I think I found my new favourite viewing spot in Calgary… 🙂
Tag: Alberta
Prairie Mountain: Hiking Season Begins!
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!
Hiking Fullerton Loop
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!
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!
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.
Sunshine: I’m a Green Graduate!
Yesterday was another great day in the mountains. I’d say it’s turning out to be quite a lively winter season! The weather wasn’t too cold and the sun was shining the entire day. It was a big group of us too, which made for an awesome outing even though everyone did their own thing, either snowboarding down the greens or carving snow on the blues.
I’m happy to report that it was the first time I’ve done blue runs in the Rockies! The difficulty and change in steepness were noticeable, but the fun-factor increased 10 fold 🙂 Of course, I attempted the blue runs on skis, since my snowboarding skills are nowhere up to par…. yet. The next time I go to Sunshine, I’ll be working on my heel and toe edge techniques and before I know it, I’ll be graduating to the blues on my board as well!
I Saw A Moose!
Originally, this post was going to be about trying cross-country skiing for the first time. I was going to write about UofC’s Intro to XC skiing program, the beauty of the Mount Shark area in the winter, learning the proper diagonal stride technique, and having a great day in the mountains.
But that story has been trumped by this:
I SAW A MOOSE!!
Why is this so important? Well, I guess it’s not that important. However, I’ve always wanted to see a moose in Alberta. I’ve been to the mountains so many times, and finally it happened. As we were driving back from cross-country skiing along Spray Lakes road, I spotted it in the distance. It was just standing there, on another road, just minding its business. “It’s a moose!”, I proclaimed. we circled back and admired it. Moose (or meese, as they are sometimes called) are amazing looking creatures, and they’re huge! It seemed aware that we were watching, and decided to walk in our direction. I think it was just curious. Although its proximity to the car was a bit alarming at times, we were able to snap some nice photos. I was so excited that I saw a moose. If it’s been unclear… I SAW A MOOSE!
To summarize, I loved cross country skiing, and can’t wait to go again :).
HIKES & HAMSTRINGS 