldn’t be an excuse. The first quarter of the year has been interesting, but I’m ready to put that behind me and start anew. What better way to get back into the groove than with a hike!

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Today was a gorgeous day, so when my friend Lauren asked if I wanted to join her, her husband and their dog/small horse on a short hike, I couldn’t resist. Destination: Fullerton Loop in the Bragg Creek area. I’ve never hiked it before so I was very much looking forward to it. And since I haven’t done a lot of winter hiking, I was eager to get out and hike!

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Fullerton Loop is not overly strenuous: at an elevation gain of 364 metres and a distance of 6.5 km, it’s not too bad. The interesting thing about the hike was the crazy amount of ice beneath the snow, which made for a slippery couple of hours. And since I hadn’t hiked in quite some time, my body was not used to the elevation gain and incline. What should have been an easy hike ended up giving me quite the workout! It sure felt good, and I can’t wait until the summer hiking season begins. There are many epic mountains on my list and lots to be conquered, but hiking Fullerton Loop reminded me that the hikes don’t always need to be extravagant. Today’s hike was a short one close to the city, but offered a great escape to the mountains. And when there’s awesome company, it’s an outing that’s absolutely worth the time.

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